We talk about context all the time. Context marketing is delivering personalized messaging to the right person, through the right channel at the right time. Well, context applies to platform training too.

Consider the difference between taking classroom training on a generic instance of Sitecore vs. experiencing on-site Sitecore training that is in the context of your specific Sitecore implementation.

We recently completed a custom content editor training program for a client that’s about to roll-out a new Sitecore implementation. We ended up training 7 stakeholders (6 business, 1 technical) on-site, over two days, on their new Sitecore implementation. The process looked a little bit like this.

Audit: We reviewed the new Sitecore implementation and created an inventory of data templates, layouts, components, etc. We interviewed business stakeholders to understand how they function – their processes and governance considerations.

Curriculum development: We then got busy learning for ourselves how the ~40 components were constructed, mapped them to data sources and documented the how-to for each component. We created a use case example for each distinct content type (template) and mapped out a content flow that would be used during the lab sessions.

On-site training: We delivered on-site training over 2 half-day workshops. Even though the training was focused on the content editor, we introduced the team to the entire suite of functions in the Launchpad. Introducing the team to analytics, personalization, testing, marketing control panel functions helped content editor conversation during the training.

We reviewed their implementation; helping them understand how data structure relates to presentation, and we ‘unpacked’ each of their content types. We then switched over to a lab session, where we all created pages that were based on multiple components.

We left a buffer of about 20% to wander a bit with the team. This afforded us the time to go off-script and do some deep dives on topics that were more important to the team.

Deliverables: We left the team with the following assets, so they can do follow-on training in-house:

Our curriculum outline
A content editor workbook that documents the step-by-step approach for every template and component
A lab guide and associated content, so that they can recreate the lab experience
An edited video of the training

Up next is developer training and then marketing training.

Training that is in the context of the system being used leads to a quicker knowledge ramp-up and higher team engagement.