Mind and matter.

3 Things Minimalism Can Teach Us About Microlearning

Over the last year, I’ve been fascinated by the tiny house and minimalist movements. I keep asking myself: “What is so appealing about becoming a minimalist?” I mean seriously, who up and decide…

What is the Einstein Method to Problem and Needs Identification?

Albert Einstein, one of the greatest problem solvers of all time, said, “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it.” Sm…

5 Things You Need to Consider When Selecting a Digital Agency

The search for the perfect digital agency for your organization can often feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. We get it. So, we’ve pulled together a list of our tried and true items to con…

Why and How to Optimize Your Virtual Coaching

Sales performance coaching is getting a lot of attention lately—for a lot of good reasons. At the top of the list is the simple fact that, when taken seriously and done well, coaching works. Researc…

You Need to Provide Content Your Team Will Actually Use

Have you ever wondered why your content isn’t more effective or why your sales reps aren’t using it? You’re not alone. According to IDC, a staggering 90% of selling content is never actually use…

How to Positively Impact Sales and Marketing with Mobile

Whether you are in sales or marketing, you know there tends to be a disconnect between the two departments. In a typical organization, marketing is regularly pushing out new resources, updating brochu…

How to Evaluate Your Learning Needs

One of the most important and for some, confounding-aspects to learning development is gaining a clear understanding of need. All too often, we rush into a learning development project using our insti…

3 Ways to Get the Most Out of Corporate Learning

I recently revisited an article written last year that highlighted corporate learning, called "Predictions for 2016: A Bold New World of Talent, Learning, Leadership and HR Technology Ahead." In it, B…

How to Evaluate Your Needs for an Outside Agency

So you’re thinking of bringing in an outside agency to help you with your marketing needs. Sweet! Are you excited, nervous, or maybe a combination of both? We totally understand that new vendor rela…

5 Not-So-Strange Ways to Superior Mobile Sales Performance Support

One of the most common situations we encounter at Maestro is a company that just purchased a fleet of iPads for its sales team. Great, right? I mean, aren’t sales reps with iPads a sure sign of an…

8 Things to Consider When Developing a Successful Mobile Learning Strategy

Mobile is here to stay. Once considered a new and emerging technology, it’s settled into the daily lives of every learner, and that’s good news for you. That's because, by 2020, 50 percent of the …

5 Ways to Make Social Media Work for Your Brand

Last week was Kalamazoo’s annual Social Media Week, which featured eight local and regional speakers discussing their unique perspectives and use cases for social media and marketing. A great commun…

3 Emerging Ways to Quickly Improve Sales Training

The sales training of the future doesn’t look much like the sales training of the past. Fear not. What lies ahead promises to make training more effortless, more effective, and more engaging for bo…

You Need to Evolve Your Sales Enablement Strategy

We all know technology is a changing marketing, but how we should all keep up with that rapid evolution is debatable. Marketing used to be about creating a solid campaign, pushing it out to the world …

How to Combat Pushback from Higher-Ups

I’ve had the opportunity to chat with tons of prospective clients over the last year in my sales role. All quickly catching or casting the vision of where their teams can be with the right mix of eL…

How to Realign Your Sales Training Strategy

We’ve all heard the saying, “Begin with the end in mind.” While it’s certainly applicable to planning sales training, it’s not anything new. In fact, the first step taken in planning the vas…

The 3 Stages of the Learner Success Cycle

There seem to be a million things vying for our attention during our waking hours. Family, work, friends, and hobbies all require bits of our time, and adding one more thing can be a challenge. So, ho…

What is a Performance Partner?

We often say ‘we’re not your typical agency’, but what does that mean? A traditional digital agency “delivers marketing services and handles the creative and technical development of internet …

Write Blogs People Actually Read

So. You’re getting ready to start creating content? Or perhaps you’re looking to revamp yours. Great! Content is going to be a critical way to reach your audience, build your brand, and share your…

​eLearning that Saves Lives

When is eLearning more than training? When it’s a lifesaver. When it comes to safety compliance training, what your employees don’t know can hurt them. In fact, it can maim them—or do much worse…

3 Steps to Building a Killer Sales Onboarding Plan

By this time, you've learned a lot about onboarding. In parts one, two and three of this series, we pointed out the surprisingly high cost of replacing a sales rep ($115,000), looked at some little-kn…

Sales Onboarding Best Practices

In parts one and two of this series, we noted the average cost to replace a sales rep ($115,000), took a look at some under-the-radar facts about the sales profession, connected the onboarding and SFP…

4 Sales Onboarding Trends

In part one of this series, How onboarding impacts sales force productivity (SFP), we noted the average cost to replace a sales rep ($115,000!), took a look at some under-the-radar facts about the sal…

​Who Creates the Content that Closes Deals?—Part II

In the first part of this blog series, we examined the often uneasy alliance between Sales and Marketing. We looked at some of the reasons reps ignore an estimated 90% of the content produced by Marke…

The Cost of Replacing a Sales Rep

It's no secret that onboarding tends to be a "have to" instead of a "want to", but how do you make sure you've optimized onboarding so time and money is well spent? This is Part I in our series "How o…

​Who Creates the Content that Closes Deals?—Part I

This is one of those no-brainer questions you probably answered automatically with no conscious thought. Of course, the answer is marketing, right? After all, everyone knows that marketing creates con…

​How Sales Enablement Democratizes Sales

Sales enablement (SE) is still evolving. It’s a work in process—a moving target. In fact, it’s moving too fast to pin it down to one definition everyone can agree on. But for the purposes of th…

What is Articulate 360?

Just this past week Articulate launched a new offering, Articulate 360. In their words “Articulate 360 is everything you need for course development in one convenient subscription. Articulate 360 in…

4 Things Snapchat's Success Can Teach Us About Adoption

Snapchat first launched back in 2011 out of a fraternity with only a fraction of the functionality and the users. Today, Snapchat daily users roll deep with 58.6 million in the USA (that’s a 27.2 in…

5 Steps to Start a Video Project

There is a lot to think about when starting a video project, especially if you’re a first-timer. To avoid analysis paralysis, here are my suggestions to overcoming the barriers and actually making a…

3 Reasons to Use Snapchat for Learning

We recently discussed “What Snapchat Can Teach Us About Learning” - and, probably surprisingly to some - it can teach us a lot. The post had me thinking, what about Snapchat as a part of your lear…

8 Trends that Prove Video is Becoming a Mainstream Tool

As a training tool, video has been right under our collective noses for a long time, but its power and potential impact have been long underestimated. Today, it is gaining favor in corporate learning …

What Snapchat Can Teach Us About Learning

Snapchat is one of the fastest growing social media platforms and has an unreal level of engagement. It’s really a simple concept - you snap a picture or video, add some text or a doodle if you plea…

Thinking About Creating a Whiteboard Video? Don't

This is a tough love post. Sorry if we crushed your dreams of making a whiteboard video -- we agree there are some engaging whiteboard videos that instantly make you want one, like this (relatively) f…

6 Tips for Shooting a Talking Head Video

Talking head videos are a great option for simple, cost-effective media content. They can be great for quick corporate messages, interviews, product introductions and anything that requires a personal…

Build a Course in Under 5 Minutes

Does any of this sound like you?... You’re swamped. Your team is taxed. And there is a new course that has to get out in the next two weeks. You need a partner to complete new courses and you don’…

How Long Should Your Video Be?

How often do you finish reading an entire article? What’s the likelihood that you’re going to finish this one?...oh, awkward. Well, everyone agrees - attention spans are getting shorter and shorte…

3 Ways to Use Video Throughout the Sales Cycle

Lots of sales professionals are capitalizing on the value of video as a sales training tool. In fact, video’s impact is being felt even before the beginning. In other words, video as an onboarding t…

How to Make Your Product A Blockbuster Hit

Launching a new product is exciting and intimidating. Certainly you are thrilled to get your new product out to your users, but you also probably can't help but wonder - what if we launch and no one u…

9 Reasons to Make a Zip Course

You've probably learned by now that our new offering, Zip Course, is a fast, affordable, but equally beautifully alternative to custom eLearning development. There are plenty of reasons to make a Zip …

​3 Reasons to Use Video for Sales Training

Video training for sales reps is growing as more and more companies discover the positive impact it can have on improving sales force productivity. "Research has shown that more than 80% of learning t…

Easy Tips For Simple + Clean Course Design

As you recall, Zip Course is a new offering from Maestro that enables clients to work with us to create simple courses from client-supplied Powerpoints, Word documents, etc. Our customers get beautifu…

6 Tips for Your Best Video Script

Although I'm an instructional designer now, I once was a professional film and TV script writer; a proud member of the Writer's Guild of America, with multiple popular TV shows to my credit. I've writ…

6 Simple Ways to Polish Your Course

Here are six easy ways to add a little something extra to your course whether you're developing it yourself, using our fast and affordable Zip Course or going for something even more custom.VoiceoverA…

Why ‘Just Make a Video’ Isn’t an Option

By now you know that there tons of ways to use video to influence your audience. Whether you want to pump up your sale reps or teach a complex process - video has options. The key is that you need to …

Custom Alternative: Develop a Brand New Course for $5,000

Perhaps you've already heard about Maestro's new offering, Zip Course. If you haven't, here's a good overview from a recent blog post about them:"Many clients want to create, or refresh, a library of …

5 Types of Video with Huge ROI

If you're thinking about developing video for your next project (which is a great choice) there are 5 options to consider.Motion Graphics"Motion graphics are pieces of digital footage or animation whi…

"The Why" Behind Our Zip Course Offering

Maestro has introduced an exciting new offering—Zip Courses! We know that sometimes you need an eLearning course developed "like yesterday" or maybe you're in search of that perfect balance between …

3 Reasons Video is the Best Way to Learn

Video has quickly become one of the fastest ways to gain and keep attention. That's why the average consumer with an Internet connection watches roughly 206 videos per month and why YouTube, Vine, V…

9 Ways to Use 1 Video

I have a black tank top that is my absolute favorite tank top of all time. I wish I would have bought that tank top in every color they offered. Had I known how great it was at the time, I would have.…

Have a Sprint Planning Meeting with Yourself Everyday

Recently, I talked about what the agile movement is and what that means for how our team develops our products and our service projects (if you missed it, check it out here). It's clear that we are fa…

What is the Agile Movement?

Our team uses agile when we are developing our products and our service projects. If you aren't familiar with agile, it is defined as a "movement [that] seeks alternatives to traditional project manag…

3 Reasons We Love In-Person Working Sessions

Our team frequently goes on trips to meet with clients in-person. Over the past couple of weeks our travels lead us to Texas and Illinois for working sessions with clients. As with any trip of this ki…

What is Adapt?

We recently started to use a new authoring tool, Adapt, to produce a series of courses for a client. The concept of Adapt is much like that of Storyline; it's one of many a rapid development tools to …

The 4 Keys to a Winning Team

Even if you aren't into sports, it's nearly impossible to avoid being part of a team. You're part of a team at work, in your marriage, when you're planning a party - many of the smallest and biggest m…

4 Ways to Use Augmented Reality for Learning

With the peak hype of Pokémon Go in our wake, it's time to think (and dream) about how augmented reality could affect learning. As the technology becomes more and more accessible, what does the futur…

9 Ways to Make Learning Cool Again

Many of you are tasked with updating or modernizing content for your learners. Normally it's needed, time and technology are changing and so should your content. But it does beg the question - what ma…

5 Things Pokémon Go Can Teach Us About Learning

After dinner last night, I went to pull our grill into the garage and I couldn't help but notice the small group of people across the street huddled around their phones and pointing in my direction. N…

If You Don't Have a Bandwidth Booster, You Need One.

For many of our partners we consider ourselves bandwidth boosters. Technically speaking bandwidth is "a person's capacity to handle or think about more than one thing at the same time." And a booster …

Mobile-First Aid Kit [Free Download!]

The proliferation of mobile devices has created a hype cycle that can't be overlooked. They are everywhere. It isn't a matter of if, but when we will use them as an effective channel for content distr…

Janssen and Maestro Partnership Wins Excellence Award

Kalamazoo, MI: At the 2016 Life Science and Educators Network (LTEN) Conference last week in National Harbor, MD iPad application, YouLearn, created by, custom software company, Maestro, and, pharmac…

Is Custom eLearning Worth the Cost?

When you're on a budget, buying eLearning off-the-shelf is pretty appealing, especially to your wallet. But, as with anything, you have to weigh the pros and cons to decide if what you are giving up b…

Millennials Want Good Learning or They'll Leave

Let me hit you with three stats to wake up your motivation to kick butt with learning and development in your organization.1. 2 out of 3 Millennials express a desire to leave their current organizatio…

Introducing Zip Course

We are very excited to announce our new offering, Zip Course! Put simply, Zip Course is beautiful and affordable eLearning. Many clients want to create, or refresh, a library of courses. The challenge…

4 Things Your Content Delivery System Must Do

We spend a lot of time creating effective content for our learners. That's not only making sure they have all of the information needed to be successful, it's also ensuring that the content is in a fo…

How to Win the Exploration Stage

We learned from the post Barriers to Problem solving that we can get in our own way. Negative reactions to problems that influence our objectivity, bias' that taint our neutrality, and our natural ten…

Performance Support is a Verb, Not a Noun

One of the most basic definitions of performance support is any resource you provide that enables your employees to learn and improve their skills as they're doing real work. By this definition practi…

How to Choose the Right Tool for the Job

You may wonder why you would ever need to know what tools a developer uses to build an eLearning module for you. After all, you don't have to concern yourself with what language a programmer uses to b…

Inside Our 'Fun Week Hackathon'

We are always looking for ways to continue "creating a culture for team innovation and creativity" so this past week our six engineers dedicated to Research & Development took five days to partici…

Creating a Culture for Team Innovation and Creativity

We are always striving to keep innovation and creativity at the top of our priority list. Yes, I realize innovation and creativity qualify as "buzz words" and that you might read that and think - "duh…

Why Outdated eLearning is a Hazard

At some point the learning that we create will be outdated. The technology it was made with will be replaced, the devices it was tested on will be a few years old, and the design might even be stale. …

​Your Learners are Human

You're constantly bombarded with articles, whitepapers, and webinars about how to capture the attention of your learners. Of course, we read them for the right reasons - we are trying to make engageme…

Is Our Career Development Up to Us or Our Companies?

I recently read an article on LinkedIn titled, The Future of Learning for Our Careers is Up to Us and it really made me think about the role that the individual plays in career growth and the role the…

Is Mobile First Outdated?

Since the onset of mobile a lot of people haven't thought of much else - just mobile, mobile, mobile! And yes most audiences are on mobile, so it makes sense for you to be there too. But your audien…

​How to Use 3D Animation for Training and Selling

As a computer artist, I have always been fascinated by making what I see in my imagination real for the viewer. Earlier in my career I achieved this through painting, airbrush, and finally digital pro…

3 Ways to Keep Up With the Digital Disruption

How drastically do you think digital is going to impact your company in the next 12 months? Slight impact? Massive? "Every year, Russell Reynolds Associates surveys more than 2,000 C-level executives …

3 Types of 3D Animation

What do you think of when you hear 3D? The Matrix, video games, Pixar movies, weird glasses? Those are all 3D. Each example is using a different type of 3D with varying levels of complexity. We have f…

eBook: eLearning Refresh

Not sure if you're ready to tackle an eLearning makeover? This eBook fills in all of the gaps and gives you an actionable list of key takeaways for you to implement as soon as you can! Take a look ins…

Do You Spend Enough Time Promoting Your Content?

I have a morning reading ritual that takes me to a few different websites for some quick skimming to start the day. Topics vary from marketing, learning, and productivity, to current events and of cou…

How Learning Can Help You Get and Retain Top Talent

Everyone is trying to crack the code. How do you get and retain top talent, especially the top talent that is recently entering the workforce?It probably comes as no surprise that company culture is a…

What is Flipped Learning?

Every company wants to be as efficient as possible. To get the very most out of their team employees need to be in the field and on the floor, out getting things done. Which is exactly why learning pr…

Lessons Learned From Our Compliance Course Makeovers

Several years ago we noticed many of our clients in the medical device industry needed compliance courses to help keep their field employees up-to-date. These are usually sales reps, some of which mig…

Barriers to Problem Solving

We have a tendency to get in our own way when solving problems, which is why effective strategy requires a formalized approach. As part of our problem solving series, I'll first walk through the barri…

12 Key Trends Shaping the Sales Industry

ATD recently posted an article highlighting insights from their report, "Success in Selling: Developing a World-Class Sales Ecosystem". The article focuses on 12 sales industry trends, listed below, t…

How Technology Will Change Your Job

It's no doubt that technology is causing change. Uber revolutionized taxi cabs, Airbnb is shaking up hotels -- technology is constantly pushing us to embrace new tools and processes. While changes to …

​Why 'Coaching' Made Bersin by Deloitte's Predictions for 2016

Along with corporate learning, coaching made Bersin by Deloitte's list of Predictions for 2016 coming in at number six, "global Leadership Development, Coupled with Career and Talent Mobility, Takes o…

Does Your eLearning Need a Makeover?

When is a course ready for an upgrade? After 5 years, when new software comes out or when you get more budget? Circumstances for when and how to refresh your elearning are different for every company,…

Inside Our New Website

If you're reading this you've noticed things are different here at meetmaestro.com, and we're excited to share the details behind the launch of our updated website with you. Changes like this are a bl…

Fumble Free Kickoffs

Every football or soccer game ever played begins with a kickoff. You don't have to be an expert in either sport to know that a strong, well-executed kickoff not only gets the game off to a good start,…

Elliott Masie's 30 Under 30: Interview with Ben Alisuag

Seventh in our series of 30 Under 30 interviews is Ben Alisuag, Program Manager at NovoEd.Unfamiliar with learning's 30 Under 30? That's ok! It's an annual program put on by Elliott Masie at Learning …

Why Your LMS Isn't Motivating

How do you motivate your learners? It's a classic question and one we certainly all want to answer. Usually to answer you go back to the content. Do we need to add voiceover, new graphics, or maybe ev…

Is an LRS an alternative to an LMS?

Recently, many have asked if an LRS is an alternative to an LMS. So in this post we want to clear things up. It can be a confusing learning world with so many acronyms and each one claiming to be the …

Elliott Masie's 30 Under 30: Interview with Mandi Christensen

Sixth in our series of 30 Under 30 interviews is Mandi Christensen, Training Specialist at Caribou Coffee.Unfamiliar with learning's 30 Under 30? That's ok! It's an annual program put on by Elliott Ma…

Elliott Masie's 30 Under 30: Interview with Janine van Zoest

Fifth in our series of 30 Under 30 interviews is Janine van Zoest, Learning and Development consultant at ProfPortaal Zorg, Dutch HealthCare cooperation.Unfamiliar with learning's 30 Under 30? That's …

Writing for Millennials

We all want to reach our audience effectively and millennials are a key part of that now. That brings up some key questions - how do you write for millennials and how do you write for millennials whil…

Elliott Masie's 30 Under 30: Interview with Joshua Stoner

Fourth in our series of 30 Under 30 interviews is Joshua Stoner, eLearning Consultant / Content Developer at Curism.Unfamiliar with learning's 30 Under 30? That's ok! It's an annual program put on by …

What Google's Micro-Moments Say About Micro-Learning

Google recently released, "Micro-Moments: Your Guide to Winning the Shift to Mobile", a guide for advertisers to take advantage of our quickly shifting mobile world. The piece outlines three keys to s…

Elliott Masie's 30 Under 30: Interview with Christina Castelli

Third in our series of 30 Under 30 interviews is Christina Castelli, Social Learning Catalyst at Accenture.Unfamiliar with learning's 30 Under 30? That's ok! It's an annual program put on by Elliott M…

6 Tips For Effective Mobile Copy

"F for fast." That's the provocative opening for a fascinating article describing how people read web content (1). It continues: "That's how users read your precious content. In a few seconds, their e…

Elliott Masie's 30 Under 30: Interview with Dan Laicha

Second in our series of 30 Under 30 interviews is Dan Laicha, Instructional Designer at Bisk Education.Unfamiliar with learning's 30 Under 30? That's ok! It's an annual program put on by Elliott Masie…

Elliott Masie's 30 Under 30: Interview with Jennifer Lim Bok

First in our series of interviews with Elliott Masie's Learning 2015 30 Under 30 is Jennifer Lim Bok, Manager Talent Team (Global Assurance Learning) at Ernst & Young.Unfamiliar with learning's 30…

​Can Coaching Help Keep Messaging Consistent?

It's not really a question of can coaching make messaging consistent. The real question is: Can coaching help teach (and model) that consistent messaging is half the job? The secret is to find ways to…

The Difference Between Coaching and Training

Coaching and training are often used interchangeably, and that leads to confusion, especially when words like "mentoring" and "counseling" are added to the mix. It's not so much that managers don't kn…

Why MOOCs Should Be Considered for Continuous Learning

Harvard Business Review recently caught my attention with an article titled "Who's Benefiting From MOOCs and Why", which shed some light on the doubts around the effectiveness of Massive Open Online C…

Coaching and Mentoring

Though coaching and mentoring are often used interchangeably, there are distinct differences. What's more, failing to recognize and understand these subtle differences may muddy the objectives and…

Book Insider: Hooked

A peek inside Hooked by Nir Eyal with Ryan Hoover.A quick look at Hooked.Hooked is about how to use modern technology to leverage natural behavioral tendencies for business gain.Key motivators—plea…

4 Essential Questions to Create Your Best Storyboards

There are some things that you just can't compromise on. Storyboards have four of them.It's well understood among people who want to write a decent novel that the completed manuscript will have to hav…

Mobile Mindest: 6 Ways to Instantly Make Learning Mobile Friendly

If you aren't thinking about instructional design through a mobile lens, you're late. Use the tips and tricks in this article to catch up on the mobile trend today.It's no surprise that practically ev…

Data Driven-Part IV: “Sharpen Your Competitive Edge.”

In parts I, II and III of this blog series about Jenny Dearborn's Data Driven, we explored data analytics, its stages and its ability to generate information and insights to drive powerful game-changi…

Data Driven-Part III: “A Coach in Your Corner.”

So far we have we have met and learned a bit about Jenny Dearborn and her book, Data Driven. That was in the first installment of this blog series. In part two we dug a little deeper into data analyti…

Data Driven-Part II: “Data analytics: Go Big or Go Home.”

In part one of this series on Data Driven, How performance analytics delivers extraordinary sales results we introduced you to its author, Jenny Dearborn, a leading authority on sales enablement and t…

Data Driven-Part I: "A Sales Revolution is Coming"

A two-lane road stretching off into infinity under a sky full of numeric "clouds." Hmmm. We'll admit that the cover of Jenny Dearborn's Data Driven is intriguing. Maybe even engaging.Although ponderou…

Part II: What the FBI Can Teach Us About Customer Engagement

In Part I of this post, we introduced to you some of the techniques for building rapport found in a piece about Robin Dreeke's book It's Not All About Me. Dreeke is the head of the FBI's Behavioral An…

Part I: What the FBI Can Teach Us About Customer Engagement

Today's salespeople are caught within a tightening circle of frustration and scrutiny. Increasing pressure to be more productive. The ever-growing demands of savvy, well-informed customers. Aggressive…

Key Questions to Ask Your B2B Sales Support Team

Sales reps and the sales material/training created for them are often like two ships passing in the night. Out of sight of one another and out of mind, they slide blissfully by. Sometimes the folks be…

Part III: Experts on Sales Efficiency

In parts I and II of this series, we took a specific look at how several sales leaders in various fields answered this question: What is the number one way to improve the efficiency of your sales team…

Part II: Experts on Sales Efficiency

We're back for part II in our series to determine what the number one way to improve the efficiency of your sales team is.We've all heard it: "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." So why not …

Part I: Experts on Sales Efficiency

What's the number one way to improve the efficiency of your sales team?Ask a group of salespeople about the best way to improve sales force efficiency, and you'll likely get as many answers as there a…

Maestropieces

We love helping our partners - you - discover what's possible when learning and technology combine. To help you stay inspired by the learning you create and facilitate everyday, we created this set of…

How to Market to the New Breed of Consumer

Regardless of whether you're a B2B or B2C marketer, what industry you're in, or if you serve an internal audience of sales reps or an external audience of buyers, one thing remains the same: You are m…

Wanted: Rapid Tools That Get Mobile Learning

In October, 2014, the number of active mobile devices in the world exceeded the human population. Today, there are more than 7.36 billion mobile devices actively being used, according to GSMA Intellig…

5 Anti-Productivity Habits for Successful Reps in 2015

Sometimes the best way to accomplish something is to do the exact opposite. Before you're tempted to push your sales reps to work harder or scheduling more meetings into their days for the new year, c…

Products or Customer Experience: Which wins customers?

There's a little coffee shop near me that I adore. It's small, cozy and inviting. The aroma of freshly ground coffee greets me as soon as I open the door. The baristas are welcoming and friendly and h…

Want better results? Start prototyping.

Building software for enterprise-level customers requires us to get a working version of a product into the hands of our clients as quickly as possible—but this can be expensive. During a traditiona…

Gartner’s Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2015

Gartner's top 10 strategic technology trends for 2015 fall into three main categories: merging the real world and the virtual world, intelligence everywhere, and the new IT reality emerges. Essentiall…

Does visual design really matter?

How important is visual design? Does it really even matter if your app, online course or website is visually appealing? Sure, it's great to have something that looks nice and aligns with your brand, b…

Masie's 30 Under 30: Interview with Jessica Rydz, Health Care Service Corporation

Each year, The Masie Center introduces us to 30 young leaders in the learning industry with its 30 Under 30 award. Maestro has the privilege of interviewing several of these individuals each year. We …

Masie's 30 Under 30: Interview with Weiwei Cai of Cleveland Clinic

Each year, The Masie Center introduces us to 30 young leaders in the learning industry with its 30 Under 30 award. Maestro has the privilege of interviewing several of these individuals each year. We …

70:20:10. What it adds up to for sales reps, managers.

Although it may be rendered in various ways (70/20/10 or 70-20-10), the meaning behind the moniker remains pretty much the same. The 70:20:10 Model is a formula used by the training industry as a mean…

Masie's 30 Under 30: Interview with AJ Walther of IconLogic

Each year, The Masie Center introduces us to 30 young leaders in the learning industry with its 30 Under 30 award. Maestro has the privilege of interviewing several of these individuals each year. We …

Evergreen content and SRO

Evergreen content is a term most often used by Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts to describe content that is perpetually relevant. That is, it is content that stands the test of time. Its relev…

Focus on Feedback

Feedback is well understood. In fact, starting with a definition may seem simplistic to some. Still, we think there is value in putting us all on the same page. One treatment we especially like is act…

How to Start a Startup Week 10: Top Three Takeaways

Last week we published our Top Three Takeaways from Week 8 of Stanford’s How to Start a Startup course. If you are sitting hear wondering, “what the heck is How to Start a Startup?” see below. O…

Getting Strategic with Daniel Jefferies of Newmind Group

Strategic thinking is a critical component of success. You must have a smart plan of action if you hope to achieve your lofty. Last week, we asked our friend Kevin Romeo of Rhino Media, to share …

Masie's 30 Under 30: Interview with Melissa Milloway of JLL

Each year, The Masie Center introduces us to 30 young leaders in the learning industry with its 30 Under 30 award. Maestro has the privilege of interviewing several of these individuals each year. We …

Getting Strategic with Kevin Romeo of Rhino Media

Few will dispute the importance of strategic thinking. It’s important to have a plan of action if you hope to be successful. We asked our friend, the Lead Rhino over at Rhino Media, Kevin …

Masie's 30 Under 30: Interview with Faith Daniels, Ferguson Enterprises

Each year, The Masie Center introduces us to 30 young leaders in the learning industry with its 30 Under 30 award. Maestro has the privilege of interviewing several of these individuals eac…

Back to Basics: What is Agile?

Agile is used to describe a number of things nowadays. We speak of the need to be agile in our methodologies and our approach to problem solving. We have discussions of agile content and an agile cont…

How to Start a Startup Week 9: Top Three Takeaways

Last week we published our Top Three Takeaways from Week 8 of Stanford’s How to Start a Startup course. If you are sitting hear wondering, “what the heck is How to Start a Startup?” see below. O…

Masie's 30 Under 30: Interview with Gus Jaramillo, Ken Blanchard Companies

Each year, The Masie Center introduces us to 30 young leaders in the learning industry with its 30 Under 30 award. Maestro has the privilege of interviewing several of these individuals…

How to Start a Startup Week 8: Top Three Takeaways

Last week we published our Top Three Takeaways from Week 7 of Stanford’s How to Start a Startup course. If you are sitting hear wondering, “what the heck is How to Start a Startup?” see below. O…

Maestro Interviews Learning Leaders: Masie's 30 Under 30 2014

At Maestro, we experience the rapidly changing world of learning firsthand every day. Technology is definitely responsible for a lot of this change, but so are the innovative young minds leading …

How to Start a Startup Week 7: Top Three Takeaways

Last week we published our Top Three Takeaways from Week 6 of Stanford’s How to Start a Startup course. If you are sitting hear wondering, “what the heck is How to Start a Startup?” see below. O…

The role of practice in sales rep performance and productivity: Part 2

In part one of this article we introduced a basic framework for how to optimize sales force productivity that included three essential pieces: alignment, content and continuous learning. Part one…

Could stuff turn your sales reps into superheroes?

What if your sales reps had superhuman abilities enabling them to do more each day? What if they were so productive that they were able to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars more each year for …

​How to Start a Startup Week 6: Top Three Takeaways

Last week we published our Top Three Takeaways from Week 5 of Stanford’s How to Start a Startup course. If you are sitting hear wondering, “what the heck is How to Start a Startup?” see below. O…

The role of practice in sales rep performance and productivity: Part 1

Learn. Practice. Perform. No one argues with the sequence. And whether you’re a little leaguer just getting a feel for bat and ball, a newly initiated carpenter, a new mom or a freshly onboarded sal…

How best practices pave the way to sales success.

When methods, procedures or techniques consistently prove to be more effective and/or efficient than alternative means to accomplish an end, they earn acceptance as a benchmark. Validated by repeated …

7 scary facts about technology

Most of us regard technology as a time- and labor-saving boon and the path to a happier, more convenient and more carefree life. But are there causes for concern? In fact, can technological advances s…

How to Start a Startup Week 5: Top Three Takeaways

Last week we published our Top Three Takeaways from Week 4 of Stanford’s How to Start a Startup course. If you are sitting hear wondering, “what the heck is How to Start a Startup?” see below. O…

Successful apps invest in users’ ROI

What’s the key differentiator between the apps that succeed and those that fail? The users. They decide its fate. It doesn’t matter how confident or proud we are of the app. Whether or not the app…

Q4 2014: Don’t let it go to waste.

It’s October, which means we’re officially in Q4. It’s the season where we start thinking about how we’re going to close out the year: making quotas, reaching goals and maximizing what’s lef…

​How to Start a Startup Week 4: Top Three Takeaways

Last week we published our Top Three Takeaways from Week 3 of Stanford’s How to Start a Startup course. If you are sitting hear wondering, “what the heck is How to Start a Startup?” see below. O…

Back to Basics: What is Content?

We talk a lot about content. We discuss the importance of a strong content strategy. We explain how to deliver content and how to gain valuable feedback. We talk about iteration and continuous …

7 Qualities Every Sales Productivity App Should Have

At Maestro, we’ve created quite a number of apps, specifically those designed to increase sales force productivity. We have learned a thing or two about how to build them to be successful. So, to he…

How to Start a Startup Week 3: Top Three Takeaways

Last week we published our Top Three Takeaways from Week 2 of Stanford’s How to Start a Startup course. If you are sitting hear wondering, “what the heck is How to Start a Startup?” see below. O…

Dynamic Planning

Have you ever found yourself in this situation? You’re mid-way through the fiscal year when you’re presented with a fantastic opportunity. Unfortunately, you’re forced to pass it up because it w…

How to Start a Startup Week 2: Top Three Takeaways

Last week we published our Top Three Takeaways from Week 1 of Stanford’s How to Start a Startup course. If you are sitting hear wondering, “what the heck is How to Start a Startup?” see the next…

Insider Tips: Build an app, change the business

If you’re like many professionals today, you’re striving to make a mark. Be the champion. Change the company. One way to do it is to launch an enterprise app that solves a troublesome business pro…

Maestronauts Code Michigan

A big congrats to four of our very own Maestronauts: Software Engineer Josh Kovach, Art Director Amy O’Donnell, and interns Addison Webb & Kendrick Cline as well as our friend, Dillon Daudert. This …

A lifestyle that would make the Jetsons jealous

In 2013, the IDC estimated there to be 9.1 billion units connected to the Internet. That’s a big number. But just how big is it? Well, also in 2013, there were 7.16 billion people in the world. That…

How to Start a Startup Week 1: The Top 3 Takeaways

Over the next several weeks, Y Combinator President, Sam Altman, is teaching a Stanford course lecture series designed to be a one-class business course for people who want to start startups…

46 Sales Productivity Tips

At Maestro, we're pretty big fans of anything that can help increase sales force productivity. Many of us have our own tips, tricks, gadgets and apps that help us be more productive. We asked a…

9 things your content might say if it could talk.

Hey, there. Yeah, it’s your content talking. Oh, I know. You don’t think of words, graphs, charts and the like as actually having anything to say—in actual speech anyway. After all, we j…

The $300,000 Content Problem

We’ve all heard the term “time is money”, but a recent study by IDC has proven it. It found that by saving a single enterprise rep 60 minutes of prep time per week a company could re…

Tech Trivia. No. 4

Were you privy to these little-known facts about two tech titans? Be inspired by Maestro's fourth installment of Tech Trivia. Tech Trivia: Tales of two titans. William Henry Gates, II…

If grandparents used Twitter...

Adopting new technology can be tough. In honor of National Grandparent's Day, this Sunday, September 7th, we thought we’d test out what happens when grandparents adopt new technology. We t…

Are your reps giving buyers what they want?

What do buyers want to hear from your sales reps? What do they expect from them in an age when customers supposedly have all the information they need at their fingertips — before they…

Tech Trivia. No. 3

Test your knowledge of these tech tidbits in this third installment of Maestro's Tech Trivia. You'll see that some technology is born well ahead of its time. When and where was the first u…

A Message From Your Sales Reps About Content

As a sales rep, I sometimes get sales and marketing material that I can’t use or access efficiently. Please understand: I’m not complaining as much as I’m communicating. I’m just telling you t…

Tech Trivia. No. 2

How much do you know about the technology you take for granted? Find out in this second installment in our series of Tech Trivia.What was the first album to be released on CD? The first s…

Tech Trivia. No. 1

How much do you know about the technology you take for granted? Test your tech smarts with these interesting bits of trivia. What was the original name of Yahoo? As electrical engineering gra…

Can you have it all?

Can you have it all? I mean can you run a company and be a mom? I think the answer to that question depends on how you measure life and motherhood.In a recent interview with PepsiCo’s CEO, Indra N…

Rally outside the lines: Colleges & Universities

Maestro’s event application was launched just a few short months ago. We created it to be simple but beautiful. Easy to use, but effective. Structured, but flexible to a range of applications. So it…

The Secret Recipe for Craveable Sales Apps

What's the secret to apps that sales teams crave? Here's the recipe for apps your reps will devour. Be sure to subscribe to receive more posts like this to help support your sales team.

Rally outside the lines: Recurring Meetings

Just a few short months ago, we were excitedly launched Rally, an event app created to be a beautiful, simple, and functional hub for event attendees. It makes event resources accessible, like ag…

Rally outside the lines: Festivals

Rally’s Endless Applications: FestivalsWhen we launched Rally, we knew it had potential. We knew it would be used for more than just conferences. But now that it’s been on the market for a few mon…

Rally outside the lines: Holiday Shopping

We created Rally to be a simple, beautiful event application. We wanted to provide a tool that is functional, effective, and in line with the event’s brand, but free from all the extra bells and whi…

Rally outside the lines: Sporting Events

Just a few months ago, we excitedly launched Rally, a beautifully designed, simply built event app. The product was created to be a functional hub for event attendees. It aims to provide resources, ag…

What's New and What's Next from Google I/O

Just as we were wrapping our minds around all the announcements made at WWDC, it was time for Google I/O. Here's a breakdown of what grabbed the attention of our developers and what they expect to see…

10 Ways Event Apps Help Exceed Attendee Expectations

When it comes to planning and managing an event, providing an exceptional experience for your attendees is your top priority. One key requirement to ensuring your event exceeds their expectations is c…

The Famous on Technology

What’s in a name? To be sure, Shakespeare did not have technology in mind when he asked that unforgettable question. The fact is, when it comes to the role of technology in life, names—even th…

Baking the Perfect App

I recently came across an article claiming to have the secret to baking the best chocolate chip cookie EVER. As someone who loves to bake almost as much as I love to eat cookies, I needed to know…

Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2014

Wow. What a week. Another WWDC has come and gone, and I’m still a bit too gobsmacked to process exactly what just happened. For the first time in quite a while, the focus was entirely on the develop…

What's New and What's Next from WWDC

With this year's WWDC behind us, it's time to start applying all the new tools and tricks that were announced. We'll be watching as the yet-to-be released software and updates are made available. Be s…

What does it take to be a Maestronaut?

Recently a young man from a local high school asked us an intriguing question. Although it was simple, it didn’t take us long to realize it needed more than a simple answer. Thanks, Antonio, for m…

Apple’s WWDC starts TODAY!

Apple’s WWDC conference begins TODAY and three lucky Maestronauts are there to experience the excitement first hand. We can’t wait to hear what the company has in store for developers and Apple fa…

Introducing Maestro Open Source Frameworks for Objective-C

Take a gander at our portfolio of work, and it’s easy to see that Maestro raises the bar for design and user experience in custom enterprise mobile software. What’s not quite so easy to …

Truce.

I’m sure you’ve heard the news by now: Google and Apple have declared a truce in their 4-year patent battle and have even agreed to join forces on patent reform. The companies have been raging a…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Interview with Carl Meyers III

Eleventh in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Carl Meyers III, Senior Learning Tech Specialist with White Lodging Services. Maestro: Tell me a little bit about your company and your role …

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Interview with Dara Kahn Peskin

Eleventh in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Dara Kahn Peskin, Marketing Projects Specialist at Goodwill Industries International. Maestro: Tell me a little bit about your company and yo…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Interview with Khoa Lam

Ninth in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Khoa Lam, Senior Learning Tech Specialist with Qualcomm. Maestro: Tell me a little bit about your company and your role within it. Khoa: Qualcom…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Interview with Bethany Burdt

Eighth in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Bethany Burdt, Trainer / Technical Writer at Iowa State University Child Welfare Research Maestro: Tell me a little bit about your company and y…

Internal Mobile Optimization

It’s probably not news to you that your website should be mobile-friendly. But did you know that almost half of mobile users feel that a website that isn’t optimized for mobile is a sure sign th…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Interview with Adam Curci

Seventh in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Adam Curci, Senior Learning Technologist with a leading FORTUNE 1000 company. Maestro: Tell me a little bit about your company and role within…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Interview with Leonie Tijink

Sixth in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Leonie Tijink, Group Learning & Development Manager for MCI Group Maestro: Tell me a little bit about your company and role within it. Le…

Mobile Insights: Interview with Paul Kern of Audi

Second in our Mobile Insights interview series is Paul Kern, Technical Curriculum Designer at Audi of America. He was instrumental in taking Audi’s training from a more traditional format with pri…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Interview with Becca Buckner

Fifth in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Becca Buckner, Training & Development Specialist for Carhartt, Inc. Maestro: Tell me a little bit about your company and role within it. Becca:…

Mobile Insights: Interview with Steve Schuller of JCPenney

Contemplating a move to mobile? You’re not alone. Last year, one study found that 98% of executives believe mobile devices will be essential or very important to sales within the next 18 months. A…

Tech Trends for 2014: Powering Mobile Devices with Kinetic Energy

Mobile has really changed the way we live, hasn’t it? Not so long ago, when you were away from your desk, your clients and coworkers couldn’t reach you. When you and your sweetie had a date nigh…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Interview with Gina Fanelli

Fourth in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Gina Fanelli, Instructional Designer for a major financial institution. Maestro: Tell me a little bit about your role. Gina: I am an instructi…

Is Microsoft Betting on the Longevity of iPads?

It’s anticipated next week that Microsoft’s new CEO Satya Nadella will announce Office for iPads. As part of the company’s Cloud and Mobile Strategy, it is expected that there will be full s…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Interview with Azar Taufique

Third in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Azar Taufique, Technical Trainer and Subject Matter Expert, Ericsson Maestro: Tell me a little bit about your company and your role within it. …

Tech Trends in 2014: Optimizing Communication with Apps

Anyone who has a target audience (and really, that’s all of us) knows that it’s getting harder and harder to reach our desired targets. Whether you’re trying to support your sales team, get in…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Interview with Heidi Gifford

Second in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Heidi Gifford, Organization Development Consultant for the American Red Cross Maestro: Tell me a little bit about your company and your role wi…

Tech Trends For 2014: Efficiently Becoming More Energy Efficient

How much did you pay for gas the last time you were at the pump? Afraid to admit it? In our family we like to brag when we find a good price. There is even an app that points you to the cheapest sta…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Interview with Dan Jackson

Last November, Maestro had the pleasure of speaking at the Learning 2013 Conference in Orlando. If you had the opportunity to attend, too, you might already be aware of Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Th…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty Interview Series

What does the future of learning have in store? What challenges lie ahead? What exciting changes are coming our way? How will we incorporate new trends and technologies into our corporate training s…

Tech Trends in 2014: Brain Off. Technology On. Your Connected Home

Do you ever stop to think back on how much technology has increased your productivity in your lifetime?  When you think about the past, it’s natural to segue into the future.  I wonder h…

Tech Trends in 2014: Maestro Predicts the Future of Technology

Throwback Thursday. It’s officially a “thing”. By now, we’ve all seen some fun #tbt posts. At Maestro, we thought that after reminiscing on Thursdays, it might be fun to look forward on Frid…

Will this give “Happy New Year” a new meaning?

Laughter as a metric? We’ll admit when we first read an article proposing companies include it as an indicator to track progress in the new year, we didn’t think much about it. After all, plotti…

Smitten by Technology

My Dearest Technology, I recently saw an ad for a movie called “Her". Maybe you’ve heard of it. It’s the (kind of creepy) story of a man who actually falls in love with his Siri…

Judge a Book by its Cover

All of my life I have heard the saying “don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” We all know what this means, don’t judge things by their outer appearance, but rather what is on the inside. Sure…

Whadyaneed?

That question was the actual title of a submission John posted to our blog on September 4, 2013. And it’s pure John Sadowski. In fact, it’s so much more than that. It’s a summary of an entire …

Welcome to the Family, Rally!

We are very excited to announce that Maestro has added an event application to our newly expanding family! Everyone meet, Rally! Rally, meet, everyone! Great, now that that is done, let me give yo…

Maestro is Expecting!

Have you heard the news? Maestro is expanding the family! For years we have been strongly focused on creating custom solutions to help our clients solve specific business challenges that they are e…

Black Friday, There’s an App for That

Black Friday. The Friday following Thanksgiving. The craziest shopping day of the year. A full 24-hours of sales. Are you ready for this? The term Black Friday, coined in the 1960s, was used to sig…

I am Jen Randall, and This is How I Work.

Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan. Current Gig: President, Maestro Current mobile device: iPhone 4S and iPad mini (thanks for the wonderful Christmas present, team!) Current computer: MacBook Air On…

Just a Small Town Bro, Living in a Broseph World.

I remember I was sitting at the head of the table in the Conference Room during our Creative Team meeting. As we were discussing transitional interfaces, I looked around the table when it hit me–I…

Make Mobile, Not War

Last week I read an article titled, “CMOs vs. CIOs: Time to Team Up?”. This question only left me with one of my own… Why wouldn’t it be time for CMOs and CIOs to team up? Traditional…

Which Way to Mobile?

Each of us at some point has been faced with a pivotal decision-making opportunity like that of Alice from Alice In Wonderland. We wanted direction, but we didn’t know where to go. Then in come th…

Mobile in Healthcare: Past and Present

Maestro has seen first-hand the ways that the healthcare industry has evolved over the past decade due to the proliferation of mobile technology. Everything from selling, to physician education, to …

The Business of Software and the Minimum Viable Product

Software is the great equalizer. It doesn’t take much to get started in this business. The product is virtual, so there’s no inventory costs to deal with. Distribution is also virtual, so as lon…

Mobile Technology and the Office Chair.

Remember the first day you started your job? You came to the office a bit nervous and a bit early, you sat down at your desk, and the first thing you did was make your office chair your own. If you …

My Summer at Maestro

We were delighted to have Will Sawyer join us for the summer as our first iOS programming intern. In this post, he shares his experiences with the technology, people, and space that make up Planet M…

How to Outsmart the Triple Constraints: A Phased Approach to your Mobile Project

In a post I wrote this past May, I discussed the impact that the Triple Constraints – a compromising dance between time, scope, and budget – have on developing your mobile app project. Most impo…

Be Grateful for Being Grateful.

We launch every week at Maestro with a short staff meeting we call water cooler. It’s a holdover from past days when the few of us that made up Maestro literally clustered around the water cooler.…

I’m Sydney Hill, and This Is How I Work.

Inspired by Lifehacker’s "How I Work" series, Maestro is helping to provide a glimpse into the work styles of our team, as well as a few of our friends and partners. Would you like to answer …

Mobile Application Management: A More Elegant Way to Manage BYOD

Most folks in charge of managing mobile devices in an enterprise environment know about mobile device management (MDM). We’ve talked about it on this blog a few times before, and it’s a great fo…

I’m Carrie Heath, and This Is How I Work

Inspired by Lifehacker’s How I Work series, Maestro is helping to provide a glimpse into the work styles of our team, as well as a few of our friends and partners. Would you like to answer the…

Is it an eLearning solution?

Over the last five to ten years, eLearning has become a viable and highly effective way to address business problems that can be solved or mitigated through training. Advances in computer processin…

Differentiate or Die

I recently stumbled across a commentary titled, “Why retail must differentiate or die.” This may sound harsh, but it is not an exaggeration. It’s like the Hunger Games of business. The author…

I am Lindsay Tjepkema, and This Is How I Work.

Inspired by Lifehacker’s How I Work series, Maestro is helping to provide a glimpse into the work styles of our team, as well as a few of our friends and partners. Would you like to answer these q…

The ABCs: Frameworks We Use in Mobile Strategy Design

When growing up we learn our ABCs very early in life. I have five kids and each one of them learned their ABCs before preschool, my oldest learned her ABCs both forward and backwards around the age …

Mobile Learning and Our Youngest Employees

TeachThought released an infographic showing parents’ thoughts about preschool and K-12 students’ use of mobile devices for learning at home and at school. It’s been almost 15 years since I t…

I'm Amy O’Donnell, and This Is How I Work.

Inspired by Lifehacker’s How I Work series, Maestro is helping to provide a glimpse into the work styles of our team, as well as a few of our friends and partners. Would you like to answer these q…

iOS 7 Updates for Business

iOS 7 brings radical change to the iPhone and iPad, but the new features in store for the enterprise are going to fix a number of pain points we've been feeling since the introduction of Exchange supp…

Getting Off Square One

Last week in the third installment of this four-post series, we offered some hints on how to get ready to go mobile. Think of that one as how to get to square one. Consider this week’s post a guid…

I am Zach DeYoung, and This Is How I Work.

Inspired by Lifehacker’s How I Work series, Maestro is helping to provide a glimpse into the work styles of our team, as well as a few of our friends and partners. Would you like to answer these q…

Mobile: Your Personal Agent?

I love the idea of an agent: A person or object that acts on your behalf and for your wellbeing, doing things you may not be capable of doing on your own. An agent is like a personal extension of yo…

How to get started

In the first post of this series, we examined the remarkable potential of mobile. We followed that up with a review of many of the reasons that might be holding people back—in spite of the widespr…

UX-Driven IT

These days, IT is responsible for supporting an unknown number of devices and applications, each requiring its own connection to data behind the firewall, in a landscape that seems to change dramati…

What’s holding you back?

In the first installment of this blog series, we surveyed some of mobile’s immense possibilities, and we concluded with a startling revelation. According to the ASTD whitepaper Mobile Learning: De…

Apple’s 2013 World Wide Developer Conference

The Apple event of the season sold out in 71 seconds, and Maestro was lucky enough to score 3 of the 5000 or so tickets available to developers around the world. We were introduced to a lot of great…

Mobile Device Management

My good friend and co-worker, Sydney Hill, blogged recently about ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) environments, and how the trend continues to increase, with 76 percent of enterprises formally su…

What is possible with mobile?

Mobile seems to be everywhere nowadays. Nearly everyone is carrying around immediate access to the Internet in their pocket, thanks to a variety of devices that are as compact as they are versatile.…

ASTD ICE 2013: A Maestro Recap

Several Maestronauts attended the ASTD International Conference & Expo (ASTD ICE) in Dallas last month. And while our offices felt a little lighter, we were relatively few compared to the almost 9,0…

What if we didn't have technology?

Imagine you wake up one day—maybe tomorrow—and the technology we have come to rely on in modern learning development suddenly doesn’t exist. Now, I’m not talking about an apocalyptic vision…

Today’s Learning Sweet Spot

Venn diagrams. In elementary school I can remember picking out my favorite color of construction paper (definitely orange at the time) and freshly sharpened crayons to plot the similarities and diff…

The Mobile Disruption

When you were a child were you ever called “disruptive”? You were talking while the teacher was lecturing, you were pretending the kitchen pot was a drum while your mother attempted to talk on t…

The Importance of UX in Mobile

You've probably heard, mobile is kind of a big deal. Here at Maestro, we love it. But we're not alone. Over 20% of the respondents to our recent mobile survey said their mobile apps are "Extremely i…

INSPIRATION. What’s it worth to you?

On a Scrabble® board it amounts to 13 points. In the game of life, its value is incalculable. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning. What started as a post to spotlight…

Rapid Development Technology: Crutch or Rocket Pack?

Too little time! Too few resources! Too little funding! Too many demands! The pressures are well known. The solution? Many think it’s rapid development. But the question to consider is this: Have …

The Consumerization of IT

IT has traditionally been the gatekeeper of technology in the enterprise, and why not? Technology-based systems are a complicated mess of segregated infrastructures forced to work together to manipu…

Food for thought. Fuel for action.

Earlier in this series, we wrote about the value that entrepreneurially minded employees can add to a company, its spirit and the hearts, minds and collective will of colleagues. We noted that some …

Going Mobile: Design, Develop and Implement Apps to Change Performance

Earlier this year, the Maestro team made a Harlem Shake video. If you aren’t familiar with the Harlem Shake, it’s a dance craze going viral on the Internet, with people creating their own videos…

Driving Performance Support and Sales Enablement with Mobile Devices

Sales reps are extremely mobile, often working from their cars and home offices. Because of their mobility, sales forces are increasingly being equipped with tablets. One study of pharmaceutical rep…

Hello, Kalamazoo? This is the future calling…

You never know when or where the next Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg or Nick Swinmurn will appear. They might be walking the streets of Kalamazoo right now. Or perhaps they are walking thro…

Mobile as a Market Differentiator – Get Started with the Basics

We are big fans of strategy at Maestro - always have been. Over the years, though, strategy has been going through a transformation because of the pace of business, dynamic markets, and changing tec…

The Good, the Bad, and the BYOD

BYOD is an acronym that many individuals have probably never heard of, but in corporate America it is becoming increasingly more common. In fact, Gartner says BYOD programs “herald the most radica…

Mobile Performance Support at the Grocery Store

Gone are the days of the hand-written grocery list – these days all you need is your cell phone. Like many people, when I’m at the grocery store I use my smartphone at least a handful of times. …

Kalamazoo: Where potential for entrepreneurs is growing.

While Kalamazoo may not be the center of entrepreneurship, we’re certain the heart of its spirit beats here. We’ve heard it. Felt its pulse. Even watched the rise and fall of excited breath as y…

The Triple Constraints of Your Mobile App: Time, Scope, and Budget

During initial conversations regarding mobile applications, it’s important to have a “dream big” moment, write out your wish list, shoot for the stars! If nothing were holding you back what wo…

NASDAQ and Mobile: Becoming A Game-Changer

A long time ago in a far away land called New York City, thousands of bustling brokers wheeled and dealed to trade company stocks and securities in an effort to make money and catch the next big wav…

Ethno-wut?

We use a lot of terms in the UX world. Sketching, wire-framing, personas, journey maps, etc…. It can become confusing rather quickly if you're sitting through a sales pitch or poring over a s…

Day 342: Happy Birthday, Genius.

April 18, 2013: Just a couple of weeks ago, we celebrated a milestone: the fortieth anniversary of the first call made on a cellphone. Yes, four decades ago on April 3, 1973, Martin Cooper, a Motoro…

Mobile in the Retail Industry: A 2-for-1 Deal

Out of the top 300 retailers surveyed this past fall (2012), 47% have a mobile site and app. Nearly half …hmmm …that is not exactly as stunning a statistic as I was expecting. However,…

Learning On Our Own Terms

We all learn a little differently. As a kid, I remember taking an assessment that told me what type of learner I was. How great, right? Having my teachers know that I best learn socially and visuall…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Maestro Interviews Theo Moser

Eighth in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Theo Moser, Engagement Manager for Harvard Business Publishing, a Leadership Development company with a focus on helping large, global organizat…

We don't like waste, which is why we like mobile.

No one likes waste. But when jobs take more time or money than planned, or when activities over-demand resources and under-deliver on impact, we are wasteful. The best teams and businesses find ways…

HTML5: A Ride on the Hype Cycle

With limited technical background to rely on, I decided I needed to enlist in some self-study to get caught up on all of the HTML5 buzz. So, what is the deal with HTML5? Is it good? Bad? Better than…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Interview with Leeann Watkins

Seventh in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Leeann Watkins, Project Leader for the Training Department at Southwest Airlines.  In its 42nd year of service, Dallas-based Southwest Air…

Blended Learning: The Best of All Worlds

I recently had a client ask me, “is instructor lead training (ILT) dying or is that something people still ask for?” Thinking back to the ILT project we finished up just a couple weeks back, the…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Maestro Interviews Nick Elkins

Sixth in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Nick Elkins with Artisan E-Learning, which creates custom eLearning courseware using Storyline, Captivate, Lectora, and Articulate Studio. Within…

Day 302: The rules of the road can affect the course of business.

March 8, 2013. A few days ago, Michigan was doing its winter thing again—sabotaging the morning commute with another few inches of snow. As I inched along, I had plenty of time to focus on my …

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Maestro Interviews Stephanie Dedhar

Fifth in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Stephanie Dedhar, Learning and Performance Consultant with BP’s Online & Informal Learning team. Here, Stephanie partners with other learning t…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Maestro Interviews Stephanie Knabe

Fourth in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Stephanie Knabe with Population Services International (PSI), an international development non-profit organization dedicated to serving poor and…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Maestro Interviews Kelly Young

Third in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Kelly Young, Program Manager in Learning for Humana, a Fortune 100 Health and Wellness company based in Louisville, Kentucky. Her role within the…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Maestro Interviews Niraj Swami

Second in our series of 30 Under Thirty interviews is Niraj Swami, Director of Technology with Ellegro Learning Solutions. Ellegro is a provider of custom learning services. As part of his role at E…

Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty: Maestro Interviews Megan Bowe

If you attended the Learning 2012 Conference earlier this year, you’re probably familiar with Elliott Masie’s 30 Under Thirty list, honoring the next generation of leaders in the world of learni…

Insight from Tomorrow’s Learning Leaders

There is a lot of talk lately about Millennials joining the workforce, the rapidly changing world of learning and bridging the generational gap in the workplace. We are in the midst of significant c…

Which is better: Custom solutions or packaged products?

I am as guilty as anyone when it comes to making the convenient choice. As a society, we lean towards what is expedient; we can’t help ourselves. We choose to direct deposit our paychecks to save …

Event Apps: Interacting Before, During, and After the Main Event

This Sunday well over 100 million viewers will tune in to watch the Super Bowl; there will be countless beers cracked, chips consumed, and bets won…and lost, I suppose. Over the past couple o…

Day 226: For some, Christmas comes. For others, it flows.

December 21, 2012. I had no way to know that my most extraordinary Christmas gift would be a present I can’t taste or feel or smell? I will never wear it or set it on a shelf to admire. It won’t…

Day 223: Our gifts arrived early this year.

December 18, 2012. Christmas is around the corner, but as we look back on November 12 through November 16, we can’t help thinking that, for Maestro, the gift-giving season started early this year.…

Mind the Gap

You know the adage, "The only thing constant is change?" Yeah, often reverberated by those who are wise enough to know that it’s true. All things are in some type of motion. Cars racking up miles,…

Featured Findings from the Masie Center’s Mobile Pulse Survey

The Masie Center just released the results of its global Mobile Pulse Survey on mobile learning trends.  The results are based on responses from 823 global organizations and provide great infor…

Global Entrepreneurship Week in Kalamazoo

It felt like high school homecoming week all over again, full of excitement and anticipation.  A new theme for each day, time spent with friends, inspiring speakers and engaging activities, a p…

Making Learning Mobile: Tips from eLearning Guild

The eLearning Guild recently released an eBook entitled, “The eLearning Guild’s 61 Tips on mLearning: Making Learning Mobile”. Since Maestro is obviously a pretty big proponent of mobile learn…

Seems like this newbie has been here all along.

Ever get the feeling that a new kid on the block has been here all along, just waiting for the right time to step up? That’s exactly how we feel about this new Maestronaut. As we told many of you…

How mobile performance support combats the long tail of learning

Have you ever watched the show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” Adult contestants attempt to answer grade-school level questions to see how much they have retained since graduating element…

The Ultimate User Experience

Today, more people have mobile phones than have electricity or safe drinking water. In India, there are more cell phones than toilets! We all have access to incredible technology, and as designers a…

Day 161: All dressed up and one place to go.

October 17, 2012. Although there were no fluffy gowns and nary an updo in sight, Maestro’s party last Thursday seemed more like a debutante ball than an open house for clients, prospects, friends …

The Gamification of Learning: Everyone is a Closet Gamer

Catch Phrase, Euchre, Pictionary, How to Talk to a Customer About Knee Implants, Connect Four, Monopoly…Which of these is not like the other? I’m guessing it did not take long for you to s…

Day 138: What rocket football taught us about personal success.

September 24, 2012. Well, perhaps not taught us. Reminded is probably more accurate. Anyway, here is how it all went down. We were watching a seven-year old Maestronian, Mackenzie by name, during hi…

Lessons learned by a new Maestro employee

My friends and I used to joke that you were not a “real person” until you had graduated college and started working. A month into my position as an Ambassador for Maestro, it is safe to say that…

Day 120: In Maestro math, 36 + 644 = 573

September 6, 2012. Clearly, some clarification is in order. You see, the Maestro team has expanded from six to 36 members in the last three years. And we have grown revenue a whopping 644% during th…

Kalamazoo Gazette: Kalamazoo area is well represented on the Inc. 500|5000

This article originally appeared in the Friday, August 24, 2012 issue of the Kalamazoo Gazette By Al Jones | [email protected] KALAMAZOO, MI – The list of Kalamazoo-area companies included among …

Day 110: Good-bye, London Olympics. Hello, Maestrolympics.

*August 27, 2012. *We were so immensely proud of Team USA that we wanted to do something, in our own Maestro way, to pay respect to the Olympic spirit. So just hours after the closing ceremony for t…

Learning Solutions: New Thoughts in Performance Support

An article about the increasingly popular topic of performance support written by Maestro’s very own Phil Neal and Carla Torgerson was featured in this week’s issue of Learning Solutions magazin…

Design Studio Methodolgy—Take One.

When I was brought on board here at Maestro a few months back I was tasked with helping craft our overall UX strategy and process. We went for some quick wins right away, introducing sketching and w…

Day 91: Core belief 8—Life is meant to be lived.

August 8, 2012. A few days ago we shared Maestro’s core beliefs at a team meeting. This is the eighth in a series of posts to provide greater depth and dimension to a few things we know for sure. …

Day 90: Core belief 7—Honesty begins with being true to ourselves.

August 7, 2012. A few days ago we shared Maestro’s core beliefs a team meeting. This is the seventh in a series of posts to provide greater depth and dimension to a few things we know for sure. W…

Day 89: Core belief 6—Humility makes us all teachable.

August 6, 2012. A few days ago we shared Maestro’s core beliefs at a team meeting. This is the sixth in a series of posts to provide greater depth and dimension to a few things we know for sure. …

Day 79: Core belief 5—We all deserve a chance to do our best.

July 27, 2012. A few days ago we shared Maestro’s core beliefs at a team meeting. This is the fifth in a series of posts to provide greater depth and dimension to a few things we know for sure. O…

Day 78: Core belief 4—Passion becomes power.

July 26, 2012. A few days ago we shared Maestro’s core beliefs at a team meeting. This is the fourth in a series of posts to provide greater depth and dimension to a few things we know for sure. …

Day 77: Core belief 3—None of us is as good as all of us.

July 25, 2012. A few days ago we shared Maestro’s core beliefs at a team meeting. This is the third in a series of posts to provide greater depth and dimension to a few things we know for sure. S…

Day 76: Core belief 2—If businesses had love languages, ours would be service.

July 24, 2012. A few days ago we shared Maestro’s core beliefs at a team meeting. This is the second in a series of posts to provide greater depth and dimension to a few things we know for sure. …

Day 75: Core belief 1—Without purpose, work is just work.

July 23, 2012. A few days ago we shared Maestro’s core beliefs at a team meeting. This is the first in a series of posts to provide greater depth and dimension to a few things we know for sure. W…

Day 65: The value of values.

July 13, 2012. A few days ago we shared something with the members of Team Maestro that we have been preparing for a long time—our core beliefs. Actually, such truths go by several names: core…

WWDC 2012: A Brief Recap

Last week thousands of geeks, fanboys, nerds — pick your favorite term — descended upon San Francisco for the annual Apple developers conference, WWDC. This year tickets sold out in an a…

Presentation - More than Bells and Whistles: Applying New Technologies to Learning

Webinar - Mobile Learning: Starting a Training Revolution

Tablet technology gives the mild-mannered index finger the power to launch a learning revolution by tapping into unimagined possibilities. With mobile devices come new opportunities to leverage how …

Day 22: Ready to do the ‘Zoo.

June 1, 2012. There’s a difference between being in Kalamazoo and being a part of Kalamazoo. For the past five years, Maestro has been on the fringes of the city, located miles from downtown. Even…

Maestro’s growth is a lesson in higher math

Business has changed significantly in the last few years for Maestro eLearning in Kalamazoo — the company grew 111 percent last year. “Over 40 percent of that business was in mobile app dev…

Day 15: David words. Goliath task.

May 25, 2012. Thank you. When you look at these two slim words, they seem so undersized for their assigned job. Just eight slight letters to move mountains of gratitude from our hearts into the publ…

Day 8: Smudging complete.

May 18, 2012. Did someone really draw it? Or did it just grow out of what business-as-usual thought was right—the way it ought to be? Either way, there it is—that distinct line between w…

Day 1: Giants at work.

May 11, 2012. Today, we had our first meeting in our beautiful new office space in downtown Kalamazoo. We still know it as the “water cooler,” the Maestro version of the weekly staff gathering. …

Maestro in the News: Kalamazoo Gazette features Maestro growth and move downtown

Kalamazoo high-tech firm Maestro eLearning celebrates fifth anniversary with move downtown Article originally appeared in April 24, 2012 issue of the Kalamazoo Gazette Written by Yvonne Zipp: yzip…

Extending the Experience Beyond the Device

Maestro’s very own UX Designer, Tim Todish, was recently featured in UX Magazine. Not only are we excited for Tim, we love his article and think you will, too. As Tim sums it up, “There are many…

Learning Solutions 2012: Low-Five

Yesterday I posted five great training principles that were discussed at eLearning Guild’s Learning Solutions Conference in Orlando. I still get excited when I think about the great sessions and c…

Learning Solutions 2012: A High-Five

A few of us on Team Maestro took a sunny excursion to Orlando for eLearning Guild’s Learning Solutions Conference, hereafter to be affectionately referred to as LSCon. What a great show for anyone…

Why social learning is making new friends.

We have all participated in some form of social learning in the workplace. Even if you don’t think you use social media for learning personally or professionally, you have likely talked with a col…

Make mine mobile.

When it comes to content, should yours come as a full meal or in bite-sized pieces? Which serving will best meet your needs? The way we learn is changing. However, the way our brain and our body en…

What’s learned in Vegas… is shared on Maestro’s blog.

Team Maestro had the pleasure of mixing, mingling and learning with 1,200 of our closest friends in the training and development world at this year’s ASTD TechKnowledge Conference in Las Vegas. T…

The Career Path of a Triple Threat: Trainer, Coach, and HR Specialist

In this interview, part-time business owner Marc Lavoie divulges his career path and gives our readers some great resources. Q. How are you involved in the training world? At present I run my own …

Use These Quick Tips to Eliminate Anxiety or Fear In Front of the Classroom

Diane McKeever has been a software trainer for almost 25 years and has taught over 100,000 students in the United States and Europe. Every day she earns her title of “Certified Patient Person” b…

Interview: Virtual Classroom Reviews

Karen Hyder has been teaching about technology using technology since 1991 when she began offering applications-software courses for Logical Operations/Ziff-Davis Education in the middle of the Wind…

Training Tactics and Resources from a Senior Instructional Designer

Q. What do you do at your current role for Management Concepts? Management Concepts does most of their business with the Federal Government, and thus, my role encompasses creating dynamic learning …

4 Tips to Retain Attention from a Learning and Performance Specialist

Dr. Paula Cruise specializes in measuring learning and performance outcomes and developing bespoke learning/performance approaches. In her two-pronged approach, she examines the effectiveness of exi…

Using Collaboration to Retain Knowledge and Influence Younger Generations

VJ Esguerra helps create and maintain online training at L-3 Communications Link Simulation & Training. As a Lead Instructional System Designer, VJ monitors and seeks to continuously improve the…

Business Owner Terrence Seamon Uncovers What It Takes to Turn An Organization Around (Interview)

Q. What inspired you to start your own company? The idea of having my own company has been in my heart and on my mind for most of my 30+ year career. I’ve always wanted to be my own boss. Call my…

Teaching and Learning: An International Experience in North East India (Interview)

Tim Allchin currently consults in instructional design, advanced facilitation and Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) consultancy with a focus on Early Childhood Services. In addition, he writes …

Encouraging Younger Generations to Participate (Interview)

Q. What inspired you to become part of the training world? I became part of the training world because I wanted to teach, but I was concerned about the politics, pay, and experiencing burn out while…

Training Consultant Gives Answers to Dealing with Difficult Students (Interview)

Jane Britt is an experienced Training Consultant. She started her career as an Events Manager, but after a number of years she went looking for a career change and decided to enter the training worl…

Technical Writer and Designer Discloses Secrets to Designing User Guides and Websites (Interview)

Ash Hibbert is a contract technical writer and training designer at Victoria University with over five years of experience in his field and eight years of tertiary qualifications. Over his career he…

Training Suggestions from a Non-Profit HR Director (Interview)

Joyce Baker is the Human Resources Director for Friendship Community Care Inc. Friendship Community Care is a private, non-profit organization serving individuals with developmental disabilities in te…

Advice on Buy-In, Training, & Creating Cultural Change (Interview)

Q. What are your responsibilities as a training process manager at Nationwide Insurance? We manage Tier 1 projects throughout the enterprise. My job is to lead thought around learning needs in the…

Two Recommendations to Overcome Two Important Training Challenges (Interview)

Jean Church is a Technical Editor and Writer for Northrop Grumman. His major strengths are in Configuration Management; creating training videos and presentations; writing Help Files; designing e-le…

Consultant Susan Burroughs on the Changing Structure of Organizational Learning (Interview)

Susan Burroughs is currently contracting, consulting and freelancing in eLearning, informal learning, web design and mobile app design. Her experience spans over 10 years in program leadership and…

Technical Leader at Cisco Systems Presents the Importance of Delivering Value (Interview)

Charlie Justus works as a Technical Leader at Cisco Systems in the Learning Development Solutions Group where he has been developing and delivering training for Cisco software engineers for the last…

Technology Manager Discusses Technological Trends That Will Impact the Future (Interview)

Frank Nguyen managed the development and deployment of learning strategies and technologies for various Fortune companies including American Express, Intel and MicroAge. He was formerly an assistant…

Technical Writer Discusses Dealing with Short Audience Attention Spans

Stephen Calhoun works at Diebold, Incorporated as a Technical Writer and Online Training Developer. His job primarily consists of taking information and then incorporating it into computer based tra…

Guest Post - Angela Maiers blog

Marquina M. Iliev is the Founder of Bandillero LLC. Bandillero LLC represents companies and brands in the social media space. The company has worked with marketing major fashion brands like Cole Haan…

eLearning Evangelist Predicts The Evolution of Instructor Led Training (Interview)

Brian Patrick works at ITT Educational Services, Inc. in the Learning and Development organization, providing technology-based learning solutions to both headquarters and to all campus-based employe…

Manager Advises Trainers on the Best Learning Solutions (Interview)

Michelle Marko has over 12 years of experience in the online industry and 10 years of experience in online advertising. Currently, she is the Ad Operations Manager for ImageShack Corp. Her main role…

Beyond the Bullet Point List

I have a love/hate relationship with PowerPoint, or Keynote for that matter. I love them because they are incredibly easy to use. Anyone can open up the application and within minutes, and without m…

Inside Look at a Salesperson’s Teaching & Learning Process (Interview)

Ryan Nixon works as a Financial Representative with the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network. His role within the organization is to build a base of clients in his financial services practice. Q. S…

Tips for Mastering Your Messes

Do you need a break? We all need to get away from our everyday routines from time to time. So you finally find the time in your busy schedule to slip away for a long weekend. After the long trek bac…

The Training Challenges of Past and Present (Interview)

With over 12 years of experience as an Instructional Designer, creating instructor-led, Web-based, and blended learning solutions, Shelley Curto is currently transitioning from an employment positio…

Tips to Make Your Training More Effective (Interview)

Dr. David Glenz works at Johnson Controls in the Global Learning Development for the Building Efficiency division. Part of Dave’s responsibility is crafting learning and performance improvements for…

What You Should Do As a Virtual Team Member (Interview)

Aaron Perkins advises multinationals on creating and cultivating learning organizations across cultures. Aaron has six years experience working for organizations in the business of learning including…

Advice & Tidbits from Over 10+ Years of Experience (Interview)

Yaqina Raheem has used her expertise of instructor led training at the US Army of Corps of Engineers-Savannah District, St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Cente…

Training Manager Discusses His New eLearning Project (Interview)

Edward Cam is currently the Manager of the Chamberlain Training Academy. He directs development, deployment, and delivery of training programs for The Chamberlain Group, Inc. serving employees and dea…

Closing the Gap Between Stakeholders (Interview)

Jon Lloyd is the senior Vice President of Client Services and Operations at Velocity MG (VMG). Jon wears many hat including: sales, partner programs and development, and business operations for the co…

Training Coordinator Illustrates Ways Focus Groups Can Help (Interview)

Karen Deering has over 16 years of experience in the training and development industry as an instructional designer, professional trainer, group facilitator, and performance improvement consultant. …

Technology is Here to Stay: How Do You Deal With It? (Interview)

Matthew J Hamparian is the Training Process Manager in Nationwide Insurance’s Business Transformation Office, and his day-to-day responsibilities center around business readiness in the IT space wit…

Everything You Need to Know to Become the Ultimate Trainer

These thought leaders have been so impressed by the information training professionals have shared with Maestro that they have published the interviews on their personal blogs. If you would like to …

HR Assistant Defines the Prerequisites for Success (Interview)

Randy Aung is a Human Relations Assistant with Gibson Overseas, Inc., a leading manufacturer of dinnerware, flatware, and cookware sold to major retailers such as Walmart, Macy’s, and Target. He …

Straight up from the Project Manager

I was recently asked to give a webinar on Project Management. I love to share things I’ve learned with others, so naturally I readily accepted the invitation. Shortly thereafter I started havi…

The 21st Century is a Changing Ball Game (Interview)

Aisoorya Vijayakumar’s passion for writing, combined with her love for English as a language, makes it easy for her to adapt to the role of a technical publications and eLearning professional withou…

To free potential, capture attention

Not long ago, Maestro unveiled this site and its accompanying brand promise—potential set free. We think it’s a good summary of how we help people grow through the various ways we organize, transl…

Announcing the Winners of the Maestro Awards

The OSCARS of the eLearning industry are prepared to announce the winners of the Maestro Awards. We had a number of highly qualified candidates making it tough to choose, but we have selected the &l…

Use Robert Mager’s Principles As a Guide to Training

Larry Smith is a Global Enablement Specialist for Hewlett Packard Software and Solutions. His primary role is to provide technical training and enablement support for a suite of Application Security…

Veteran Trainer Explores the List of Pros and Cons of e-Learning

Tara Furiani is an internationally experienced corporate training executive with over 12 years of comprehensive experiences with expertise in facilitation, trainer development, hospitality writing &…

Use This Trainer’s Tips To Create the Ultimate Webinar Experience

Vicki Ziesemer graduated from UW-Milwaukee in 1984 with an education degree emphasizing computer-assisted instruction. She has more than 25 years experience in creating and delivering technical trai…

Monster List of 99 Online Learning Resources: Productivity

[What’s a “roundup”? Every so often, we highlight helpful articles from around the web into a roundup post.] The Monster List of 99 Online Learning Resources Want the scoop on e…

Top 10 Qualities Every Trainer Should Have (Interview)

Kathy Schroeder is the Training Manager at Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. She oversees all aspects of training and professional development for attorneys and staff. Her primary responsibilities include th…

Directory of 2000+ Learning Tools; A Must-Watch TEDTalk on Education

[What’s a “roundup”? Every so often, we highlight helpful articles from around the web into a roundup post.] Directory of 2000+ Free & Commercial Learning Tools Looking for …

Fortune 500 Trainer Advises Us: Do This, But Avoid That.

Sandy brings the highest degree of senior management level experience and expertise to our teams. During his 25+ year career with numerous high profile organizations, he has successfully held Genera…

Learning Success and Cognitive Load: 11 Ways to be Hyper-Focused

[What’s a “roundup”? Every so often, we highlight helpful articles from around the web into a roundup post.] Why ‘Cognitive Load’ May Be the Secret to Real Learning …

Does anyone want to take your project for a spin?

As a designer, I‘m naturally passionate about the “exterior” of things, the way it feels, the way you feel when you’re using it, and ultimately the impact it has on you. For instance, what mak…

Training Director Discovers eLearning As the Solution to Their Most Difficult Challenges (Interview)

Tammy Slayton, SPHR is the Human Resources and Education and Training Director for The Arc of Steuben. She has been with the agency 15 years and has been working in the HR field for 25+ years. She i…

300,000 Students Reveal eLearning Needs; 77 Ways to Learn Better (Roundup)

[What’s a “roundup”? Every so often, we highlight helpful articles from around the web into a roundup post.] New Survey: 300,000 Students Finally Reveal their eLearning Needs Ne…

Instructor Reveals Awkward Moments and Tricks for Overcoming Them (Interview)

Steve Singkofer, an IT Training Specialist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, is currently working with four other trainers on the Mosaic Project, training much of the University staff on five …

How to be an eLearning Winner: List of Instructional Design Models (Roundup)

[What’s a “roundup”? Every so often, we highlight helpful articles from around the web into a roundup post.] 5 Ways to Prepare & Be an E-Learning Winner Originally presented…

“Mom, tell me about the day I was born.”

“Mom, tell me about the day I was born.” Each of my sons loves to hear stories about his birth-day, or about when he was a baby, or about how my husband and I met, or about our wedding day.I find…

Keeping Employees and Retaining Knowledge: Hans Hirschi of Yaree on Employee Turnover (Interview)

Hans Hirschi is the co-founder and president of Yaree. He uses over 20 years of experience gathered within the Training and Development arena around the world to lead his company and to help custome…

Procrastination Now Demystified; 100+ PowerPoint Tutorials

[What’s a “roundup”? Every so often, we highlight helpful articles from around the web into a roundup post.]Procrastination Now Demystified in 10 Points Imagine a switch that you can flip for in…

Coca-Cola Instructional Designer Envisions 21st Century Training

Jonathan Keith is the instructional designer and eLearning developer for Coca-Cola Enterprises. He works with internal business partners to analyze training needs, design and develop training soluti…

Rethinking Learning Styles; The Purpose of Learning (Roundup)

[What’s a “roundup”? Every so often, we highlight helpful articles from around the web into a roundup post.]Rethinking Learning Styles: Are They Really Worth Our Time? Thought-provoking piece&md…

What children can teach us about learning

“Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandpile at …

Key 2011 Training Trends, Fast PowerPoint Mastery (Roundup)

[What’s a “roundup”? Every so often, we highlight helpful articles from around the web into a roundup post.]Learning Technology Trends to Watch in 2011 If you like being a tech wizard, then this…

A Stronger Commitment to Training

We were lucky to land an interview with Philip Tobias, a versatile technical and marketing communications professional. Through his business, Philip Tobias Enterprises, he provides a broad range of se…

Just like riding a bicycle.

As spring emerges in Michigan, I’m looking forward to many things that the season brings; one of those is dusting off my bicycle after the long winter. It’s a Trek mountain bike painted in my fa…

Business Case for eLearning; Beat Procrastination (Roundup)

[What’s a “roundup”? Every so often, we highlight helpful articles from around the web into a roundup post.] 13 Reasons to Use Technology for Teaching Maybe you know that technology can real…

Who Doesn’t Want to Create Amazing Learning?

Tiffany Rapplean is a senior learning consultant who has worked with a variety of clients including Time Warner, Newmont Mining, Lucent, GE and ING. She is currently working with Ernst & Young devel…

Purposeful storytelling or artful engagement?

I recently received the March issue of Inc. magazine. In it, there were many examples of engaging the audience with a story. I enjoyed reading Jason Fried’s article entitled “How to Get Good at …

Take the time to be healthy - or have to take the time to be sick.

In my crazy little world of working for a start-up, mothering 3 teenage dudes, maintaining a happy marriage, squeezing in workouts and time for friendships and service to my community, wellness is c…

Instructional design goes by many names.

Although I wasn’t thinking about instructional design (ID) when I began my career in education, I was using some of its fundamental techniques. I just didn’t know it. Back then, I was facing eig…

When good work happens to good people…

What makes our clients want to do business with us over and over again? What makes others say things like, “Who wouldn’t love working with creative geniuses” and describe us as “… hig…

So this is what a milestone feels like.

I feel like I should be holding a sign or something. Maybe a couple. One could say Welcome. Another: We’re Glad You’re Here. Yet another might have Hooray or Let’s Celebrate. Now that I think …

Will the real Maestro please stand up?

We are Maestro. Individually, we are musicians, craftsmen, pirates, caregivers, poets, dreamers, parents and children at heart. But seekers one and all. Collectively, we are teachers, problem solver…