Free streaming videos offer employers training options

They could pay $25 for a book, $695 for a DVD, $450 an hour for a presentation by a knowledgeable attorney or $5,000 for specialized consultants.

Or, companies can have their workers log on to a La Mesa, Calif., company's Web site at any time of day to watch a video at their leisure - and not pay a thing.

"We were pretty surprised that no one was doing this," said Adam Pearson, the 23-year-old who developed the Workplace Training Network's use of video streaming technology. "It just seemed like a logical step for workplace training."

WTN introduced its streaming video business - www.workplacetrainingnetwork.com - on July 1, piggybacking on a consulting business run by Pearson's mother, Kit Goldman. For 14 years, Goldman has used live-action skits to illustrate workplace issues in her Live Action Edutainment business. Pearson, Goldman and Memo Mendez partnered in the new venture.

"Experience showed us that educating people about sexual harassment, discrimination or other workplace issues was more effective and more powerful in the live-action presentation," Goldman said. "We wondered if there wasn't a way we could take advantage of technology for our product."
But WTN is taking a big leap forward by offering the streaming video for free. WTN finances its business by selling 30-second commercials placed in the middle of the 45-minute video.

"We have a way to provide training free to employers and that's a very important aspect," said Goldman, adding that the videos are available in both English and Spanish.

Bob Cerasoli, a veteran San Diego advertising executive, thinks WTN is onto something.

"They have a big advantage in the marketplace because they can offer this service to companies for free," said Cerasoli, who is president of the Odd Days division of CerasoliStafford Media Management. "They are advertising-supported, which differentiates them from anyone else out there."

WTN produced the sexual harassment video - the first of two installments on the topic - at a cost of $44,000. The second harassment video will be done this fall, to be followed by videos on diversity, discrimination and conflict resolution. The company gets legal guidance from Nixon Peabody, a Rochester, N.Y., law firm with more than 600 attorneys.

Cerasoli cautioned, however, that to attract advertisers, the company will have to be able to show that it is delivering its product to a mass audience.

WTN is well aware of that. It is hoping that companies not only require managers and supervisors to get sexual harassment training but implore all employees to educate themselves.

"It just makes sense," Goldman said. "If your employees understand what is and what is not sexual harassment, you have a better chance of not having incidents in your workplace."

Since 2005, California has required all supervisors in companies with 50 or more employees to receive two hours of sexual harassment training every two years. WTN's sexual-harassment training includes a 26-question test that participants take after watching the video, which Goldman said can be used to satisfy the state requirements.

In addition, Goldman said she has scripts for 100 workplace issues available from Live Action Edutainment that can be used for developing new streaming videos.

"There are 149 million workers out there as a potential audience," she said. "We think we can customize these videos for almost any corporate training need."

Maybe the best endorsement for WTN comes from Kevin Lynch, business development manager for The FeedRoom, one of world's leading streaming servers, whose clients include Intel, Cisco, Wal-Mart Stores, the Pentagon, General Motors and Hewlett-Packard. The FeedRoom is streaming the WTN videos through its broadband network.

"I see thousands of business ideas that come by my desk," Lynch said. "This one got my attention. We were pretty impressed with the business model and how they were using the technology in a new way. It doesn't matter that they are a startup. They've got an idea that is new."

© Copley News Service