Do your members need to learn more about a particular issue, practice, regulation, or technology? Are industry employers grappling with a specific workplace challenge or skills gap? A solution to both these problems is a learning challenge week that gets the entire member community to focus attention on one issue.
A learning challenge week is a short-term, intensive marketing campaign for learning activities dedicated to a specific topic or skill.
Members (and their employers) benefit from a learning challenge week by acquiring new knowledge, skills, and perhaps even a few new acquaintances. But your association comes out way ahead too.
During a learning challenge week, members interact with your association every day and get used to relying on your association for educational content. Ask for only 10 to 20 minutes of their time each day. Because the challenge will come and go in a flash, remind them they don’t want to miss out.
Host the challenge week’s microlearning modules on your learning management system (LMS) so members can easily explore other programs. Suggest opportunities to go deeper: a webinar, microcredentialing program, or online course related to the topic.
Introduce members to a specific competency, like an AI skill, or give them the opportunity to sharpen an in-demand skill. Or address a shared problem, like a new regulation or emerging challenge, or give a new spin to an evergreen topic, like safety.
During a learning challenge week, everyone’s awareness and knowledge is raised as they go through the content at the same pace together. Schedule mini events throughout the week to give participants a chance to interact with other members.
A learning challenge week creates a sense of momentum on a critical issue. Launch a new initiative while you have everyone’s attention.
This might be the first time a member’s tip-toed into learning. A free, 15-minute mini lesson turns out to be easier to complete than they expected. Show them what steps they can take next to learn more.
After members complete the challenge week, encourage them to sign up for a 30-day challenge starting in a few weeks. If the 30-day challenge is popular, next year, offer both options.
At the week’s conclusion, promote a mix of free and paid deeper dive activities:
Invite members to sign up for an accountability partner to keep them on track as they pursue follow-up activities.
For the upcoming 30-day challenge or online course, put together cohort groups of participants.
Generate a new revenue stream from sponsorships by supplier members who wish to share their expertise and gain exposure during the challenge week.
Focus on one skill or issue. Design content requiring a time commitment of only 10 to 20 minutes a day. If they want to do more, you’ll give them options, but they’ll get enough from the official content alone.
Send a daily email with the suggested task: a 10- to 20-minute microlearning module that’s part of a self-paced mini course. Include an optional self-assessment in Day 1’s module. Each module includes:
Dedicate an existing discussion forum in your online community to the learning week. Share reflection questions and a hashtag for the social media channels most popular with members.
Kick off the week with a town hall, reminding members why this topic is so critical right now and telling them how to get the most out of the experience. Schedule additional free educational events throughout the week. Always offer chat rooms during virtual events.
On the last day, celebrate the end of the challenge with a trivia night featuring questions related to the week’s topic. Encourage chapters to host their own happy hour version.
Offer a CE credit (if possible) and digital badge to those who passed 70% of the quizzes and completed 70% of the assignments.
Encourage participants to reflect on their accomplishment and plan their next steps. Provide a promo code with an expiration date to get them to register for a program while they’re still motivated.
Here’s some inspiration for your association’s learning challenge week.
Help participants master a new competency with:
In addition to daily micro-lessons, schedule:
Promote the week well in advance so participants are ready for:
Schedule this week as a teaser for an upcoming leadership academy.
If your industry/profession has a busy time of year, schedule this week before that period.
The common success factor for any learning challenge week is a user-friendly LMS that hosts a variety of learning content, sends reminders, and tracks who’s participating, who abandons, and which activities are the most popular. To find the best LMS for your association, check out our Ultimate Guide to LMS Selection and Implementation.