Online enrichment has been exploding in the past 2 years, and Chess has been one of its leading verticals, BUT there are critical challenges, and unique opportunities that this new medium represents, hence we invited the top experts in this field to share best practices that drive growth in the field of online chess classes.
In this fascinating event we will cover:
Our panel of experts includes:
Online enrichment has been exploding in the past 2 years, and Chess has been one of its leading verticals, BUT there are critical challenges, and unique opportunities that this new medium represents, hence we invited the top experts in this field to share best practices that drive growth in the field of online chess classes.
In this fascinating event we will cover:
Our panel of experts includes:
Hello chess course creators. We're thrilled to have everybody here today. We've got an excellent panel joining us from all across the globe. Lots of chess involved there. We've also got some great audience members who we will hopefully engage because they have great chess businesses in person and online. So today we're here to talk about a few things. I'm going to read them off how to convince parents of the value of online chess. How to leverage online teaching for development fund, how to onboard and manage a very large group of chess teachers. Cause we've got some big, big companies here and how to differentiate yourself. So we can't wait to see how the programs grow of our panelists. And we also we're here as a community. So we hope that the programs will grow for the audience members who are also part of the chest community and specifically the online chest community. Speaking of community. We are here because of our leader at click to Dota, Tamir and Dotan. We'll welcome everybody. And take it.
Dotan Tamir:Thank you, Josh. Welcome everybody. I'm very excited for this webinar. Uh, so hi, all I'm town. I'm from click too. Just to give you the context. We are at the chronology solution for the enrichment providers who are looking to thrive at the online space, but click to isn't only an end to end software platform. We actually understand. That at what turns an online course into an amazing experience and journey for kids. I got some stuff to show you at the end. Uh, and so you'll have to stick with us to the end for a glimpse of all that. Good, but it's not going to be hard because this discussion today is very relevant to where the industry is right now. Online is here to stay. So we all have to Excel at. And there's a lot to do. We've got some challenging questions for our wonderful panelists. So Josh ready? Let's start
Joshua Chernikoff:let's rock and roll. So before we do set some, some ground rules here, just some ideas. Remember. We have a very serious audience. We have CEOs of big companies. We have founders of big companies all in the chest space. So while we're enamored with our panelists, we also really do want to hear from our audience. So please participate. The chat is also a perfect place to network. So please feel free to chat and chat with everybody. It's a great spot. Make sure that you also hang out. As Dotan said, there will be a special offer for a strategy. Call that strategy called dementia by dotage and Joyce. Who's helping us in the chat as well. So we are going to get started. We're going to start with Evan. Raven. Evan is a U S chess national master. He's the founder of premier chess. We met him literally walking around New York city. And so that was pretty cool. He currently is in 80 programs and companies, uh, including Google. So Evan, here's your question? You've got three minutes, but you're, you're good at being on the clock. How do you convince parents of the value of online chess learning?
Elliott:Yeah. Thank you,
Evan:Josh, for having me. So I think really the biggest thing is. Letting them know that it's as good if not better, uh, actually than in-person learning. Um, we do do, obviously a lot of in-person learning a lot of school programs, uh, lots of different things, uh, in person, which is, which is great. Uh, but the virtual community is great, just that we're coming together, uh, during this time, I actually like the last few month trends since I met Tim, uh, in the virtual world, uh, comes to mind. Um, you know, we also have had, um, exposure to students, literally, uh, around the globe, um, and, uh, you know, look at something that is actually, I would say relatively easy to do. Um, you know, in the beginning of COVID we actually uh, big time built, uh, in our platform, uh, with lead chess tournament. Um, for instance, it's actually a lot easier, uh, as things are paired, you know, almost immediately, uh, you know, when you're Vive, for instance, in a, in a school program, you know, it can take, you know, 10, 15 minutes just to figure out like all the kids are playing, uh, and UNT color, uh, you know, for instance, so it's, uh, you know, a lot of time, right? Um, We've also made it a generally a little bit more affordable. Uh, you know, since things are, you know, online, we don't have, you know, truckers, you know, traveling, uh, you know, as much, uh, you know, things like that. Um, we can also generally fit, uh, you know, more. Uh, you know, into some of our classes, um, at the same time higher to keep, you know, ratios, uh, we also, uh, you know, are able to get, you know, more like guest instructors, uh, you know, I've actually collaborated with a lot of other chess companies, um, around the country, uh, you know, like, uh, you know, trust for life, for instance. Um, so, um, yeah, it really it's been a, you know, A different type of, uh, environment and, uh, yes, things are obviously going back in person a little bit. Um, but, uh, you know, I don't see it like a virtual environment stopping at all. Uh, and it's only, uh, you know, continuing, um, yeah, I mean, Elliot said, uh, you know, it, it it's expanded opportunities globally. Uh, and it's true, you know, we actually had In the last couple months, several students from Israel, um, one actually from Sydney, Australia. people all over, um, I've, had coaches coming in from Israel, uh, for instance, so, yeah um, it's just a great, uh, community and, uh, I look forward to, uh, seeing it grow
Dotan Tamir:Yeah. So I have an email that's, uh, one of the. The strongest points. I think it's the opportunity to meet kids and others from everywhere, uh, which isn't an amazing added value of any, any online, uh, um, enrichment program or any online course. Um, by the way, anybody on the panel has a interesting story about, um, somebody who joined that would have never joined. If it wasn't online. Elliot shaking his head.
Elliott:Yes, absolutely. It's uh, I can just say that when we went online, instead of serving students live in one location, primarily in licensing elsewhere, we now have live students in 37 states and I'm sure the same is true with Evan and with many others. Uh, and that's where I say the opportunity has really expanded a really fun story is a homeschool kid in the United Kingdom, joined our class. She's homeschooled because she performs in this, um, program for drama and her she's on stage. And so she's homeschooled because of her schedule and she was able to join some of our virtual classes. So some really fun stories I've come out of, out of. All
Joshua Chernikoff:right, we're going to keep the spotlight right on Elliot. You throw it on yourself. So we'll keep it on you. Elliott national master in chess, the author of a pawns journey and the founder and CEO of chess for life. Uh, chess for life exists to help kids develop life skills through the game of chess. And you know, this should not be hard then for you to elaborate on how do you leverage online teaching for developing character? And life skills while keeping it fun.
Elliott:Thank you, Josh. And thank you to attend for putting this together and also, you know, kudos to Haven, Evan, and the many others who are, who are serving kids globally and expanding through this scenario of online, you know, at chess for life, our mission is just like you stated to teach life lessons through the game of chess. And I was personally quitting chess originally when the light bulb went on, as this was such a great vehicle to accomplish this. Today, our mission is to impact a million youth per week with life skills through the game, whether directly or through licensing and then empowering others. And we're very happy to have our tools in front of a couple of hundred thousand students who have access, even though we work with a smaller group one-on-one in small groups. So how did this affect the reality was when we went online, we went, what are we going to do to ensure that the mentors. And what we teach is not lost in an online space. We have never wanted to be the best chess teaching company and chess is a basic skill, but we have certainly striven to help kids succeed in life. And so when we went online, we saw multiple ways that we could do that. Yes. It's more difficult to mentor in a virtual space, but it's not impossible. So how do you do that? Chess, as we know, teaches complex problem solving skills, right? There's many of these spatial awareness and many, many basic skills that come through chess, independent of how you teach it. In many cases to us, it's the mindset. That brings that added layer of life skills and character development. So for example, the first life lesson that we consider a cornerstone that can be taught virtually as well as in person, anytime is in chess and in life, you can win. You can draw, right? Nobody wins or what else could happen?
Tim:No, no, no.
Elliott:You can learn with this. There is no losing curve ball. If your mindset. Is one of learning. How many of you? And I would imagine everyone in the audience and all of us have gone through painful experiences that in the moment felt like a total loss. Yet, if you look back at what you learned through that experience, isn't that the very thing that helps you achieve who you are today. So our mindset is critical and you can do that online or in person. Do you embrace a checkmate against you to say, how did that happen? What did I learn from it? And how do I get. better That's why I became a master, embracing the learning. And so imagine what that does for students. If they are not afraid to fail, if you change F a I L to stand for first attempt in learning. So this is a cornerstone mindset that I believe has created. For students to be willing to fail forward. Secondly, we teach sportsmanship, fair play And how do you do that again? You have a choice. Is it win at all costs or is it considerate of others and working better together? We must be collaborative collaborators to achieve solving the big complex problems we face in this world. You don't do it alone. You don't do it by being selfish. You do it by working together. So fair play is essential. When we have students fall into the trap of winning by cheating, it is really losing. That is the way to lose, but we use it again as a mentoring opportunity. To work with the student and the parents to go look, you made a choice, understand the consequences of that choice. It's going to be found out and it's going to hinder your growth and others will not trust you. And trust is foundational for achievement in many areas. And then on top of that, we have this principle of that another life lesson that we teach called the can-do attitude. Again, essential for success among chess players. If you play somebody who's far ahead of you, what is your mind? You go in and going, oh, I don't have a chance. Or you go in with a mindset of, Hey, I'm going to give it my all. And the worst case is I'm going to learn. So your mindset is can-do attitude. If you think you can, you probably can in many cases, but if you think you can't, you're always right. You will not achieve if your mind says you cannot achieve. And so those are just two of the main. Life principles that I believe can totally be done online. I love to see it in person. I look forward to more of that happening, but that's just a snapshot of how I believe you can achieve bringing life's life, lessons and skills to your kids. Focus upon what your goal is, then figure out how to do it virtually. There's always a way.
Dotan Tamir:So many good lessons and one phrase that they will never forget. Um, but really about what I really learned from you now, Elliot is that online is still. Is still offering all of that, right? It's not something that you can do. And I, and now when I'm thinking about the future of not just education is online, the future of work is online. The future, a lot of things are gonna change and people are going to need those online skills. So learning online is also leading to being a better, a more successful online player overall, um, in, in, in the future. Um, All right.
Joshua Chernikoff:So there was a lot learned there. I'm still digesting that I wrote down L SLI and I'm sure we'll use that on our call tomorrow for our team. It was a good one Elliot. So we're going to talk to Alec fishermen. Alec is a us national chess master. I see a theme developing here with our panel is the co-founder and executive director of dot com. One of the eldest and most popular online chess schools across the globe. So that means. For our next question, Alec has to keep his standards up across the globe. So here's your question, Alec. How can you onboard and manage a large group of teachers again while keeping high standard?
Alik:Yeah, thanks for this, eh, you know, very impressive introduction. Yeah. I think that the key is establishing an effective framework of coaches with the right personality and skills, as well as providing them with a content that they reach enough and flexible to. adjust to where different types of profiles of face students. So on the coach side, being a strong chess player doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't necessarily make one, as you know, a good coach, right? A good coach is far beyond just knowing the game. Well, um, good coaches, should possess skills and communication and listens to their students and being able to collaborate and keep them engaged. Uh, in addition to being just a good chess coaches and then knowing the game. Right. And also the chess program is another very important aspect to keep the community engaged and provide the value. So as RSU, we have a years proven that content of. The best practices. And they're just materials that we give to our coaching staff and they teach based on the security column. And we also make this curriculum adaptive enough where two students just level interest and the pace of their progress. So I think that combination of this tool, having the right content and identifying, identifying poachers with the right personality, this is what really keeps, uh, makes us great and keeps and enables us to provide value to our company.
Dotan Tamir:So Alec, um, just to get a clue, right? Um, your average co coach, they work with you, what, a few times a week for a few hours. Is it usually, uh, have you noticed any difference in when hiring, uh, for the in-person. Or actually you didn't do a lot of in-person in your case, right? So it's mostly online, but so you have the most experience here probably on the online space. So give us one magic tape on how to hire an amazing coach and doing it all online. Like what, how do you make sure they really keep their high standards throughout the whole course and throughout all those.
Alik:Yeah. So things that, again, it comes down to their personality and they're looking at the, our audience, it's all over the world, you know, all Asia, Europe, United States everywhere. And you can see there, the cultural differences in different places. And also we have students that. You know, a different from different ages and different backgrounds and different goals in chess, right? So we have also a variety of cultures that each possess or better fit to specific geographies or specific levels of play, or even, you know, some coaches that work better with kids. And we try to correlate and attach the right coach to right the students. But again, at the end of the day, I think it comes down to a right personality. And having cultures that not just, they want to stay there for 45 minutes and just deliver the continent leave. But someone that really interested in seeing and really happy with the thing is students are progressing and achieving their own goals. And it's just the personal skills, eh, in front of anything else.
Joshua Chernikoff:So it's, it's interesting, you know, that you mentioned that out because when I, when I look at the whole panel and we'll introduce the Oracle. He's a national chess master. You guys all are. Okay. So you have to differentiate yourself. So the, or your question before, before I give you the question, a former us national champion in the K through nine and K through 12 division, a five time reigning, Colorado state champion Dota. Did you get everybody in the chess world to show up? Because this is pretty amazing. You guys have to differentiate yourself. So you're, how do you differentiate yourself in the online chess space? Not as an owner, you probably have to do that anyway, but how does your company differentiate yourself?
Lior:Thank you, Josh. And thank you Dalton as well for having me here. Um, it's a pleasure to be joining all of you today and, uh, I think that, you know, it, it's, it's a very, um, a very kind introduction. And I like to tell my students that we're all, we're all pots buzzers when it comes to chess, meaning we're all weak players. It's just that there's a, there are different degrees. Of potters. And so, for example, if you put me up against an international master, I will probably lose badly international master would lose to a Grandmaster. A Grandmaster would lose to a well to Magnus, Carlsen, let's say, and Magnus Carlsen would get crushed by a chess program on my cell phone. Um, and so in a sense, chess is, is by its very nature, a very humbling experience, or I think it should be, um, I think. To become a strong chess player. One has to be brutally honest with himself or herself about where we're going wrong. And as, as Elliot eloquently, put it earlier, um, you know, to be winning or learning and taking every loss as an opportunity to learn every mistake as a chance to grow and improve. And it's those kids who do that and adults as well, who are willing to. swallow their pride and not stubbornly make the same mistakes over and over again, who really bring their game to the next level. So I strongly agree with Elliott and the philosophy of his wonderful program, chess for life that, um, we should be, um, Of course to differentiate yourself, the possibilities are endless and there are some programs that will focus primarily on the chest itself and on helping to turn out masters and future grandmasters. Um, but I do believe that chess is An utilized, uh, educational tool. It's something that can help people of all ages, all backgrounds to learn very valuable life lessons. And, um, I think that one of the best ways that the online format in particular can help to differentiate a program. Is that the online world has, changed everything in that it's made the world much smaller. It's connected all of us in a way that chess has been doing for thousands of years, probably around 1700 years. But you know, chess is a game that I like to call the great equalizer. It, uh, it brings people together regardless of their religion, their political beliefs, their gender or sexual identity. Rich and poor come together, young and old that we run, um, chess matches between senior citizens and kindergarteners. Uh, so it's a game that's accessible to everyone transcends borders and barriers. And I think that, uh, the online format is really the perfect format to do that because you can connect with people living on the opposite side of the globe and still make friends with them and have a personal connection with them. As I have with, with several people who I've made friends with, who don't speak English or Hebrew or Spanish, my languages, and I don't speak their languages, but we have one in common and it's the language of chess. And that's really a beautiful thing because, um, you learn so much, not only over the board, but also about their culture and their background and their music and literature. I remember as a kid falling in love with Russian culture and trying to adopt a fake Russian accent to intimidate my opponents, because I thought it would make me a better chess player. But, um, no, I, I do think that chess being such a universal game, universal language, it's important to bring that element into our programs as much as possible. And the online format allows that better than even better than in person. Um, And I don't want to overstep my time limit. I probably already have,
Joshua Chernikoff:I'm running 11 seconds over. Okay. Well, okay. I bought us some time earlier. Go for it. Thank
Lior:you. Now I'll just close then by saying that, um, I think that to differentiate and to really, uh, Stand out in, in, in, uh, in the online sphere or in person it's important to know the audience and when you're working with children, as many of us do here, um, I think that humor and storytelling really goes a long way because you want to meet the learners where they're at. And if all of us were children, once it's hard to remember now, When you have, um, when you have humor, when you have a personal connection to, um, to your pieces, you know, when you genuinely care about those pieces, maybe because they become characters in the story, and those stories have chapters each week with, with, uh, you know, a new chapter to these progressive, uh, lesson plans. Those are things that we do, including, um, themes for Halloween lessons and things like that. Um, just to get the kids more engaged and to make the program a little more unique by combining chests with other, with other passions or other interests or other walks of life. Um, and, uh, I'll just end by saying that it it's sometimes goes a little too far. In the sense of getting kids to care about their pieces too much. Um, because we give, we give names to all the pieces. Sometimes they have animal names, uh, and, um, and, and the kid starts to really care about them, which is what you love to see. You want them to treat their pieces like friends or family, but then of course, if those pieces get captured, it becomes a problem. And I thought I would share a funny story that happened recently in one of my own classes that a student who rarely used. And, uh, it does not take well to losing lost a game, but fought to the bitter end until every single last pond was captured. And then he was inconsolable crying. I tried to tell him, Hey, it's, it's okay. You know, you win or you learn, and it's, it's only a game and you're going to learn from this. You come back strong. And then, um, he looked at me and he said, I know it's only a game coach leader, but then in between sobs, he pointed to all of his captured pieces. And he said, but it was a matter of life and death for them. So I really loved that because I thought, okay, I did my job. If he cares so much about those pieces, then that's a sign that he loves just as much as I
Dotan Tamir:do. That's an amazing story. And I think, you know, I see how, uh, so many other verticals in the enrichment space can implement that or are actually already implementing the fact that this is not just the learning experience. This is unexperienced and kids come to, uh, learn in Richmond and do enrichment. Afterschool hours. Usually it's something that they choose or they are involved in choosing to do, and they want it to be fun. They want to meet new people. They want to make friends. And, um, that's probably the biggest skill that they get through that. Uh, you know, in addition to, of course the, the actual hard skills of playing or coding or whatever enrichment they are at. Um, yeah, let's before we go adjust to the next to the last panel based on here, uh, let's remind the audience on the chat, uh, that we are going to have some time for your questions. So now it's the time to use the Q and a, or the chat and we waiting to see your questions.
Joshua Chernikoff:Yeah. And so Dalton last but not least is actually an old friend of mine, Tim Dobbs. I know him for many years from chest wizards, uh, working for my, one of my previous companies that I started. And Tim knows this about me. Uh, safety is very important. Safety was very important, uh, in the enrichment space when I ran it in person it's equally important online. So. Tim is an avid traveler. He's a chess player and he's the national program director of chess wizards. He supervises 500 schools and he does it with a smile on his face all the time. Tim wipe the smile off your face. Let's talk about safety in the online space.
Tim:Well, thanks for having me. And, uh, honestly, I just feel after hearing all you guys talk today, I know I'm jealous just of wanting to like join any of your classes. You all seem like you're fantastic teachers and just hearing you today has really been worth me coming. So, um, I did want to talk about safety and what I did when we first really moved to the online space, we were lucky to jump in right at March. We'd already had partnerships. Um, we were ready to go. It was kind of. Burner project for us. And we were able to, March quickly, And really transfer our in-person kids right to online, but we needed that to be safe and we need to make sure we were making the right decisions. And as, and I'm from a small town in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and right during the beginning of the pandemic, I watched my town get zoom bombed and at a public meeting for our council city. And it made national news. It was very, very embarrassing for our small town. And I definitely did not want that to happen to our company. So. While we used all the passwords while we had everything extra encrypted. And I might add many parents complained about how hard it was to log into our classes. Why isn't it easy? It's easy to get into the other classes we, just said, I'm sorry. we understand that it is more difficult, but we need safety first and we're just not willing to be flexible on that. And I, do apologize. It takes that extra. step But even after all that, and that complaint, what we did, I think was the, be all and end all ours rule for all of our teachers. And we were running, you know, sometimes a hundred classes a day with, with 35 40 different teachers. Um, we made sure our teachers were a bouncer and they did not let anybody into the class until they physically saw the child. Not just the dad, if it's just dad saying, Hey, I'm ready for the class. Sir. I, I need to see your, I need to see your child, uh, and I need to ask the child's name and make sure it's that child specific. And we would do that every time. And it eats up about seven minutes of your class. Again, we did, we as a national brand, as somebody that did not want to be on the front page of a news story, wanted to make sure. Yeah, everything was to the T's. If let's give you another example, internet goes out and a kid tries to join late. I would then bounce all of those kids back into the waiting room. Check on that one kid to make sure it's still the same kid and not an older brother. Playing a funny prank who he thinks it's hilarious and now it's not hilarious at all. And just to make sure that safety was always set, we never let kids in that we didn't physically see. And because of that, um, we've not had one issue, one problem, and we've run. I mean, it's it's well, over the thousands into the tens of thousands of classes at this point, we, we w we were changed quite a few students from our in-person learning. Um, we're very lucky to do so, so, um, that was our tips and tricks and definitely something that we put in place.
Dotan Tamir:Yeah. And Tim, first of all, Josh has said, he's a world traveler. He just, can I share that you were at 71? Hi,
Tim:I have now been to 71 countries. I've hitchhiked 19 of them. And I've worked in about 20 of them. Um, I've had a lot of different jobs to get me into the chest, the chest realm. I was a professional tour guide for many, many years, taking people, adventure backpacking in multiple countries.
Dotan Tamir:So we, we, we have, we have a lot to talk about, um, Uh, Tim and I'm an all leg. The owner of chest freezer came to us at click two sometime ago. And, and with that challenge of safety, right. And there are so many challenges, um, when trying to imitate the in-person into the online space, but also a new challenge is to come up with the online, uh, with the online offering. Um, so, and this is, this is great because we love challenges. We'll have a understanding what's really needed for the space, what enrichment providers really, really need and what are the biggest problems. And we are here to actually create solutions. So, and this is, you know, regardless of what software or what platform, everybody here in. And today are using, um, this is how we can move this industry forward. At the end of the day, we're still kind of in the dinosaurs, uh, air age of, uh, online enrichment. If we think how it's going to look like in five years, it's probably going to look very direct. If I don't know if it's going to look like what mark Zuckerberg just shared shared two weeks ago. I don't know what I think about that, but it's going to look different than what it is today, and there's going to be so many new students coming in to this space. Uh, questions, questions. Okay. So Sydney here has a question. Um, how are you keeping engagement with younger students? Ages six and under in online classes anybody has experienced with this age.
Alik:Uh, probably I can tell you this question. So actually we have lots of students, so it's in this younger ages and definitely teaching someone that is a 6, 7, 8 years old is a very different from my teaching in adult. So there are a couple of things that we are doing. First of all, we have shorter sessions with them. It's not full 45 minutes lessons, but we have shorter lessons. And we also try to keep it a more interactive and more engaged because. Eh, a younger kid can see that long without taking an action. Right? So it's a more interactive, more asking questions, more maybe stuff like a puzzles or, you know, questions like that. We also try to keep a conversation with the person and actually a thing that they, uh, that particular kid he feels safe, comfortable. Uh, you would be surprised for how long they can stay and how much they can engage. So just there's lots of interactions that are short the sessions. All right.
Joshua Chernikoff:Well, let me, let me ask one question that was sent ahead of time to a ton, I think kind of dovetails. Well, how do you keep the instructors engaged in the online space? I mean, we're, we're all now at this point, used to spending many hours in front of a computer on zoom and staying focused, but could somebody talk about how you keep your instructors engaged in mode?
Alik:So I think as the same thing that we spoke previously about personality, a coach needs to do it, not only for earning money, but he needs, uh, you know, to like what he's doing, right. He needs to enjoy by seeing his student and making a progress or enjoying chest and many cases. There's also personal, personal relations to that involved between the poachers and the students. So again, everything comes down to personality more than a, and I'll just say that then the strengths in chest,
Joshua Chernikoff:that makes sense. So passion. So your, your instructors have to have passion.
Elliott:We here,
Alik:they see it as a mission, teaching, teaching people chess, and, uh, just, you know, becoming smarter.
Tim:There's a bit more of a performance aspect to, to online because you have less time of the kids playing each other board to board. You have to be that, that standup comic, that kid, that. They want to come and see you as opposed to the other online classes that they may be doing. So there's definitely more, um, you gotta be a little more animated and make sure that you don't become stale behind the screen. And, um, we dress like wizards. That's makes it a little easy for us, I guess. So we have that going for us, but what you've always done. We've always done that we were wizard before, but I think the kids loved CNF, especially in the height of the pandemic when you pop up and there was a wizard in front of you, you're you, it brought that what they were used to back to their home. And I think that really helped
Lior:as well. I think that another advantage of the online space is that, um, you can cater specifically to the needs of your students and to the strengths of specific coaches, more easily, that way, you know, running a school-based chess program, uh, like many of us here, I, um, you know, one of the challenges that we have is when you have a wide age, age range, or sometimes it's not only about the ages. But about the levels of the students. And so, you know, you want to make sure that the level is not too easy for the more advanced students, um, but also not, not too challenging for others. And, um, you know, you can maybe separate into two classrooms and that can help, but it also depends on the availability of, you know, the space that's available at the school with online. You can have. You can have multiple classes on specific themes on, you know, depending on what the students are looking for. So maybe they're focused on end games or on learning and opening gambit, or they want their own games to be analyzed. And you may also work with coaches who are very strong in one area, not as strong in the other. And so it makes it easier to then pair the right coaches with the right students.
Joshua Chernikoff:Ellie, you got the last word.
Elliott:Thank you. So on this topic of young students, as well as engagement for students and team, it's something that I care deeply about, because if you're gonna, if you're gonna achieve a goal of life skills through the game of chess, as opposed to, let's say a goal of how many masters you develop, then students will not achieve life skills. If they don't have fun and drop out of your program. For them to achieve the goals. They better stick with it long enough to get the benefit. It's not an overnight piece. So fun and engagement is essential from day one for engaging the young students. And by young, I would define them as five or younger. Uh, we've we've served five and older in in-person classes and online it's much more challenging online with those younger students. For sure. Like Leah was saying, I would differentiate into a couple of categories. One is. The precocious young students who are advanced in their chest and they're into it. And they can go along with some older students they're into the chest. The other side is the young kids. The parents want them involved to get the benefits, but how do you keep them engaged? And so the challenge there is much harder online versus in-person however, what I've experienced and what we see with our team is again, similar to offline the attention span of that student, right? Is directly related relate, uh, related. And you can say to their age, right? Uh, a lesson, you can almost go, how old are they? And that's the minutes of lesson max. You're a four year old, four minutes lesson time interactive. You know, four seconds attention or four minutes interactive lessons. So the key we find is making many fun games all the time. You've got to have them involved. If you're learning about a chess board or things it's like, who can click on this square, who can find a square and click on it on your screen or touch it. If you got a touch pad or different things. And we find we need to lower the technology requirement for that young. So you may do less of things that require more, more, you know, copy paste or chat, or these elements. You have to figure out how to pull them in this way, you know, being aware of them and then just general good classroom management, even on your zoom or whatever you're using, seeing the students who's engaged or not. Are you calling and pulling them into your lesson? Hey Ted, did you see this? Hey, Ruth. I see that you're focusing here on this. Do you see the answer to this one? How many, you know, pull them all into it, engage the whole classroom just as you would in person for the instructor side, we have had a dual goal at chess for life for the last seven years in figuring out how to achieve it a million kids a week with life skills through the game and the best place to work for them. So as we do that, we really do focus upon input from our team. Even during this online space, it's like, Hey, what's working for you. What are the challenges for you? What would make this better? We've got a good benefits package for our team. You know, we do PTO and all kinds of stuff. I've listened to different team members share how they've built healthy. Another life lesson, we focus on into their personal routines to make it fun and engaging. We listened to our team and go, Hey, what are you most energized by coaching advanced beginner, this level of element. We try to give them what is most energizing for them to leave. It doesn't always work, right? There's always something that you have to learn from it and grow, but that's what those are the types
Joshua Chernikoff:Elliot. I think we lost it to. Yeah, but that's okay. What we could tell. Is that everybody was very, very passionate here in the chest space. I gotta be honest. The closest thing I have come to a chest is the Queen's gambit. And no, I'm not going down that rabbit hole with any you guys. Cause I know how important the Queen's gambit has been to chests anybody out there can read about it, what we're passionate about. And I'm a member of club. Cohort-based courses and the click to platform. So we've got five minutes left. I'd like to yield the floor here a little bit to dotage, to talk about a cook to, and B uh, potentially this amazing, you know, offer that he's going to make for the audience members out there.
Dotan Tamir:Uh, this, this was an amazing chat with you guys. Um, you're so humble. And, uh, I think I met a group of educators that I want to keep in touch with and, you know, we're building a community, so inviting everybody from the panelists, but also the attendees, the guests, everybody to a group on Facebook where we keep the community going. And if you didn't get the link yet, you'll, you'll get it. Um, then a little bit about click too, because I think this will be very relevant for everybody here. Think about it when you're starting an online store, you use something like Shopify when you're starting, when you're marketing through emails, uh, you'll probably build them on something like MailChimp, but what if you're building an online enrichment business, you need to take enrollments. Manage teachers' schedules. Get keeps on videoconferencing, collect feedback, measure engagement. What do you, where do you go? That's exactly the problem that we solved with click to, we built click two. We designed it to really support, uh, online and enrichment providers. We are ourselves experts of online classes, and we work with organizations in multiple verticals. We love helping them identify simple ways to improve the workflow. And by that growth. So here's, here's, what's here. What's in it for you right now. If you're joining us live today and you'd like to have a consultation session to help you upgrade your efficiency and become a stronger online class provider, I'm happy to offer a super-valuable consultation. For you at no cost at all. This offer is only available during this webinar. So Joyce, from our production team, she has shared the link to book the time on the chat with you and feel free to do that. Um, I want to show you a quick video of, um, to just give you a teaser of what click two is, and of course, uh, wrap it up. Uh, the end was, uh, some, uh, very interesting, uh, offer about something that's happening tomorrow. So let's take a look at.
CLICKTO:When I build an online live learning program, I use a calendar to schedule the video meetings and then assign them to our teaching staff for processing new student counts. I use a registration system and a payment processing software. Then I go to my email to send video conferencing links and to communicate with a cohort groups to record attendance and track student progress. I also use different spreadsheets and lists. Or I can manage my online education business all in one place with Clicktale. Now I can open a single course or scale up by providing multiple programs with various cohort options in just a few clicks. I can publish each cohort option on our course catalog for easy registration and payment. Then everything comes together on the agenda. Where the teaching staff can easily access their assigned classes. Our teaching staff takes advantage of a multitude of tools that are designed to deliver an immersive live learning experience. Each student uses their secure, personal access link to join. Eliminating the use of multiple links and a password click to automatically tracks, attendance, student engagement, metrics, and post-session feedback, which helped me make data-driven decisions. Join the cohort based learning revolution and scale up your education business. Get started now@clickto.live.
Dotan Tamir:So really we heard today about some of the amazing opportunities and challenges. Uh, we, uh, I know that all the experts here, uh, participated today, this panel are planning to grow their online chess education operation, and I'm sure. Right. For many of our attendees as well. And, um, we hope that with collected, that should be an easy task. Uh, easy as one click, as we say, flick to, and really the most successful category of online learning is the more successful we all are going to be. Thanks again, Josh, back to you for a final, final, final interesting.
Joshua Chernikoff:Okay. So I'll, I'll reiterate with Dotan said rising tide is good for all ships. So, uh, you know, cook two wins when everybody else wins when Elliot wins, when Leo wins and when the audience members win. So we want to hear from everybody. Hopefully we can do this again. Uh, but tomorrow we have a very important guests. No sire. You seen of nods academy. No, sire is one of the top course creators. In the world. We met him, actually had burgers with him in San Diego. He's a good dude to have burgers with, and we're lucky enough to have him on the lifelong educators show tomorrow 10:00 AM east. So we hope people join in. We're going to end this now, this particular webinar, however, let's keep the conversation going and hopefully Tom will Greenlight another one of these and we can get back together again. That's it. Thank you everybody. Thank you.
Dotan Tamir:Yeah, thanks a lot. Yeah, that's one. So see you all, I'll see you guys
Lior:soon.
Tim:Elliot, do you live in Canada? Do you like, oh, cause it's, you've, you've taken out a bit of a Canadian accent.
Elliott:That's probably thanks to growing up, uh, right at the Canadian border near on the us side near Vancouver.
Tim:Okay. Got it. Yeah. If I lost my Michigan accent, like I used to sound much more Michigan before I became an English teacher, but we say, Hey, at the end of our sentences, we have, we're very we're people. I could easily pass for a Canadian before
Elliott:my mother actually grew up in Vancouver, BC.
Tim:Okay. Yeah. Yeah, because I was like, well, it sounds like he's here.
Dotan Tamir:Very good.
Elliott:Thank
Tim:you everybody y'all have a good one. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Dotan Tamir:Bye bye everybody. I'm going to end it now and be in touch very soon. Bye.