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Problem: For more than 50 years, the American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., has provided face-to-face leadership training conferences for chairs-elect and other officers of its 189 local sections in the United States and Puerto Rico. However, no more than 60 percent of the sections have ever been represented at the conferences, whether we hold small regional conferences or large national mega-conferences for ACS leaders at all levels.

Solution: To extend the accessibility of our training, we have been exploring distance learning programs and products that local section leaders can use anytime and anywhere. In 2003, we hired a research firm to identify the learning preferences of local section and division leaders, plus at-large members. Based on the survey findings, we decided to do blended learning. For us that means continuing our face-to-face conferences even as we add online products and programs that all volunteers can use, whether they attend a conference or not. New electronic tools include the following:

• An e-seminar available online or on CD. In fall 2001, we hired a communication firm to videotape a leadership development conference and edit the tapes to accompany printed materials (PowerPoint slides and additional text with links to related resources). The resulting e-seminar is available for free online or on an enhanced CD. In years past only the 120-150 people who attended a face-to-face conference received our training handbook. We now send the CD to more than 1,200 volunteers, including local section leaders, all officers, and members of the ACS council and board of directors.

• Audioconferencing. Starting next month, we will offer a live, interactive seminar by phone. Four volunteers and staff will address what local section leaders should do during the final quarter of the year, from participating in National Chemistry Week to planning for officer elections. Up to 200 volunteers will be able to participate. Related checklists and other materials will be available via e-mail or the Internet during the seminar; afterward the program will be archived on the ACS Web site.

• A Web-based program. By December 2004, we plan to house on our Web site an independent learning program called "How Local Section Leaders Can Access and Use ACS Tools and Resources." It will contain branched text with slides and links to various resources and short video clips from recent leadership development conferences. Later Web-based programs will likely mirror offerings at our face-to-face leadership conference.

Budget and staffing: Three staff from the Office of Local Section Activities plan and deliver the Web-based content with help from information technology and finance staffs. We have budgeted less than $10,000 for the internal development costs and outsourced work for the audioconference and Web-based program. The e-seminar program, which was outsourced, cost $30,000 to produce in 2001-2002.

Lessons learned: Although the content of our 2001 e-seminar receives high ratings, volunteer use has not been as widespread as we had initially hoped. When producing it, we realized that we didn't need to videotape the entire conference; most viewers have neither the right computer equipment nor the patience to watch it.

In the future we will prepare text and graphics that we can storyboard in advance and edit tightly as part of our Web-based products. (Accordingly, our costs should be less.) We will also build in interactivity by producing materials that the user can download, print, and use in hard copy or by providing exercises that call for user input.

Another discovery: Transitioning to a distance-learning format requires us to dedicate much more planning time for storyboarding, graphics, text, and other features. We have to design our distance-learning products to take into consideration the medium we're using (whether it's a computer screen, telephone, or other equipment), how adults learn differently depending on the medium, and the need to organize content into short segments that are useful even if the user gets interrupted halfway through.

Advice for others: Make sure that you understand your audience--how they learn best, the tools and equipment they have readily available, topics that interest them most, and so forth. Then develop your distance-learning products with users' needs foremost in your mind.

Effective distance learning does not merely repackage face-to-face workshops. It serves as a newly created learning tool that transmits content in many different ways. If the combination of in-person and online options pushes our participation rate above 60 percent, we will consider our efforts to have been worthwhile. Time and expenses will tell.

Dale Gaddy, CAE, directs the Office of Local Section Activities at the American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C.

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