0:10

Hello chess course creators.

0:12

We're thrilled to have everybody here today. We've

0:15

got an excellent panel joining us from all across

0:17

the globe. Lots of chess involved

0:19

there. We've also got some great audience

0:21

members who we will hopefully engage

0:24

because they have great chess businesses

0:26

in person and online.

0:28

So today we're

0:30

here to talk about a few things. I'm going to read them

0:32

off how to convince parents of the value of

0:34

online chess. How

0:36

to leverage online teaching for development

0:38

fund, how to onboard and manage

0:40

a very large group of chess teachers.

0:43

Cause we've got some big, big companies here

0:45

and how to differentiate yourself. So we

0:48

can't wait to see how the programs grow

0:50

of our panelists. And we also we're

0:53

here as a community. So we hope

0:55

that the programs will grow for

0:57

the audience members who are also part

0:59

of the chest community and specifically the

1:02

online chest community. Speaking

1:04

of community. We are here

1:06

because of our leader at click

1:08

to Dota, Tamir and Dotan.

1:10

We'll welcome everybody. And take it.

1:14

Thank you, Josh. Welcome everybody.

1:16

I'm very excited for this

1:18

webinar. Uh, so hi, all I'm

1:20

town. I'm from click too. Just to give

1:23

you the context. We are at the chronology

1:25

solution for the enrichment providers who are looking

1:27

to thrive at the online space, but

1:30

click to isn't only an end to

1:32

end software platform. We actually

1:35

understand. That at

1:37

what turns an online course

1:39

into an amazing experience and

1:41

journey for kids. I got some

1:43

stuff to show you at the end. Uh, and

1:45

so you'll have to stick with us to the end for

1:48

a glimpse of all that. Good, but it's not

1:50

going to be hard because this discussion today

1:52

is very relevant to where

1:54

the industry is right now. Online

1:57

is here to stay. So we

1:59

all have to Excel at. And

2:01

there's a lot to do. We've got some

2:04

challenging questions for our wonderful

2:06

panelists. So Josh

2:08

ready? Let's start

2:10

let's rock and roll. So before we do set some,

2:13

some ground rules here, just some ideas. Remember.

2:16

We have a very serious audience. We

2:18

have CEOs of big companies. We have

2:20

founders of big companies all in the chest space.

2:22

So while we're enamored with

2:24

our panelists, we also really do want to hear

2:27

from our audience. So please participate. The chat

2:29

is also a perfect place to

2:31

network. So please feel

2:33

free to chat and chat with

2:35

everybody. It's a great spot. Make

2:38

sure that you also hang

2:40

out. As Dotan said, there will be a special

2:42

offer for a strategy. Call

2:45

that strategy called dementia by dotage and

2:47

Joyce. Who's helping us in the chat

2:49

as well. So we

2:51

are going to get started. We're going to start

2:53

with Evan. Raven. Evan is

2:55

a U S chess national master.

2:58

He's the founder of premier chess.

3:01

We met him literally walking around

3:03

New York city. And so that was pretty cool.

3:06

He currently is in 80 programs and

3:08

companies, uh, including

3:10

Google. So Evan, here's your question? You've

3:14

got three minutes, but you're, you're

3:16

good at being on the clock. How do you convince

3:18

parents of the value of online

3:20

chess learning?

3:23

Yeah. Thank you,

3:23

Josh, for having me. So I think really

3:25

the biggest thing is. Letting

3:28

them know that it's as good

3:30

if not better, uh, actually than

3:32

in-person learning. Um, we do

3:34

do, obviously a lot of in-person learning a lot

3:36

of school programs, uh,

3:38

lots of different things, uh, in person, which is,

3:40

which is great. Uh, but the virtual

3:43

community is great, just that we're coming

3:45

together, uh, during this

3:48

time, I actually like

3:50

the last few month trends since I met Tim, uh,

3:53

in the virtual world, uh,

3:55

comes to mind. Um,

3:58

you know, we also have had, um,

4:01

exposure to students, literally,

4:04

uh, around the globe, um,

4:06

and, uh, you know, look

4:08

at something that is actually, I would

4:10

say relatively easy to do. Um,

4:13

you know, in the beginning of COVID we actually

4:16

uh, big time built, uh, in our platform,

4:19

uh, with lead chess tournament.

4:22

Um, for instance, it's

4:24

actually a lot easier, uh,

4:26

as things are paired, you know, almost

4:28

immediately, uh, you know, when you're Vive,

4:31

for instance, in a, in a school program,

4:33

you know, it can take, you know, 10, 15 minutes just

4:35

to figure out like all the kids are playing, uh,

4:38

and UNT color, uh, you know, for instance,

4:40

so it's, uh, you know, a lot of time, right? Um,

4:44

We've also made it a generally

4:46

a little bit more affordable. Uh,

4:48

you know, since things are, you know, online, we

4:50

don't have, you know, truckers, you know, traveling,

4:53

uh, you know, as much, uh,

4:55

you know, things like that. Um,

4:57

we can also generally fit, uh, you

4:59

know, more. Uh, you know,

5:01

into some of our classes, um, at the

5:03

same time higher to keep, you know, ratios,

5:06

uh, we also, uh, you know, are

5:08

able to get, you know, more like guest instructors,

5:12

uh, you know, I've actually collaborated with

5:14

a lot of other chess companies, um,

5:17

around the country, uh, you know,

5:19

like, uh, you know, trust for life, for instance.

5:22

Um, so, um, yeah, it really

5:24

it's been a, you know, A

5:27

different type of, uh, environment

5:29

and, uh, yes, things

5:32

are obviously going back in person

5:34

a little bit. Um, but, uh,

5:36

you know, I don't see it like a virtual environment stopping

5:38

at all. Uh, and it's only,

5:41

uh, you know, continuing, um, yeah, I mean,

5:43

Elliot said, uh, you know, it, it it's expanded

5:46

opportunities globally. Uh,

5:48

and it's true, you know, we actually had In the

5:50

last couple months, several students from

5:52

Israel, um, one actually

5:55

from Sydney, Australia. people

5:59

all over, um, I've,

6:02

had coaches coming in from Israel,

6:04

uh, for instance, so, yeah um,

6:06

it's just a great, uh, community

6:09

and, uh, I look forward to, uh, seeing

6:11

it grow

6:14

Yeah. So I have an email that's, uh,

6:16

one of the. The strongest points.

6:18

I think it's the opportunity to meet kids

6:21

and others from everywhere, uh,

6:23

which isn't an amazing added value of any,

6:25

any online, uh, um, enrichment

6:28

program or any online course. Um,

6:31

by the way, anybody on the panel has

6:33

a interesting story about, um,

6:36

somebody who joined that

6:38

would have never joined. If it wasn't online.

6:42

Elliot shaking his head.

6:47

Yes, absolutely. It's uh, I can just

6:50

say that when we went online, instead

6:52

of serving students live

6:54

in one location, primarily

6:56

in licensing elsewhere, we now have live students

6:58

in 37 states and I'm sure the same is true

7:00

with Evan and with many others. Uh, and

7:02

that's where I say the opportunity has really expanded

7:05

a really fun story is a homeschool

7:07

kid in the United Kingdom,

7:09

joined our class. She's homeschooled

7:12

because she performs

7:15

in this, um, program

7:18

for drama and her

7:21

she's on stage. And so she's homeschooled because

7:23

of her schedule and she was able to join some of our virtual

7:25

classes. So some really fun stories

7:27

I've come out of, out of. All

7:29

right, we're going to keep the spotlight right on

7:31

Elliot. You throw it on yourself. So we'll keep it on you.

7:34

Elliott national master in chess,

7:36

the author of a pawns journey and the founder

7:38

and CEO of chess for life. Uh,

7:40

chess for life exists to help kids develop

7:42

life skills through the game of chess.

7:45

And you know, this should not be hard

7:47

then for you to elaborate on how do

7:49

you leverage online teaching for developing character?

7:52

And life skills while keeping

7:55

it fun.

7:56

Thank you, Josh. And thank you to attend for putting

7:59

this together and also, you know, kudos

8:01

to Haven, Evan, and the many others who are,

8:03

who are serving kids globally

8:05

and expanding through this scenario

8:07

of online, you know, at chess for life,

8:10

our mission is just like you stated to teach life lessons

8:12

through the game of chess. And I was personally quitting chess

8:15

originally when the light bulb went on, as this was

8:17

such a great vehicle to accomplish

8:19

this. Today, our mission is to

8:21

impact a million youth per week with

8:23

life skills through the game, whether directly

8:25

or through licensing and then empowering others.

8:28

And we're very happy to have our tools in

8:30

front of a couple of hundred thousand students who have access,

8:33

even though we work with a smaller group one-on-one

8:36

in small groups. So how did

8:38

this affect the reality was when we went

8:40

online, we went, what are we going to do to ensure

8:43

that the mentors. And what we teach

8:45

is not lost in an online space. We

8:47

have never wanted to be the best chess teaching

8:49

company and chess is a basic

8:51

skill, but we have certainly striven to help kids

8:54

succeed in life. And so

8:56

when we went online, we

8:58

saw multiple ways that we could do that. Yes.

9:01

It's more difficult to mentor in a

9:03

virtual space, but it's not impossible.

9:05

So how do you do that? Chess, as we

9:07

know, teaches complex problem solving

9:09

skills, right? There's many of these spatial awareness

9:11

and many, many basic skills that come through chess,

9:14

independent of how you teach it. In many

9:16

cases to us, it's the mindset.

9:19

That brings that added layer of

9:22

life skills and character development.

9:24

So for example, the first life

9:26

lesson that we consider a cornerstone

9:28

that can be taught virtually as well as in person,

9:31

anytime is in chess and in life,

9:33

you can win. You

9:36

can draw, right? Nobody wins

9:38

or what else could happen?

9:39

No, no, no.

9:41

You can learn with this.

9:44

There is no losing curve

9:46

ball. If your mindset. Is

9:49

one of learning. How many

9:51

of you? And I would imagine everyone in the

9:53

audience and all of us have gone through painful

9:55

experiences that in the moment felt

9:57

like a total loss. Yet,

9:59

if you look back at what you learned through that

10:01

experience, isn't that the very

10:03

thing that helps you achieve who you are today.

10:07

So our mindset is critical

10:10

and you can do that online or in person. Do

10:12

you embrace a checkmate against you to

10:14

say, how did that happen? What did I learn

10:16

from it? And how do I get. better That's why I became

10:19

a master, embracing

10:21

the learning. And so imagine

10:23

what that does for students. If they are not

10:25

afraid to fail, if you change

10:28

F a I L to stand for first

10:31

attempt in learning. So

10:34

this is a cornerstone mindset that

10:37

I believe has created. For

10:39

students to be willing to fail

10:41

forward. Secondly, we

10:43

teach sportsmanship, fair play And

10:46

how do you do that again? You have a choice.

10:48

Is it win at all costs or is it considerate

10:51

of others and working better together?

10:53

We must be collaborative collaborators

10:56

to achieve solving the big complex

10:58

problems we face in this world. You don't

11:00

do it alone. You don't do it by being selfish.

11:03

You do it by working together. So fair

11:05

play is essential. When we have students fall

11:07

into the trap of winning by

11:10

cheating, it

11:12

is really losing. That is the way to lose,

11:14

but we use it again as a mentoring

11:17

opportunity. To work with the student

11:19

and the parents to go look, you made a choice,

11:21

understand the consequences of that choice. It's

11:24

going to be found out and it's going to hinder your

11:27

growth and others will not trust you.

11:30

And trust is foundational for

11:32

achievement in many areas. And

11:34

then on top of that, we have this principle

11:37

of that another life lesson that we teach called the

11:39

can-do attitude. Again,

11:41

essential for success among chess

11:43

players. If you play somebody who's far ahead of

11:45

you, what is your mind? You

11:48

go in and going, oh, I don't have a chance. Or

11:51

you go in with a mindset of, Hey, I'm

11:53

going to give it my all. And the worst case

11:55

is I'm going to learn. So

11:57

your mindset is can-do attitude. If you think

12:00

you can, you probably can

12:03

in many cases, but if you

12:05

think you can't, you're always

12:07

right. You

12:09

will not achieve if your mind says

12:12

you cannot achieve. And

12:14

so those are just two of the main. Life

12:17

principles that I believe can totally be done online.

12:19

I love to see it in person. I look

12:22

forward to more of that happening, but that's just a snapshot

12:24

of how I believe you can achieve

12:26

bringing life's life, lessons and skills to

12:28

your kids. Focus upon what your goal

12:30

is, then figure out how to do it virtually. There's

12:33

always a way.

12:36

So many good lessons and one

12:38

phrase that they will never forget.

12:40

Um, but really about

12:44

what I really learned

12:46

from you now, Elliot is that

12:49

online is still.

12:52

Is still offering all of that, right?

12:54

It's not something that you can do. And I,

12:56

and now when I'm thinking about the future

12:59

of not just education is

13:01

online, the future of work is online. The future,

13:03

a lot of things are gonna change and people are going

13:05

to need those online

13:08

skills. So learning online

13:11

is also leading to being

13:13

a better, a more successful online

13:16

player overall, um, in,

13:18

in, in the future. Um, All

13:21

right.

13:22

So there was a lot learned

13:24

there. I'm still digesting that I wrote down L

13:27

SLI and I'm sure we'll use that on our call

13:29

tomorrow for our team. It was a good one Elliot. So

13:32

we're going to talk to Alec fishermen. Alec is

13:34

a us national chess master. I

13:36

see a theme developing here with our panel is

13:38

the co-founder and executive director of dot

13:41

com. One of the eldest and most popular

13:43

online chess schools across

13:45

the globe. So that means. For

13:48

our next question, Alec has to

13:50

keep his standards up across

13:52

the globe. So here's your question, Alec. How

13:55

can you onboard and manage a large

13:57

group of teachers again while

14:00

keeping high standard?

14:04

Yeah, thanks for this, eh, you

14:06

know, very impressive introduction. Yeah.

14:08

I think that the key is establishing

14:11

an effective framework of coaches

14:13

with the right personality and skills, as well

14:15

as providing them with a content

14:18

that they reach enough and flexible to. adjust

14:22

to where different types of profiles of

14:24

face students. So on the coach

14:26

side, being a strong chess player doesn't

14:28

necessarily mean it doesn't necessarily make one,

14:30

as you know, a good coach, right?

14:33

A good coach is

14:35

far beyond just knowing

14:37

the game. Well, um, good

14:39

coaches, should possess skills and communication

14:42

and listens to their students

14:45

and being able to collaborate and keep them engaged.

14:49

Uh, in addition to being

14:51

just a good chess coaches

14:53

and then knowing the game. Right. And

14:56

also the chess program is another very

14:58

important aspect to keep the

15:00

community engaged and provide the value.

15:03

So as RSU, we have a

15:05

years proven that content

15:07

of. The best

15:09

practices. And they're just materials that we

15:12

give to our coaching staff and

15:14

they teach based on the security column. And

15:16

we also make this curriculum adaptive enough

15:19

where two students just level interest and the

15:21

pace of their progress.

15:23

So I think that combination of this tool, having

15:26

the right content and identifying,

15:28

identifying poachers with the right personality,

15:31

this is what really keeps,

15:33

uh, makes us great and keeps and

15:36

enables us to provide value to our company.

15:40

So Alec, um,

15:42

just to get a clue, right?

15:45

Um, your

15:48

average co coach, they

15:50

work with you, what, a few times a

15:52

week for a few hours. Is

15:55

it usually, uh, have you noticed

15:57

any difference in

15:59

when hiring, uh, for

16:01

the in-person. Or actually

16:04

you didn't do a lot of in-person in your case,

16:06

right? So it's mostly online, but

16:08

so you have the most experience here probably

16:11

on the online space. So

16:13

give us one magic

16:15

tape on how to hire an amazing

16:18

coach and doing it

16:20

all online. Like what, how do you

16:22

make sure they really keep their high standards

16:26

throughout the whole course and throughout all those.

16:29

Yeah. So things that, again, it comes down to their

16:32

personality and they're looking at the,

16:34

our audience, it's all over the

16:36

world, you know, all Asia,

16:39

Europe, United States everywhere.

16:42

And you can see there, the cultural

16:44

differences in different places. And

16:46

also we have students that.

16:49

You know, a different from different

16:52

ages and different backgrounds and different

16:54

goals in chess, right? So we

16:56

have also a variety of cultures

16:59

that each possess or better

17:01

fit to specific geographies

17:03

or specific levels of play,

17:05

or even, you know, some coaches that work

17:08

better with kids. And we try

17:10

to correlate and attach the right

17:12

coach to right the students. But

17:14

again, at the end of the day, I think it comes down

17:17

to a right personality. And

17:20

having cultures that not just, they want

17:22

to stay there for 45 minutes

17:25

and just deliver the continent leave. But

17:27

someone that really interested in seeing and

17:29

really happy with the thing is students

17:32

are progressing and achieving their own goals.

17:34

And it's just the personal skills,

17:37

eh, in front of anything else.

17:41

So it's, it's interesting, you know, that

17:43

you mentioned that out because when I, when I look at the whole

17:45

panel and we'll introduce the Oracle. He's

17:48

a national chess master. You guys all

17:50

are. Okay. So you have to

17:52

differentiate yourself. So the, or

17:54

your question before, before I

17:56

give you the question, a former

17:58

us national champion in the K

18:00

through nine and K through 12 division, a five

18:02

time reigning, Colorado state champion Dota.

18:05

Did you get everybody in the chess world

18:07

to show up? Because this is pretty amazing. You

18:10

guys have to differentiate yourself. So you're,

18:13

how do you differentiate yourself

18:16

in the online chess space? Not as

18:18

an owner, you probably have to do that anyway,

18:20

but how does your company differentiate

18:23

yourself?

18:25

Thank you, Josh. And thank you Dalton as

18:27

well for having me here. Um,

18:29

it's a pleasure to be joining all of you today

18:31

and, uh, I think

18:33

that, you know, it, it's, it's

18:35

a very, um, a very kind introduction.

18:38

And I like to tell my students that we're

18:41

all, we're all pots buzzers when it

18:43

comes to chess, meaning we're all weak players.

18:45

It's just that there's a, there are different

18:48

degrees. Of potters. And

18:50

so, for example, if you put me up against

18:52

an international master, I will probably

18:54

lose badly international master

18:57

would lose to a Grandmaster. A Grandmaster

18:59

would lose to a well to

19:01

Magnus, Carlsen, let's say, and Magnus Carlsen

19:03

would get crushed by a chess

19:05

program on my cell phone. Um,

19:08

and so in a sense, chess

19:10

is, is by

19:13

its very nature, a very humbling experience,

19:15

or I think it should be, um, I think.

19:18

To become a strong chess player. One has

19:20

to be brutally honest with himself or herself

19:23

about where we're going wrong. And

19:25

as, as Elliot eloquently, put

19:27

it earlier, um, you know, to be winning

19:30

or learning and taking every loss as

19:32

an opportunity to learn every mistake

19:35

as a chance to grow and improve.

19:37

And it's those kids who do that and adults

19:40

as well, who are willing to.

19:43

swallow their pride and not stubbornly make the same

19:45

mistakes over and over again, who really

19:47

bring their game to the next level. So

19:50

I strongly agree with Elliott and the

19:52

philosophy of his wonderful program,

19:54

chess for life that, um,

19:56

we should be, um, Of

19:59

course to differentiate yourself, the possibilities

20:01

are endless and there are some programs that will focus

20:04

primarily on the chest itself and

20:06

on helping to turn out masters

20:08

and future grandmasters. Um, but

20:10

I do believe that chess is An

20:14

utilized, uh, educational tool.

20:17

It's something that can help people

20:19

of all ages, all backgrounds to

20:21

learn very valuable life lessons. And,

20:23

um, I think that one

20:25

of the best ways that the online

20:28

format in particular can help to

20:30

differentiate a program. Is

20:33

that the online world

20:35

has, changed everything

20:37

in that it's made the world much smaller.

20:40

It's connected all of us in a way

20:42

that chess has been doing for thousands

20:44

of years, probably around 1700

20:46

years. But you know, chess is a game

20:49

that I like to call the great equalizer.

20:51

It, uh, it brings people together regardless

20:53

of their religion, their political

20:55

beliefs, their gender or sexual

20:57

identity. Rich and poor

20:59

come together, young and old that

21:01

we run, um, chess matches

21:04

between senior citizens and kindergarteners.

21:07

Uh, so it's a game that's accessible to everyone

21:10

transcends borders and barriers. And

21:12

I think that, uh, the online format

21:15

is really the perfect format to do

21:17

that because you can connect with

21:19

people living on the opposite side of the globe

21:21

and still make friends with them and

21:24

have a personal connection with them. As

21:27

I have with, with several people

21:29

who I've made friends with, who don't speak

21:32

English or Hebrew or Spanish, my languages,

21:34

and I don't speak their languages, but we

21:36

have one in common and it's the language of chess.

21:39

And that's really a beautiful thing because,

21:42

um, you learn so much, not only

21:44

over the board, but also about their culture

21:46

and their background and their music and literature.

21:49

I remember as a kid falling

21:51

in love with Russian culture and

21:53

trying to adopt a fake Russian accent

21:55

to intimidate my opponents, because I thought it would

21:57

make me a better chess player. But,

22:00

um, no, I, I do think that chess

22:02

being such a universal game, universal

22:04

language, it's important to

22:06

bring that element into our programs as much

22:08

as possible. And the online format

22:11

allows that better than even

22:13

better than in person. Um,

22:16

And I don't want to overstep my time limit. I probably

22:18

already have,

22:19

I'm running 11 seconds over. Okay.

22:22

Well, okay. I bought

22:24

us some time earlier. Go for it. Thank

22:26

you. Now I'll just close then by saying that,

22:29

um, I think that to differentiate

22:31

and to really, uh, Stand

22:34

out in, in, in, uh, in the online

22:36

sphere or in person it's important to know the

22:38

audience and when you're working with children,

22:40

as many of us do here, um,

22:43

I think that humor and storytelling

22:45

really goes a long way because you want to meet

22:47

the learners where they're at. And

22:49

if all of us were children, once it's hard

22:51

to remember now, When you have,

22:54

um, when you have humor,

22:56

when you have a personal connection to,

22:58

um, to your pieces, you

23:00

know, when you genuinely care about those pieces,

23:03

maybe because they become characters in the story,

23:05

and those stories have chapters

23:07

each week with, with, uh, you know, a new chapter

23:10

to these progressive, uh, lesson

23:12

plans. Those are things that we do,

23:14

including, um, themes

23:16

for Halloween lessons and things

23:18

like that. Um, just to get the kids

23:20

more engaged and to make the program

23:23

a little more unique by combining chests

23:25

with other, with

23:28

other passions or other interests or other

23:30

walks of life. Um, and,

23:32

uh, I'll just end by saying that it it's sometimes

23:35

goes a little too far. In

23:37

the sense of getting kids to care about their pieces

23:39

too much. Um, because we give,

23:41

we give names to all the pieces. Sometimes they

23:43

have animal names, uh, and,

23:45

um, and, and the kid

23:47

starts to really care about them, which is what you love

23:50

to see. You want them to treat their pieces

23:52

like friends or family, but then

23:54

of course, if those pieces get captured, it

23:56

becomes a problem. And I thought

23:58

I would share a funny story that happened recently in one

24:00

of my own classes that a student

24:02

who rarely used. And, uh, it

24:04

does not take well to losing lost

24:07

a game, but fought to the bitter end until

24:09

every single last pond was captured.

24:12

And then he was inconsolable crying.

24:15

I tried to tell him, Hey, it's, it's

24:17

okay. You know, you win or you learn, and

24:19

it's, it's only a game and you're going to learn from this.

24:21

You come back strong. And

24:23

then, um, he looked at me and he said,

24:26

I know it's only a game coach leader, but

24:28

then in between sobs, he pointed to

24:30

all of his captured pieces. And he said, but

24:33

it was a matter of life and death for them.

24:36

So I really loved

24:38

that because I thought, okay, I did my job.

24:41

If he cares so much about those pieces, then

24:44

that's a sign that he loves just as much

24:46

as I

24:46

do. That's an amazing story.

24:48

And I think, you know, I

24:51

see how, uh, so many

24:53

other verticals in the enrichment

24:55

space can implement that or are actually

24:57

already implementing the fact that this

25:00

is not just the learning experience.

25:03

This is unexperienced and

25:06

kids come to, uh,

25:08

learn in Richmond and do enrichment.

25:11

Afterschool hours. Usually it's something

25:13

that they choose or they are involved in

25:15

choosing to do, and they want

25:18

it to be fun. They want to meet new people. They want

25:20

to make friends. And, um,

25:22

that's probably the biggest

25:24

skill that they get through that. Uh,

25:27

you know, in addition to, of course the, the

25:29

actual hard skills of playing

25:31

or coding or whatever enrichment

25:33

they are at. Um,

25:36

yeah, let's before we go adjust

25:39

to the next to the last

25:42

panel based on here, uh,

25:45

let's remind the audience on the

25:47

chat, uh, that we

25:49

are going to have some time for your

25:51

questions. So now it's the time

25:53

to use the Q and a, or the chat

25:56

and we waiting to see your questions.

25:59

Yeah. And so Dalton last

26:01

but not least is actually an old friend of

26:03

mine, Tim Dobbs. I know him for many

26:05

years from chest wizards, uh, working

26:08

for my, one of my previous companies

26:10

that I started. And Tim knows

26:12

this about me. Uh, safety

26:15

is very important. Safety was very

26:17

important, uh, in the enrichment

26:19

space when I ran it in person it's

26:21

equally important online. So. Tim

26:24

is an avid traveler. He's a chess

26:27

player and he's the national program director

26:29

of chess wizards. He supervises 500

26:31

schools and he does it with a smile on his face

26:34

all the time. Tim wipe the smile

26:36

off your face. Let's talk about safety

26:38

in the online space.

26:40

Well, thanks for having me. And, uh, honestly,

26:42

I just feel after hearing all

26:44

you guys talk today, I know I'm jealous

26:47

just of wanting to like join

26:49

any of your classes. You all seem like you're

26:51

fantastic teachers and just hearing you today has

26:53

really been worth me coming. So, um,

26:56

I did want to talk about safety and what

26:58

I did when we first really moved to the online

27:01

space, we were lucky to jump in right

27:03

at March. We'd already had

27:05

partnerships. Um, we were ready to go.

27:08

It was kind of. Burner project for

27:10

us. And we were able to, March

27:12

quickly, And really

27:15

transfer our in-person kids right

27:17

to online, but we needed that to be safe

27:19

and we need to make sure we were making the right decisions.

27:21

And as, and I'm from a small town

27:23

in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and right

27:26

during the beginning of the pandemic, I watched

27:28

my town get zoom bombed and

27:31

at a public meeting for

27:33

our council city. And it made national

27:35

news. It was very, very embarrassing for

27:37

our small town. And I definitely did not want

27:40

that to happen to our company. So.

27:43

While we used all the passwords while we

27:45

had everything extra encrypted.

27:48

And I might add many

27:50

parents complained about how hard it was

27:52

to log into our classes. Why

27:54

isn't it easy? It's easy to get into the other

27:56

classes we, just said, I'm

27:59

sorry. we understand

28:01

that it is more difficult, but we need safety

28:04

first and we're just not willing to

28:06

be flexible on that. And I, do

28:08

apologize. It takes that extra. step But

28:10

even after all that, and that complaint,

28:13

what we did, I think was the,

28:15

be all and end all ours rule

28:18

for all of our teachers. And we were running,

28:20

you know, sometimes a hundred classes a day

28:22

with, with 35 40 different teachers.

28:25

Um, we made

28:27

sure our teachers were a bouncer

28:30

and they did not let anybody into

28:32

the class until they physically

28:34

saw the child. Not just

28:36

the dad, if it's just dad saying, Hey,

28:39

I'm ready for the class. Sir. I,

28:41

I need to see your, I need to see your child, uh,

28:43

and I need to ask the child's name and make sure it's that

28:45

child specific. And we would do that

28:47

every time. And it eats up about seven minutes

28:49

of your class. Again, we did, we

28:52

as a national brand, as somebody

28:54

that did not want to be on the front page

28:56

of a news story, wanted to make sure. Yeah,

28:59

everything was to the T's.

29:02

If let's give you another example, internet

29:04

goes out and a kid tries to join

29:06

late. I would then bounce all of those

29:08

kids back into the waiting room. Check

29:11

on that one kid to make sure it's

29:13

still the same kid and not an older

29:15

brother. Playing a funny prank who

29:17

he thinks it's hilarious and now it's

29:19

not hilarious at all. And

29:22

just to make sure that safety was always set,

29:24

we never let kids in that we didn't physically

29:26

see. And because of that, um, we've not

29:28

had one issue, one problem, and

29:31

we've run. I mean, it's it's

29:33

well, over the thousands into the tens of thousands

29:35

of classes at this point, we, we w we were changed

29:37

quite a few students from our in-person learning.

29:39

Um, we're very lucky to do so, so, um,

29:42

that was our tips and tricks and definitely something

29:45

that we put in place.

29:47

Yeah. And Tim, first

29:49

of all, Josh has said, he's a world traveler. He just,

29:52

can I share that you were at 71?

29:56

Hi,

29:56

I have now been to 71 countries. I've

29:58

hitchhiked 19 of them. And I've

30:01

worked in about 20 of them. Um,

30:03

I've had a lot of different jobs to get me into

30:05

the chest, the chest realm.

30:07

I was a professional tour guide for many, many

30:09

years, taking people, adventure backpacking

30:12

in multiple countries.

30:14

So we, we, we have, we have a lot

30:16

to talk about, um, Uh,

30:19

Tim and I'm an

30:21

all leg. The owner of chest freezer

30:23

came to us at click two sometime ago.

30:25

And, and with that challenge of

30:27

safety, right. And there are so many

30:30

challenges, um, when

30:32

trying to imitate

30:34

the in-person into the

30:36

online space, but also a

30:38

new challenge is to come up with the online,

30:41

uh, with the online offering. Um,

30:44

so, and this is, this

30:46

is great because we love challenges. We'll have a

30:48

understanding what's really needed

30:51

for the space, what enrichment providers

30:53

really, really need and what are the biggest

30:55

problems. And we are here to actually create solutions.

30:58

So, and this is, you know, regardless

31:01

of what software or

31:03

what platform, everybody here

31:05

in. And today are using,

31:08

um, this is how

31:10

we can move this industry

31:13

forward. At the end of the day, we're still

31:16

kind of in the dinosaurs, uh,

31:19

air age of, uh, online

31:21

enrichment. If we think how it's going

31:23

to look like in five years, it's probably going to look

31:25

very direct. If I don't know if it's going to look like what

31:28

mark Zuckerberg just shared shared

31:30

two weeks ago. I don't know what

31:32

I think about that, but it's going to look different

31:34

than what it is today, and

31:36

there's going to be so many new

31:38

students coming in to this space.

31:41

Uh, questions, questions. Okay. So Sydney

31:44

here has a question. Um, how

31:46

are you keeping engagement with

31:48

younger students? Ages six and

31:50

under in online classes anybody

31:53

has experienced with this age.

31:58

Uh, probably I can tell you this question. So actually

32:00

we have lots of students, so it's

32:02

in this younger ages and definitely

32:04

teaching someone that is a 6, 7, 8

32:06

years old is a very different from my teaching

32:09

in adult. So there are a couple of things

32:11

that we are doing. First of all, we have

32:13

shorter sessions with them. It's not full

32:15

45 minutes lessons, but we have shorter

32:18

lessons. And we also try to

32:20

keep it a more interactive and

32:22

more engaged because. Eh,

32:25

a younger kid can see that long

32:27

without taking an action. Right?

32:29

So it's a more interactive, more asking

32:31

questions, more maybe stuff like a

32:33

puzzles or, you know, questions like that. We

32:35

also try to keep a conversation with

32:38

the person and actually a

32:40

thing that they, uh, that particular kid

32:43

he feels safe, comfortable. Uh,

32:45

you would be surprised for how long

32:48

they can stay and how much they can engage.

32:51

So just there's lots of interactions that are short

32:53

the sessions. All right.

32:55

Well, let me, let me ask one question

32:57

that was sent ahead of time to a ton, I think kind

32:59

of dovetails. Well, how

33:02

do you keep the instructors engaged

33:05

in the online space? I mean, we're, we're all

33:07

now at this point, used to spending many

33:09

hours in front of a computer on zoom and staying focused,

33:12

but could somebody talk about how you keep

33:14

your instructors engaged in mode?

33:18

So I think as the same thing that we spoke previously

33:20

about personality, a coach needs

33:22

to do it, not only for earning money, but he

33:25

needs, uh, you know, to like what he's

33:27

doing, right. He needs to enjoy by

33:29

seeing his student and making

33:31

a progress or enjoying chest and

33:35

many cases. There's also personal, personal

33:37

relations to that involved between the poachers

33:39

and the students. So again,

33:41

everything comes down to personality more

33:44

than a, and I'll just say

33:46

that then the strengths in chest,

33:48

that makes sense. So passion. So

33:51

your, your instructors have to have passion.

33:54

We here,

33:55

they see it as a mission, teaching, teaching

33:58

people chess, and, uh, just, you

34:00

know, becoming smarter.

34:04

There's a bit more of a performance aspect

34:06

to, to online because you

34:08

have less time of the kids playing each

34:10

other board to board. You have to be

34:12

that, that standup comic, that

34:14

kid, that. They want to come

34:16

and see you as opposed to the other online

34:18

classes that they may be doing. So there's

34:20

definitely more, um, you gotta be

34:22

a little more animated and make sure that you

34:24

don't become stale behind the screen. And,

34:27

um, we dress like wizards. That's makes

34:29

it a little easy for us, I guess. So we have that

34:31

going for us, but what you've always done. We've

34:34

always done that we were wizard before, but I

34:36

think the kids loved CNF, especially

34:39

in the height of the pandemic when you pop up

34:41

and there was a wizard in front of you, you're you,

34:43

it brought that what they were used

34:45

to back to their home. And I think

34:47

that really helped

34:48

as well. I think that another

34:50

advantage of the online space is that,

34:53

um, you can cater specifically

34:55

to the needs of your students and to the strengths

34:57

of specific coaches, more easily, that way,

35:00

you know, running a school-based chess program,

35:02

uh, like many of us here, I, um,

35:05

you know, one of the challenges that we have is

35:07

when you have a wide age, age range,

35:09

or sometimes it's not only about the ages. But

35:12

about the levels of the students. And

35:14

so, you know, you want to make sure that the

35:16

level is not too easy for the more advanced

35:18

students, um, but also

35:20

not, not too challenging for others. And,

35:23

um, you know, you can maybe separate

35:25

into two classrooms and that can help, but it also

35:27

depends on the availability of, you know,

35:29

the space that's available at the school with

35:32

online. You can have. You

35:34

can have multiple classes on specific

35:36

themes on, you know, depending on what the students

35:38

are looking for. So maybe they're focused

35:40

on end games or on learning and opening

35:42

gambit, or they want their own

35:44

games to be analyzed. And you may also

35:47

work with coaches who are very strong in one

35:49

area, not as strong in the other. And

35:51

so it makes it easier to then pair the right coaches

35:53

with the right students.

35:56

Ellie, you got the last word.

35:59

Thank you. So on this topic of

36:01

young students, as well as engagement

36:03

for students and team, it's something

36:05

that I care deeply about, because

36:07

if you're gonna, if you're gonna achieve

36:09

a goal of life skills through the game of chess, as

36:11

opposed to, let's say a goal of how many masters

36:14

you develop, then students

36:16

will not achieve life skills. If they don't

36:18

have fun and drop out of your program. For

36:21

them to achieve the goals. They better stick with it long

36:23

enough to get the benefit. It's not an overnight

36:25

piece. So fun and engagement is essential

36:28

from day one for engaging the young students.

36:30

And by young, I would define them as five or younger.

36:33

Uh, we've we've served five

36:35

and older in in-person classes and online

36:37

it's much more challenging online with

36:40

those younger students. For sure. Like

36:42

Leah was saying, I would differentiate into a couple

36:44

of categories. One is. The precocious

36:46

young students who are advanced

36:48

in their chest and they're into it. And they can

36:50

go along with some older students they're into

36:53

the chest. The other side is the

36:55

young kids. The parents want them involved to

36:57

get the benefits, but how do you keep them engaged?

37:01

And so the challenge there is

37:03

much harder online versus in-person however,

37:05

what I've experienced and what we see with our team

37:08

is again, similar to

37:10

offline the attention span

37:12

of that student, right? Is

37:16

directly related relate, uh,

37:18

related. And you can say to their age, right?

37:21

Uh, a lesson, you can almost go,

37:23

how old are they? And that's the minutes of lesson max.

37:26

You're a four year old, four minutes lesson time interactive.

37:30

You know, four seconds attention or

37:33

four minutes interactive lessons. So the

37:35

key we find is making many fun

37:38

games all the time. You've got to have them involved.

37:40

If you're learning about a chess board or things it's like, who

37:42

can click on this square, who can find a square

37:44

and click on it on your screen or touch it. If you got a touch

37:47

pad or different things. And we find

37:49

we need to lower the technology requirement

37:51

for that young. So you may do less

37:54

of things that require more, more,

37:57

you know, copy paste or chat,

37:59

or these elements. You have to figure out how to pull them in

38:01

this way, you know, being aware of them

38:03

and then just general good classroom management,

38:06

even on your zoom or whatever you're using,

38:08

seeing the students who's engaged or not.

38:10

Are you calling and pulling them into your

38:13

lesson? Hey Ted, did

38:15

you see this? Hey, Ruth.

38:17

I see that you're focusing here on this. Do you see the

38:19

answer to this one? How many, you know, pull them

38:21

all into it, engage the whole classroom

38:23

just as you would in person for the instructor

38:26

side, we have had a dual

38:28

goal at chess for life for the last

38:30

seven years in figuring out how to achieve it a million

38:32

kids a week with life skills through the game and

38:35

the best place to work for them. So

38:38

as we do that, we really do focus upon

38:41

input from our team. Even during this

38:43

online space, it's like, Hey, what's working

38:45

for you. What are the challenges for you? What would make this better?

38:48

We've got a good benefits package for our team.

38:50

You know, we do PTO and all kinds of stuff.

38:53

I've listened to different team members share how

38:55

they've built healthy. Another

38:57

life lesson, we focus on into their personal

39:00

routines to make it fun and engaging.

39:02

We listened to our team and go, Hey, what are you most energized

39:04

by coaching advanced beginner, this

39:06

level of element. We try to give

39:08

them what is most energizing for

39:10

them to leave. It doesn't always work,

39:13

right? There's always something that you have to learn from it and

39:15

grow, but that's what those are the types

39:21

Elliot. I think we lost it to. Yeah, but that's okay.

39:23

What we could tell. Is

39:25

that everybody was very, very passionate

39:28

here in the chest space. I gotta

39:30

be honest. The closest thing I

39:32

have come to a chest is the Queen's gambit. And

39:34

no, I'm not going down that rabbit

39:36

hole with any you guys. Cause I know how important

39:38

the Queen's gambit has been to chests anybody

39:41

out there can read about it, what we're passionate

39:43

about. And I'm a member of club. Cohort-based

39:46

courses and the click to platform. So

39:48

we've got five minutes left. I'd like to yield

39:51

the floor here a little bit to dotage, to talk about

39:53

a cook to, and B uh,

39:55

potentially this amazing, you know, offer

39:57

that he's going to make for the audience

39:59

members out there.

40:01

Uh, this, this was an amazing chat

40:04

with you guys. Um, you're so humble.

40:06

And, uh, I think I

40:09

met a group of educators that

40:11

I want to keep in touch with and, you know,

40:13

we're building a community, so inviting everybody

40:15

from the panelists, but also the attendees, the guests,

40:17

everybody to a group on Facebook

40:20

where we keep the community going. And if you didn't

40:22

get the link yet, you'll, you'll get it. Um,

40:25

then a little bit about click too,

40:27

because I think this will be very relevant

40:29

for everybody here. Think

40:31

about it when you're starting an online store,

40:33

you use something like Shopify when

40:36

you're starting, when you're marketing through

40:38

emails, uh, you'll probably build

40:40

them on something like MailChimp, but

40:42

what if you're building an online enrichment business,

40:45

you need to take enrollments. Manage

40:47

teachers' schedules. Get keeps on videoconferencing,

40:50

collect feedback, measure

40:52

engagement. What do you, where

40:54

do you go? That's exactly the problem

40:57

that we solved with click to, we

40:59

built click two. We designed it to

41:01

really support, uh, online and

41:03

enrichment providers. We

41:06

are ourselves experts of online classes,

41:08

and we work with organizations in multiple

41:10

verticals. We love helping them

41:12

identify simple ways

41:15

to improve the workflow. And by that

41:17

growth. So here's,

41:19

here's, what's here. What's in it for you right

41:21

now. If you're joining us live today

41:24

and you'd like to have a consultation session

41:26

to help you upgrade your efficiency

41:28

and become a stronger online class provider,

41:31

I'm happy to offer a super-valuable consultation.

41:35

For you at no cost at all.

41:37

This offer is only available during this

41:39

webinar. So Joyce, from our

41:41

production team, she has shared the

41:43

link to book the time on the chat

41:46

with you and feel free to do that.

41:48

Um, I want to show you a quick video

41:50

of, um, to just give you a

41:52

teaser of what click two is, and of

41:54

course, uh, wrap it up. Uh,

41:56

the end was, uh, some, uh, very

41:59

interesting, uh, offer about something that's

42:01

happening tomorrow. So let's take

42:03

a look at.

42:14

When I build an online live learning program,

42:16

I use a calendar to schedule the video meetings

42:18

and then assign them to our teaching staff for

42:21

processing new student counts. I use

42:23

a registration system and a payment processing

42:26

software. Then I go to my email

42:28

to send video conferencing links and to

42:30

communicate with a cohort groups to

42:32

record attendance and track student progress.

42:34

I also use different spreadsheets and

42:36

lists. Or I can

42:39

manage my online education business

42:41

all in one place with Clicktale.

42:45

Now I can open a single course or

42:47

scale up by providing multiple programs

42:49

with various cohort options in

42:51

just a few clicks. I can publish each

42:54

cohort option on our course catalog

42:56

for easy registration and payment.

42:58

Then everything comes together on the agenda.

43:01

Where the teaching staff can easily access

43:03

their assigned classes. Our teaching

43:05

staff takes advantage of a multitude

43:07

of tools that are designed to deliver an immersive

43:10

live learning experience. Each

43:17

student uses their secure, personal access

43:19

link to join. Eliminating the

43:21

use of multiple links and a password

43:31

click to automatically tracks, attendance,

43:34

student engagement, metrics, and post-session

43:36

feedback, which helped me make data-driven

43:38

decisions. Join the cohort

43:41

based learning revolution and scale

43:43

up your education business. Get

43:45

started [email protected].

43:51

So really we heard today about

43:53

some of the amazing opportunities and

43:55

challenges. Uh, we, uh,

43:57

I know that all the experts here, uh,

44:00

participated today, this panel are planning

44:02

to grow their online chess education

44:04

operation, and I'm sure. Right.

44:07

For many of our attendees as well. And,

44:09

um, we hope that with collected, that

44:11

should be an easy task. Uh, easy as

44:13

one click, as we say, flick to, and

44:15

really the most successful category

44:18

of online learning is the more successful

44:20

we all are going to be. Thanks

44:22

again, Josh, back to you

44:24

for a final, final, final interesting.

44:28

Okay. So I'll, I'll reiterate

44:30

with Dotan said rising tide is good for

44:32

all ships. So, uh, you know, cook

44:34

two wins when everybody else wins when Elliot

44:36

wins, when Leo wins and when

44:38

the audience members win. So we

44:40

want to hear from everybody. Hopefully we can do this again. Uh,

44:43

but tomorrow we have a very

44:45

important guests. No sire. You seen

44:47

of nods academy. No, sire

44:50

is one of the top course creators.

44:53

In the world. We met him, actually had

44:55

burgers with him in San Diego. He's a good

44:57

dude to have burgers with, and we're lucky enough

44:59

to have him on the lifelong educators show

45:01

tomorrow 10:00 AM east. So we hope

45:03

people join in. We're going to end this

45:05

now, this particular webinar,

45:08

however, let's keep the conversation

45:10

going and hopefully Tom will Greenlight

45:12

another one of these and we can get back together again.

45:15

That's it. Thank you everybody. Thank

45:22

you.

45:30

Yeah, thanks a lot.

45:33

Yeah, that's one. So

45:36

see you all, I'll see you guys

45:38

soon.

45:38

Elliot, do you live in Canada? Do you like,

45:42

oh, cause it's, you've, you've taken out a bit

45:44

of a Canadian accent.

45:47

That's probably thanks to growing up, uh,

45:50

right at the Canadian border near on

45:52

the us side near Vancouver.

45:54

Okay. Got it. Yeah. If I lost my Michigan

45:57

accent, like I used to sound

45:59

much more Michigan before I became

46:01

an English teacher, but we say, Hey,

46:03

at the end of our sentences, we have,

46:05

we're very we're people. I could easily

46:08

pass for a Canadian before

46:11

my mother actually grew up in Vancouver, BC.

46:14

Okay. Yeah. Yeah, because I was like, well, it sounds

46:16

like he's here.

46:20

Very good.

46:21

Thank

46:21

you everybody y'all have a good one. Appreciate

46:24

it. Thank you.

46:25

Bye bye everybody. I'm going to end it now and

46:28

be in touch very soon. Bye.