Russ Cullingworth, CEO
How ProDio created an engaging StoryStyle™ safety course for Realtors® that enables them to learn through acted audio scenarios, and refresh their safety practices while on-the-move.
In 2023, ProDio was hired by the Greater Vancouver Realtors® (GVR) to produce a course called Safety Tips and Techniques for REALTORS®. We'd previously created a "Business Etiquette" course for GVR which was rated 5 out of 5 by 77% of course registrants (average overall rating of 4.72/5) and received many positive evaluation comments:
"What a great & effective course that I can finish at my own pace with great depth of learning materials!!!" (unedited)
The purpose of the Safety Tips and Techniques course was to remind Realtors® of potential risks in a variety of real-world situations and recommended strategies to avoid compromising their safety, and addressed the following learning outcomes:
• How to recognize harassment and when to get help
• How to effectively manage harassment
• Establish and maintain a professional online presence
• Maintain boundaries between your personal and professional online presence
• Best practices for vetting and screening potential clients
• Active situational awareness and safety planning
• Practical tips and techniques to stay safe during showings and open houses
• How to stay safe at the office
• Considerations about driving in a car with clients
Our Process Working with a subject matter expert and script provided by GVR, our team at ProDio "storified" the Safety script using our StoryStyle™ process. GVR provided us with an existing script, as well as arranging the four experienced Realtors® as guest experts to share their personal stories, advice and tips. One of these guest experts was an ex police-officer, and she provided some excellent expert advice for her colleagues. We interviewed and recorded each of them and carefully selected short segments of greatest value to include in the course.
Next, we crafted the script to include two realistic scenarios that Realtors® may encounter. We hired professional voice-actors to narrate and act out each of the roles. Here's a sample of our module 1 script:
NARRATOR: Welcome to this audio course on Realtor Safety, Tips and Techniques to Keep you Safe, brought to you by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. You’ve most likely seen stories on the news or YouTube about Realtors® who find themselves in difficult situations. In this course, we’ll provide you with guidance, tips and advice on how to avoid becoming a victim of harassment, assault or theft. Let’s start this first module with a short scenario:NARRATOR: Now in her late 30’s, Annika is a well recognized Realtor® in North and West Vancouver – she’s invested a great deal of time and money to get her name and face everywhere – on social media, billboards and even on the backs of buses. On this busy Tuesday morning she receives a text from a number she’s not familiar with. Of course, that’s not unusual for Realtors to get text messages out of the blue, so it’s of no concern to her.TEXTER. "Hi Annika, I see you have some properties listed that I am interested in looking at. Where can we meet?"ANNIKA: "Thanks for contacting me. Can you let me know your name so that we can set up a meeting with you at my office."TEXTER. "I don’t want to come to your office – I would like you to show me around some of the properties you have listed. I will pick you up and then we can drive around and you can show me."ANNIKA: "Sorry, but we don’t really work like that. We can meet at my office during the day. We have some paperwork for prospective buyers. What day or time would work for you?"TEXTER: "I'm working during the day so no, that won’t work. How about we meet for a drink after I am finished work? Maybe I can buy you dinner?"ANNIKA: "Thanks for the offer but it’s inappropriate for me to meet with clients for drinks. It’s our company policy."Dispersed between the interviews and acted scenarios, the narrator added additional information and recommended strategies for safety in a variety of situations.
Following the recording of the guest experts, narrator and character actors, our sound design team did their magic. Christine Cullingworth leads our sound engineering and design. As an award nominated voice actor for 12 years, Christine loves to work with voiceover colleagues to bring scenarios and narration to life with appropriate music, sound effects and real-world audio environments.
Listen to another scenario sample on YouTube https://youtu.be/t5CNJ3ek5fE
Realtor® Safety in the news In August 2024, the industry was shaken by a tragic incident involving Yuk-Ying Anita Mui, a 56 year old Ontario based Realtor, This incident brought a renewed awareness of the need for continuous safety training and awareness.
In collaboration with GVR, we established memorandums of understanding with four additional Real Estate Associations in Western Canada to make this safety course available to members at no cost until December 31, 2024.
In an industry where learners are highly mobile and often in their cars, our mobile learning app and StoryStyle™ learning format is very well suited to Realtors®.
To date, over 200 Realtors® have completed the Safety Tips and Techniques for REALTORS® course. The average evaluation rating is 4.76 out of 5 (77.6% of evaluations rated the course 5 out of 5).
"I found this course to be engaging and interesting throughout. I liked the interviews and style of information delivery. Highly recommended!"
"Great suggestions. I liked the stories of the different scenarios as it made me think what I would do in those situations."
"I did find this safety course practical using good suggestions for safety as a REALTOR in most all situations. Key tips were often repeated by different Instructors along with real life situations."
You can find out more about our StoryStyle™ process here: https://www.prodio-learning.com/storystyle
Contact me at russell@prodiolearning.com to discuss options for your learning content. We're willing to do some work. Let us write your first module, or provide you with access to course content for free, with no further commitment, to show you how we can transform your learning.
To learn more about how you can have your add custom StoryStyle™ imaginative learning to your learning program, visit https://www.prodio-learning.com/custom-learning
Russell Cullingworth
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