Yukon Group Wins Gold Brandon Hall Learning Award for Cameo®Click to expand

Richmond, Virginia (PRWEB) - December 3, 2010
PRWeb
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RICHMOND, Va.--(PRWEB)--Richmond, Va.-based Yukon Learning's (www.yukonlearning.com) new software product, Cameo, received national recognition as a finalist in the "Most Innovative Software Idea" category of the SoftwareCEO/CompTIA Software Innovation Awards for 2009. These awards recognize innovative software products and new business models in eight different categories within companies throughout the United States.

The Yukon Group, Inc., a leader in innovative learning, won a coveted Brandon Hall gold award for excellence in the Best Innovation in Learning Technology category. Yukon received the award on November 4th for its learning reinforcement product, Cameo. The winners are listed at http://www.brandon-hall.com.

Cameo® is a web-based tool that delivers scenario-based learning reinforcement via email. Built on solid research and adult learning principles, Cameo® is like giving your learners a "booster shot" of learning in the weeks and months following a training event, helping to raise rates for both learning retention and transfer.

"We are both excited and humbled in winning this award" says company CEO, Chris Ayers. "A big reason for the success of Cameo® has been the role our customers have played in shaping our product development. The new 2.0 version was entirely driven by customer feedback and based on input from fellow training companies, we are now in Beta with a new product, Cameo Express®."

The Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Awards are presented annually by Brandon Hall Research, one of the leading research firms in training and development. Now in its sixteenth year, the Awards program showcases exceptional work in the use of learning technology.

"These winning entries are very impressive," said Brandon Hall, Ph.D., chairman of the Awards program. "We are thrilled to recognize innovative learning of such high quality."

Entries were submitted in the categories of Best Custom Content, Best Innovation in Learning Technology, Best Learning Game, Best Learning Team, Best Results of a Learning Program, Best Use of Blended Learning, Best Use of Games for Learning, Best Use of Mobile Learning, Best Use of Video for Learning, Best Use of Virtual Worlds for Learning, Best Use of Web 2.0 Tools for Learning, and Best Integration of Learning and Talent Management. A total of 214 entries were originally submitted. The entries were evaluated by a panel of veteran, independent senior judges.

About Yukon Group, Inc.
Yukon Group, Inc. (http://www.yukongroupinc.com) is a learning and development firm based in Richmond, Virginia, that focuses on B2B sales training and custom e-Learning solutions. Cameo® is a product of Yukon Group, Inc. To learn more about Cameo®, visit http://www.cameo.net

About Brandon Hall Research
Brandon Hall, Ph.D. is the CEO of Brandon Hall Research and author of the ground-breaking "Web-Based Training Cookbook." Since 1992, Brandon Hall Research (http://www.brandon-hall.com) has been providing independent research reports and expert advice on using technology in learning. Brandon Hall Research conducts the Awards program each year to recognize the best in innovative learning.

Yukon Group Inc. reinforces its trainingClick to expand

Richmond, Virginia - July 20, 2009
Richmond Times-Dispatch
JOAN TUPPONCE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
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Yukon Group Inc.
What is it? provides business-to-business sales training and services
Chris Ayers, CEO, Yukon
Employees: 14 full-time, including the owners
Owner: Chris Ayers and Ron Lambert
Location: 3900 Westerre Parkway, Suite 300, in Henrico
Contact: (804) 727-0031 or www.yukongroupinc.com
Jerry Clor runs advanced leadership training programs for longtime employees at Roche Laboratories Inc. in New Jersey.

To help him, Clor relies on training products and other services from Henrico County-based Yukon Group Inc.

"Our tenured employees need a sophisticated adult learning environment," said Clor, Roche's manager of career training and development.

"Yukon offers a full suite of services to meet [our] needs. I don't have to explain anything to them. They understand adult learning."

Yukon Group owners Chris Ayers and Ron Lambert have used their years of experience in training and development to create business-to-business sales training and, more recently, electronic learning, or e-learning.

The training focuses on sales negotiations to help salespeople conduct higher-level sales calls. Clients using Yukon Group's business-to-business classroom training include Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, M&M Mars and AMF.

But last year, in an effort to boost its own sales, Yukon Group created Yukon Learning that specializes in e-learning products and services that help companies enhance the skills that employees learn in training sessions.

Revenue at the Yukon Group had been flat in 2007 and 2008, after 15 percent growth each year since 2000.

"We were in a recession and companies wanted to do training but didn't have the budget for it," said Ayers, the Yukon Group's president and CEO.

"Our classroom training started to dwindle some, and we had to find a way to stay competitive," he said. "We found that through technology. We built products and learning so people could attend classes online."

E-learning is becoming increasingly popular with companies, accounting for nearly one-third of all learning content, according to a report by the American Society for Training & Development.

While traditional classroom instruction is still a much-needed service, "learning professionals are turning to technology to help streamline operations and deliver learning at less cost and with greater reach," the report said.

One of Yukon Learning's Web-based tools is Cameo, a software product that delivers learning reinforcement through e-mail. Companies use it to reinforce key learning points made at their training sessions.

The product received national recognition this year as a finalist in the Most Innovative Software Idea category of the CompTIA SoftwareCEO Software Innovation Awards for 2009.

Ayers came up with the concept in 2006 when flying across the country on a red-eye flight. Instead of sleeping, he was busy sketching out his vision on a beverage napkin.

"Too often learning stops in the classroom, and unfortunately, that is also when the forgetting starts," he said. "Research says that after 31 days you retain about 21 percent of what you learned in a workshop."

Yukon first used Cameo as way to reinforce learning for its own courses but decided to roll it out commercially in October.

Yukon now has six corporate clients using Cameo.

To handle the increased business, Ayers will be tripling Yukon's space and adding up to eight new employees this year.

Dennis Falci, director of U.S. managed markets training at pharmaceutical company Sanofi Aventis in New Jersey, uses Yukon's training products and services for new account managers as well as existing teams.

"They are excellent to work with," Falci said. "They get it. They are seasoned professionals and they understand the business."

Yukon Group traces its roots to Alongside Management, a sales training company founded in 1989 by Ron Lambert and Herb Mahan.

When the two divided the assets of the business in the early 1990s, Lambert continued as Alongside Marketing until 2005 when the company name changed to Yukon Group.

Lambert, who worked in senior-level positions at several companies, thought about opening a training company after becoming disappointed with sales-training courses being offered to businesses. He wanted to use trainers who were experienced in sales instead of trainers with no practical experience.

"We set our criteria," Lambert said. "Trainers have to have at least 20 years of experience in selling, and they must have been a vice president of sales in a major company. We started out using contractors, but the people that work with us now are employees of the company."

Ayers met Lambert in 1998 after contracting with Alongside to conduct sales training at Hamilton Beach, a manufacturer of small kitchen appliances, where Ayers served as the director of training.

Ayers, who joined Alongside in 2000, is now the majority owner of the Yukon Group.

Richmond-Based Yukon Learning Gains National Recognition...Click to expand

Richmond, Virginia - June 18, 2009 - Richmond-Based Yukon Learning Gains National Recognition in Software Industry for New Cameo Product
Business Wire
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RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Richmond, Va.-based Yukon Learning's (www.yukonlearning.com) new software product, Cameo, received national recognition as a finalist in the "Most Innovative Software Idea" category of the SoftwareCEO/CompTIA Software Innovation Awards for 2009. These awards recognize innovative software products and new business models in eight different categories within companies throughout the United States.

Cameo is a Web-based tool that delivers scenario-based learning reinforcement via e-mail. The product was launched in October 2008 at the e-Learning2008 conference in Orlando. Organizations use Cameo to reinforce key learning points from their training events using e-mail. As learners reply, Cameo aggregates their responses, giving the organization objective and actionable data for their future learning efforts.

"We are honored to be recognized for this achievement by such a globally respected organization as CompTIA," said Chris Ayers, president and CEO of Yukon Group, Inc. "Being a part of such prestigious awards is not only an honor for our organization, but indicative of the growth our company has experienced. Cameo continues to be well-received in the marketplace and in the blended learning community, and we think it will change the way industry professionals think about learning reinforcement."

About Yukon Learning

Based in Richmond, Va., Yukon Learning is a Yukon Group, Inc. company that specializes in delivering innovative e-learning products and services that help clients increase the transfer and application of knowledge and skills gained in the classroom. For more information on Yukon Learning, visit www.yukonlearning.com. To learn more about Cameo, visit www.cameo.net.

About CompTIA

For 25 years, CompTIA has served as the voice of the world's information technology industry. CompTIA is committed to helping organizations maximize the benefits of their investments in technology and assisting individuals pursuing careers in IT. For more information about CompTIA, visit www.comptia.org.

Cameo® Named Finalist in SoftwareCEO/CompTIA AwardsClick to expand

Richmond, Virginia - May 22, 2009 - Yukon Learning today announced that its new product, Cameo®, has been named as one of three finalists in the "Most Innovative Software Idea" category of SoftwareCEO/CompTIA Software Innovation Awards for 2009.

Cameo® is a web-based tool that delivers scenario-based learning reinforcement via e-mail. The product was launched in October of last year at the e-Learning2008 conference in Orlando. Organizations use Cameo® to reinforce key learning points from their training events using email. As learners reply, Cameo® aggregates their responses, giving the organization objective and actionable data for their future learning efforts.

"SoftwareCEO's annual Software Innovation Awards recognize our industry's efforts and accomplishments in bringing innovative products and new business models to market," said David Sommer, Chief Operating Officer, CompTIA and publisher of SoftwareCEO. "The companies selected as finalists for these prestigious awards are delivering real business value to customers with their products and services." Winners of the 2009 SoftwareCEO Innovation Awards in the eight categories will be announced on June 18, 2009.

"We are honored to be recognized for this achievement by such a globally respected organization as CompTIA," said Chris Ayers, President and CEO of Yukon Group, Inc. "Cameo® continues to be well-received in the marketplace and we think it will change the way industry professionals think about learning reinforcement."

About Yukon Learning
Based in Richmond, Virginia, Yukon Learning is a Yukon Group, Inc, company that specializes in delivering innovative e-learning products and services that help clients "Make Their Learning Stick." For more information on Yukon Learning, visit www.yukonlearning.com. To learn more about Cameo®, visit www.cameo.net

About SoftwareCEO
SoftwareCEO is a newsletter and web portal for software industry executives. It provides expert advice from industry leaders alongside discussion forums, feature articles and monthly seminars. For more information about SoftwareCEO, visit www.softwareceo.com

About CompTIA
For 25 years, CompTIA has served as the voice of the world's IT industry. CompTIA is committed to helping organizations maximize the benefits of their investments in technology and assisting individuals pursuing careers in IT. For more information about CompTIA, visit www.comptia.org

Yukon Announces Release of New Learning Reinforcement ToolClick to expand

Glen Allen, Virginia - September 1, 2008 - Yukon Learning announced today the launch of Cameo, a new web-based learning reinforcement tool developed by the company. Cameo will make its debut at the Learning2008 show in Orlando on October 26, 2008. Cameo is a web-based tool that delivers scenario-based learning reinforcement via email.

"There is nothing like Cameo in the marketplace today," says Chris Ayers, Yukon President and CEO. "We've spent the past twenty years helping companies around the world, working with their people to build knowledge and develop their skills. But all too often, that initial momentum that is built during training fades over time and along with it, the results these companies are expecting. We built Cameo to help companies sustain the momentum they build during training and reinforce the key learning points from the training they offer."

Cameo is unique in that it delivers learning via email and does not require the learner to log into multiple systems. It only takes a minute a week to reinforce a key learning point from a learning event ... so it is easy and unobtrusive for the learner. Cameo is effective because it increases learning retention and transfer of learning to the job. Repeating key points from the training and spacing these repetitions out over time , work together to increase retention of the knowledge and skills built during the training. Delivering the learning in the context of realistic scenarios makes it easier for the learner to move from theory to practice and increases learning transfer.

While Cameo is easy and effective for the learner, it also provides the company with a rich source of objective and actionable data around key learning points. As learners who attend a course respond to the scenarios delivered by Cameo in the weeks following the course, Cameo aggregates the data and lets the company look across key learning points for a given course to see what "stuck" and what didn't. Companies can use this information to make improvements to weak areas in the course design and can use the information to target follow-up training on areas where knowledge and skills are slipping.

"We're really excited about Cameo and what it can help companies do," says Ayers. "We really think that Cameo will change the way that learning professionals think about learning reinforcement."

Cameo AppearancesClick to expand

Since its launch in 2008, we have been busy sharing Cameo with learning development professionals, to see where we have been and where we are going.
Use the links below as a guide:

2011 Appearances


40th SPBT Annual Conference 2011
May 9-12
www.spbt.org



ASTD 2011 International Conference & Expo
May 22-25
www.astdconference.org



Learning Solutions Conference & Expo
March 23-25
www.learningsolutionsmag.com/content/1780/



2010 Appearances


DevLearn 10
November 3-5
www.devlearn2010.com


39th SPBT Annual Conference - 2010
June 6-9
www.spbt.org


ASTD 2010 International Conference & Expo
May 17-19
www.astdconference.org



Learning Solutions Conference & Expo
March 24-25
www.learningsolutionsmag.com/content/1408/



New Learning Technologies 2010
March 3-5
www.salt.org/fl/orlandoP.asp



Training 2010 Conference
February 1-2
www.trainingconference.com/learninggroup/training/index.jsp


ASTD 2010 TechKnowledge Conference
January 27-28
http://tk2010.astd.org




2009 Appearances


DevLearn 09
November 11-13
www.elearningguild.com/content.cfm?selection=doc.1253


SALT 2009 Interactive Technologies Conference
August 19-21
www.salt.org/dc/washingtonP.asp



ASTD 2009 International Conf & Expo
May 31-June 3
www.astd.org


SPBT 2009
May 11-13
www.spbt.org


The eLearning Guild 2009
March 10-12
www.elearningguild.com



2008 Appearances


Elliott Masie's Learning 2008
October 26-29
www.learning2008.com

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