Introduction: To cut training costs by two-thirds, Special Operations Command uses APAN to plan and execute training remotely.
The U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) uses the Joint Special Operations Forces (JSOF) Academic Week semiannual conference as the primary source of pre-deployment training for Cultural Support Teams and international partners going to Afghanistan. The Cultural Support Teams provide medical support, support to local women and liaison support to local governments. Understanding the dangers and limitations individuals face in theater is critical to keeping service members safe.
Challenges: SOCOM's budget for the spring 2013 conference was cut from $1.5 million to $500,000.
Historically, more than 500 participants had traveled to this conference. SOCOM needed to provide training remotely to an international audience who would use mobile devices. The training needed to provide opportunities for real-time questions and answers to ensure everyone participating remotely and in-person received the same information.
Solutions: SOCOM used an APAN community to host and present logistical information, training materials, live-streaming of presentations and surveys from a central, online location that was easy to update and customize.
Easy access to APAN by international partners broke down barriers historically overcome by expensive travel activities. The community’s home page served as an agenda that provided links to relevant information for each session which included presentation materials, logistical information and links to the session’s live-streaming interface. APAN's web conferencing tool, APAN Connect, provided live video streaming, live chat for Q&A and recorded each training session. APAN Connect allowed participants not onsite to be able to view sessions in real-time from personal computers or mobile devices.
Conference registration and survey responses were also managed on APAN. A customized list was created within the community so organizers could request specific information from each participant and manage registration data using a variety of sorting and filtering tools.