Empowering Nonprofits Through Technology

We've worked very hard to build intuitive software, and we frequently hear that we've succeeded.  Still, training is one of the most important steps to successfully implementing new software like NEON or our Content Management System into your organization's environment, and we offer a variety of options to ensure that your organization is well equipped and ready to succeed right out of the box.  

There is a training solution for you, whether you are the office technology guru, or the kind of person who loves what technology does, but needs to be walked through each process.  Training gives you the basic knowledge of all our capabilities and helps you to become comfortable with using NEON or OpenCMS.  Our trainers go through all of the major areas of the software, and let you know about the many terrific tools you will have handy and how to use them.  Once our customers go through training and learn the basics, they generally feel very comfortable using NEON and OpenCMS and wonder at their newfound efficiency.

• Web-based Training
• On Location Training
• Video Training
• Ongoing Training

You can choose the training option that is best for your organization's needs and budget.

Learn NEON or OpenCMS from anywhere in the world, with a phone and an internet connection.  The web-based training enables multiple people in your organization to join the training session from your office, their home or anywhere with an internet connection.  We use screen sharing through the web and a conference call to go over all of the details of how to operate NEON or OpenCMS.  Up to ten people can participate in this training option.  This is our most popular method of training. 

Single-Organization Training

Training can be personalized for your organization.  Two - 2 hour sessions are held based on your organization's specific tasks and activities.  We work with you to compile a list of specific areas to review for your training, then answer all of your specific questions in the sessions, and go over just the areas that you would like to see.

Multi-Organization Training

Another option is training with multiple organizations. This form of training takes place in four 1- to 1/2-hour webinars which occur on alternate Wednesdays and Thursdays at noon and 11am, respectively (all times Central). The sessions are organized by subject and run as follows:

         Session #1 (Wednesday): Website Integration, Account Detail

         Session #2 (Thursday): Donation Page, System Tab I

         Session #3 (the following Wednesday): System and Campaign Emails, System Tab II

         Session #4 (that Thursday): Remaining Communications features, Reports module, any
        additional questions

This form of training is "modular" --meaning that each session is treated as a separate unit from the others. In other words, by signing up for Session #1 on a particular Wednesday your organization is not then committed to attending Session #2 the next day and Sessions 3 and 4 the week after, if your staff's schedules do not permit. You may enroll your organization in the remaining sessions at your convenience; just notify your trainer as to which sessions you intend to join so that you can be included on the attendee list.

This is the most in-depth form of training.  One of our trainers will come to your office to train your organization on site.  This training offers a much more personal interface between the trainer and your staff, and a more engaging learning experience.  Depending on the available resources at your site, the training will either be conducted in a classroom style, or hands-on with interactive exercises, if there are enough computers on location for your staff to participate.

We offer a recorded video training for free with NEON.  We have one comprehensive video that goes over all of NEON, as well as specific videos that go over each section. The video training and library are free to all of our customers.  This enables you to stop, pause, fast forward, and review the training at your own pace.  This is our most basic training option and it's ideal for training new staff members you add after the NEON system is up and running.

Need a NEON refresher course?  We offer custom training sessions for an hourly fee if you would like to increase your NEON or OpenCMS knowledge at any time.  We can do general trainings, or cover specific areas in detail with you.

In addition, NEON has launched its Ongoing Training Subscription program which, for a yearly fee of $750, would allow any of your staff members to attend any of the modular Group Training sessions listed above an unlimited number of times over the course of that year (just contact support@z2systems.com to add your staff member(s) to the attendee list). This program is particularly helpful for those organizations with large numbers of staff of varying schedules, or with changing or growing numbers of staff or volunteers. To sign up for the Ongoing Training Subscription program, please contact the Z2 Support staff at support@z2systems.com.