After spending years in school, we have come to expect a human instructor when it comes to learning. Current technology doesn't stand a chance against great instructors who can tailor their material for the audience on the fly.

You can send your staff to seminars. Or, for bigger groups or for specialized training, you can hire outside consultants (for about $200-$300 a student) to design a custom training session that incorporates your needs into their existing courses.

Look for a presenter who is dynamic, explains clearly, and manages audience participation well. It's also nice to find a presenter who's available after the session is over. Many outside instructors won't answer post-session questions, which is a problem if your staff needs guidance in applying what they've learned to their real life jobs.

To save on travel and speaker fees, video conferencing can be an option. Video-conferencing also allows employees in different office locations to make use of the same resources at the same time. Video-conferencing does limit interaction, however, and you'll want to watch out for technical glitches.

Human-led training ain't cheap, though. At minimum, expect to pay a few hundred dollars for a one-day session. Rates can easily grow to the thousands of dollars, though, for more technical training.