San Dimas, CA – March 23, 2017 - Magellan®, a leader in GPS navigation, announced today they will be demoing solutions to help truck carriers leverage optimal performance and efficiencies at the Truck Carriers Association (TCA) Annual Convention, in Nashville, Tennessee, March 26-29, 2017. 

During the show, Magellan will be showing attendees how the commercial-grade RC9668 Navigation device and their FMCSA-Certified ELD-Compliant Hours of Service (HOS) solutions are purpose-built for long and short-haul trucking. Magellan Fleet Navigation software delivers customizable, precision GPS routing optimized for trucking routes, from the urban canyon to open sky roads.

“We’re really looking forward to meeting the carriers at TCA and showing them how we can better optimize their navigation, as well as help simplify upcoming compliance issues such as hours of service and the ELD mandates,” said Mark Perini, vice president of Magellan’s automotive and fleet business.

The trucking solutions being demonstrated in Nashville include:

• RC9668 Fleet Navigator – Magellan’s 7”, IP67 ruggedized navigation device for trucks. The fleet software uses truck-specific map data from HERE, combined with Magellan’s industry-leading routing engine, to provide a robust navigation experience to all truck carriers.

• HOS Compliance – A FMCSA certified, ELD-compliant Hour of Service (HOS) solution integrated with Magellan Navigators.  Automated logging tools, reports, and alerts keep your drivers on time, and in compliance.

• Return to Route – A multi-stop route planning solution that offers enhanced navigation and supports a broad range of telematics supplier protocols. Return to Route is optimized for Urban Canyon and associated metro challenges to ensure truck carriers never miss an important stop.

For more information on Magellan’s navigation products, please visit www.magellangps.com, or at the Magellan booth during the TCA show.

About Magellan:

Headquartered in San Dimas, CA, MiTAC Digital Corporation, manufacturer of the Magellan (www.magellangps.com) brand of portable GPS navigation devices, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MiTAC International Corporation. Magellan, the industry leader for innovative GPS navigation devices since 1986, globally markets award-winning products in multiple categories including auto, RV,  outdoor, mobile, fleet and autoOEM. Continuing its spirit of innovation, Magellan is developing new cloud-based technologies, OEM and B-to-B solutions to meet the changing needs of today's consumers and businesses. Follow Magellan on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Media Contact:

Laurie Halter

Charisma! Communications

503-816-2474

Laurie@charismacommunications.com

Las Vegas, NV – CES 2017 - January 5th, 2017 - Magellan®, a leader in GPS navigation, announced today that its Magellan Navi navigation app for connected cars is now available in select 2017 SUBARU models, including the Impreza and BRZ, via the SUBARU STARLINK™ multimedia system. Magellan Navi brings powerful GPS satellite navigation features, the latest maps and routing accuracy by seamlessly connecting the smartphone app to the car’s infotainment display.  Magellan Navi is a featured app in the SUBARU STARLINK app, which can be downloaded on the Apple App Store and Google Play beginning today. 

The Magellan Navi app will be demonstrated on a Subaru (Impreza) at CES in the Magellan booth, LVCC North Hall booth # 4115.

Magellan Navi connects to the car’s head-unit display via Bluetooth or USB to deliver a voice-guided full navigation experience with lane guidance, millions of Points of Interest (POI) and more. A simplified, easy-to-use interface is designed to promote distraction-free driving.

“Working together with a well-respected manufacturer like Subaru to bring best-in-class navigation solutions to their drivers is an honor,” commented Pierre Parent, president of Magellan. “As a GPS industry pioneer, Magellan's navigation and routing engines have been developed and proven through years of R&D and testing.  We’re excited to be entering this new era of connected cars.”

“The excitement of the Magellan partnership, and the advanced technology, is that it allows us to leverage the SUBARU STARLINK infotainment system to essentially deliver a powerful navigation system to drivers who do not have an onboard navigation option,” said Anthony Landamia, Manager, Infotainment Products for Subaru.

For more information on Magellan’s navigation products, please visit www.magellangps.com.

About Magellan:

Headquartered in San Dimas, CA, MiTAC Digital Corporation, manufacturer of the Magellan (www.magellangps.com) brand of portable GPS navigation devices, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MiTAC International Corporation. Magellan, the industry leader for innovative GPS navigation devices since 1986, globally markets award-winning products in multiple categories including auto, RV,  outdoor, mobile, fleet and autoOEM. Continuing its spirit of innovation, Magellan is developing new cloud-based technologies, OEM and B-to-B solutions to meet the changing needs of today's consumers and businesses. Follow Magellan on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

About Subaru of America, Inc.

Subaru of America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan. Headquartered at a zero-landfill office in Cherry Hill, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of more than 620 retailers across the United States.  All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill production plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. is the only U.S. automobile production plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. For additional information visit media.subaru.com.

Media Contact:

Laurie Halter

Charisma! Communications

503-816-2474

Laurie@charismacommunications.com

If you’ve identified a need for training, specifically an eLearning course, as a way to enhance your products and better train your employees this year, you’re not alone. According to the 2014 Industry Report, 44% of companies intend to purchase some type of learning tool or system in 2015.  An online training course is a great way to provide key information to clients, drive traffic to your site, and increase brand awareness. 

Many times, companies jump right in and start assembling content or recording videos for training, without first identifying the key elements needed.  It’s like painting a room in your home. You want to see that shiny new paint on the walls right away, but if you don’t spend the time up front doing the prep work, (taping, cleaning, filling holes, etc.) the final outcome is likely to suffer.  Your choice is to either do it over again, or learn to live with a less than stellar final product.  Neither is desirable, so remember three things when kicking off a new training course:  Who, What, and Why! 

Who

Who needs this information?  Identifying the audience is absolutely crucial for several reasons, the most important being how you develop the content. Keep it relevant to your audience. The last thing you want is a 3 hour page turner of a training course with people checking out after the first five minutes. Before you begin outlining the course, answer these questions:

• Who is your audience? Why does a topic need to be covered in the course? 
• What does the audience you’ve defined most need to know?  
• Does the content provide value to the audience?

A wonderful by-product of clearly defining the audience, is it helps keep the learner seat-time optimal.  The ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is very common because companies feel they get more bang for the buck, but the reality is learners check-out, close out of the course and rarely return. You work hard to drive those individuals to your learning content, make sure you hook them, so they keep coming back for more.  

What

What are you trying to convey or accomplish?  Another common mistake when first beginning a training program is throwing in too much information or a bunch of unrelated content.  Keep your training content focused and concise.

• Is there a process you need to communicate?   Keep the training focused on the process and quit pointing out every button, icon, and method along the way. 
• Give the learner one way to complete the task that works every time.  
• When covering a new product, learners want to know two things: What is it and how will it make or save them money?
• Cut to the chase.  If you are repurposing a recorded presentation, the learner does not need to know bios of the speakers and how to set up Webex. State up front who you are, how you can help and what they’ll learn.  Pretty simple, but often overlooked.

Why?

This is essentially the “What’s in it for me” question.  There are a couple of ways to best get this information across to the learner:

• Set the hook early. For example, you can begin the course by asking, “Have you ever been in this situation?”  This type of question is very effective because when a good scenario is presented, people will immediately identify with the content. Your audience will put down their smart phone, tablet, or whatever else is distracting them, and realize they need to pay attention.  As soon as I hear this type of introduction, I am in. 
• Be very clear about the content that will be covered, what the goals are, and the take-aways provided.  When this is done up front it sets the learner’s expectations for the course. 
• Ensure the course or session actually covers what you say it is going to cover.  You don’t want people viewing a half hour training only to realize the two answers they needed were not covered.

While the tips above can help you plan an eLearning course that provides real value to your audience, they can all be distilled down into one central idea: always hold the leaner’s needs above all else.  Is the content relevant? Is it valuable?  Is it easy to find and access? And perhaps the most important question of all:  Would you want to sit through the course you just developed?  

Tim Halter is the COO and head of eLearning at Charisma! Communications, an auto-focused agency that offers public relations, video production and eLearning services. He can be reached at Tim@Charismacommunications.com.

If you’ve identified a need for training, specifically an eLearning course, as a way to enhance your products and better train your employees this year, you’re not alone. According to the 2014 Industry Report, 44% of companies intend to purchase some type of learning tool or system in 2015.  An online training course is a great way to provide key information to clients, drive traffic to your site, and increase brand awareness. 

Many times, companies jump right in and start assembling content or recording videos for training, without first identifying the key elements needed.  It’s like painting a room in your home. You want to see that shiny new paint on the walls right away, but if you don’t spend the time up front doing the prep work, (taping, cleaning, filling holes, etc.) the final outcome is likely to suffer.  Your choice is to either do it over again, or learn to live with a less than stellar final product.  Neither is desirable, so remember three things when kicking off a new training course:  Who, What, and Why! 

Who

Who needs this information?  Identifying the audience is absolutely crucial for several reasons, the most important being how you develop the content. Keep it relevant to your audience. The last thing you want is a 3 hour page turner of a training course with people checking out after the first five minutes. Before you begin outlining the course, answer these questions:

• Who is your audience? Why does a topic need to be covered in the course? 
• What does the audience you’ve defined most need to know?  
• Does the content provide value to the audience?

A wonderful by-product of clearly defining the audience, is it helps keep the learner seat-time optimal.  The ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is very common because companies feel they get more bang for the buck, but the reality is learners check-out, close out of the course and rarely return. You work hard to drive those individuals to your learning content, make sure you hook them, so they keep coming back for more.  

What

What are you trying to convey or accomplish?  Another common mistake when first beginning a training program is throwing in too much information or a bunch of unrelated content.  Keep your training content focused and concise.

• Is there a process you need to communicate?   Keep the training focused on the process and quit pointing out every button, icon, and method along the way. 
• Give the learner one way to complete the task that works every time.  
• When covering a new product, learners want to know two things: What is it and how will it make or save them money?
• Cut to the chase.  If you are repurposing a recorded presentation, the learner does not need to know bios of the speakers and how to set up Webex. State up front who you are, how you can help and what they’ll learn.  Pretty simple, but often overlooked.

Why?

This is essentially the “What’s in it for me” question.  There are a couple of ways to best get this information across to the learner:

• Set the hook early. For example, you can begin the course by asking, “Have you ever been in this situation?”  This type of question is very effective because when a good scenario is presented, people will immediately identify with the content. Your audience will put down their smart phone, tablet, or whatever else is distracting them, and realize they need to pay attention.  As soon as I hear this type of introduction, I am in. 
• Be very clear about the content that will be covered, what the goals are, and the take-aways provided.  When this is done up front it sets the learner’s expectations for the course. 
• Ensure the course or session actually covers what you say it is going to cover.  You don’t want people viewing a half hour training only to realize the two answers they needed were not covered.

While the tips above can help you plan an eLearning course that provides real value to your audience, they can all be distilled down into one central idea: always hold the leaner’s needs above all else.  Is the content relevant? Is it valuable?  Is it easy to find and access? And perhaps the most important question of all:  Would you want to sit through the course you just developed?  

Tim Halter is the COO and head of eLearning at Charisma! Communications, an auto-focused agency that offers public relations, video production and eLearning services. He can be reached at Tim@Charismacommunications.com.