First, I agree with your comments.

Second, I was not referring to flashbulb memories. Rather consider a session where the content goes like this:
Welcome to XYZ. In the next year you will be in an environment where there are three kinds of spiders. A bite by any one is fatal unless you get the right antidote right away. The wrong antidote will kill you. You'll get the antidotes at the end of this session. In the next hour we'll teach you how to recognize the three kinds of spiders and which antidote to use for each.

I think I would remember which antidote to use for which spider for a long time.

Hi John:
Motivation is definitely a factor in learning and retention. Again the plethora of learning environmental variables makes it difficult to predict who will remember what. For example, We had some concern about the retention of common alarms around our work area. We did an informal follow up on a few weeks after new employees completed a general employee computer based session. Seven of the nine could not identify or describe the major alarms. Now one might think that knowing an alarm (basically the preverbal feces has hit the fan and it’s time to get out of Dodge type of alarm) would be remembered. Go figure.

Enjoyed the discussion.
Best regards,
Cj

So how are companies supporting learning transfer especially in locations geographically separated from the facilitator?

Rachel asked "So how are companies supporting learning transfer especially in locations geographically separated from the facilitator?"

I've seen companies pay it a lot of lip service, but ultimately not do anything. What I'm saying is - they know what they ought to do because there are plenty of published resources that discuss this in detail, but they are lousy at actually applying it and holding people accountable...kind of a viscious cycle.

So short answer -- they're not.