How to Deliver Training

Technical knowledge and training are two separate skills.  Case in point, last week I had training on SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS).  There were two presenters and both were very technically knowledgeable, but their training abilities left something to be desired.  If you are a company putting on training or you are a trainer yourself, take heed to these pointers:

• Know your audience. The training isn't about you - it's about them.  Is your audience developers, project managers, architects, engineers, operational support, business lines or executives?
• Have an agenda.  Do not wing it!  Include subject matter and breaks.  One tried and true formula is intro, body, and conclusion, also known as tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them and then tell them what you told them.
• Always tag team.  
• One person can train while the other controls the slide deck and adjusts lighting and sound. 
• This is the best way to keep your audience engaged.  It is harder for people to zone out if there are alternating voices, personalities and bodies.
• Instructors should be apart from or roam within the audience.  This ensures that  they can receive nonverbal cues from the audience.
• If you are the only one training, move around a lot, animate your vocal patterns and involve the audience as much as possible.
• Make sure you can be heard.  Get a microphone if you're in a room with a capacity over 10.
• Announce how questions will be handled.  
• Roaming instructor
• Ask in real time
• Q&A section
• Powerpoint is optional.  A few large visual aids printed at Kinko's can be just as effective.  If you do use Powerpoint, use it for high level points.  It's your job to fill in the details.  No more than 50 words on a slide.
• Have a common theme. Use similar color patterns, branding and terms for that extra polish.
• Check out the venue in advance.  Get a sense of the room's size, amenities and potential obstacles.  This will give you a sense of comfort with your environment and prevent you from not being able to find your place on game day.
• Know your configurations.  Sometimes the room is fixed (stadium seating) but many times it can set up to need.  Lectures are great for disseminating expert knowledge or policy decisions, horseshoes work for team meetings, analytics, and video conferencing and roundtables work for collaboration and negotiating. New virtual classroom software is also quite sophisticated and commonly used.
  
  
• Make sure you have what you need.  Will training PCs be locked?  Will you need Internet access?  Test setting up the technology and doing a dry run.  Have the contact info for the AV and Service Management teams.
• Get personal.  Make your contact information available.  Have your audience wear name tags or use tent placards and then call people by their names. 
• Break.  At least 10 minutes every 90 minutes of training and one hour long break if over 6 hours.  Provide drinks and snacks if over four hours.
• Dress for success.  Grooming and hygiene should also go without saying.
• Be flexible.  No matter how much you prep, something will go wrong.  Diffuse it with humor and move on to Plan B until the issues can be resolved.
• Ask for feedback.  Get some data of your own to analyze and improve your training skills!