[Editor’s Note: Beverley Ireland-Symonds is one of EmployWise.com’s expert authors. She has worked in different fields including the NHS and fashion and spent 16 years working in adult and further education. She currently runs a training and consultancy company, Accelerated Training & Consultancy as well as a coaching practice: Coaching with Confidence. She writes for her blogsCommunication Skills and Confidence Coaching. You can follow her onTwitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Beverley has a Master’s degree from Greenwich University.]

Have you ever thought what makes a good training session? If you’re anything like me you’ll have some strong views about it. Well if that’s what you’re hoping for here I’m sorry to disappoint you.   The content of a training session, the experience of the trainer  and what you learn are all very important issues and I will be talking about them  in another post.  However,  I would like to discuss some of the practical issues that should be considered in the planning stages that can have a real effect on both the participants enjoyment of a session and the  learning process.  So here are my 10 practical considerations:

1. Collect background information – Two weeks before a training session  send out a pre-questionnaire so that you can collect some background information.  I only ever ask three questions, because you don’t want to irritate your participants.  However, those questions help me to be able to pitch a topic to the right level and means that I don’t waste a lot of time explaining things that people clearly already know about.  An added bonus is that I can often incorporate the participants examples within the training, rather than my own.  This makes it much more meaningful for them.
2. Inform participants about general housekeeping issues – I’m always amazed how often – people miss these out.  Even if you’re training in your own building you should not take it for granted that all participants are familiar with fire exits, toilets, washrooms, nearest telephones etc.  You need to be clear and concise and give this information out at the beginning of a session, not half way through the day. If you’re the sort of person who forgets about housekeeping,  include it on a slide if you’re using PowerPoint or have them on flip chart paper that you can attach to a wall.
3. Check the physical environment – How often have you sat in a training session when the physical environment has been awful?  I have more times than I can remember.  It would be lovely to think all training happens in suitable rooms, that are well ventilated, at the right temperature and have lots of space to move round.  Regardless of what type of space you’re training in, the important thing is to make it as comfortable as possible for the participants.  Before the session starts, arrive early enough to prepare the room and move any furniture , and when the session starts make sure people don’t have unnecessary piles of papers, bags, coats all over the place.
4. Be prepared for any technical failure – Expect any equipment to go wrong and have a contingency plan in place.  I have been surprised when attending training that some trainers have obviously not arrived early enough to check all the equipment.  I’ve seen a trainer in tears because they forgot to check that there was a sound card in the laptop.
5. Set the ground rules – I’ve been to some training sessions when anything between 20 to 30 minutes of the session is taken up setting ground rules.  This in my view is generally unnecessary.  Besides groups always say the same things – ‘show respect for others’, ‘take turns’,’ respect confidentiality’ etc.  The trainer can either say what the rules are in a couple of sentences or have them pre-written and ask if there is anything someone wants to add.
6. Encourage participants to drink water – Yes I know that people would expect there to be water.  One of the best sessions I have attended was where the trainer actually broke off to tell the participants to drink.  As someone who didn’t drink a great deal of water through the day, I remember being quite irritated.  The trainer did explain the importance of being hydrated, how the brain needs water and how it would keep us  alert.  By the end of the day I was not the only one to realise that his reminders had helped to keep us focussed and energetic.  It’s a technique that I have since used in some of my training sessions and I haven’t had any complaints!
7. Keep to Timings – Many trainers don’t get particularly worried if they have to move the break by twenty minutes or so because they’ve overrun. It happens, but  I would issue a note of warning here.  You won’t necessarily know whether there is anyone in the room who  has diabetes, or some other condition which means going over the breaks makes things difficult.  Don’t just dismiss this as the participants are adults and can look after themselves.  It’s all part of being a trainer to be considerate of the people who want. My advice would be to break after 90 minutes.
8. Always have some handouts available – It has become very popular these days not to give handouts at a training session.  The reasons given vary between saving time and money and not wanting participants to be looking at papers when the trainer is talking.  If you want to save your budget  you can always email them to the participants before the session and ask them to print them.  This would be my preferred way of doing things. However, if you don’t do this you must have some in the training room.  To those trainers that say that they want the participants to be focussed on them and not on paper, my view is they are not taking into account either different learning styles, differences in processing information and the needs of anyone with a learning disability or visual deficit.  People shouldn’t in my view have to put in a special request.  However, if this is something you don’t want to do don’t  forget to email them to the participants after the training session.
9. Have a supply of pen and pencils.  Yes – I know people are grown ups and should arrive with pen and paper to a training a session – but quite a few seem to forget and it wastes valuable time if other people have to find an extra pen.
10. Give feedback/evaluation forms at the beginning of the day. This is a piece of advice drawn from my experience as a trainer and from having attended many  training sessions.  The problem with giving the feedback forms at the end of the day, is people want to get away so even if they stay to fill in the form they do it in a hurry.  I prefer to  give the feedback form at the beginning of the day and encourage people to fill it in as they go along.  Feedback then is fresh and in my experience is likely to be more meaningful and useful.

You may have your own ideas about practical issues that are important when planning and running a training session.  I’d be interested to hear your views.

Photo by: brizaskateboard