This week, I was engaged to work on Wednesday and Thursday for a very prestigious end client based in Canary Wharf. It was a mixed brief, as they are training up staff at all levels, and the modules included brief taster sessions on Windows 7 and Office 2010, as well as half days on PowerPoint and Excel (Excel at Intermediate and Advanced level). I was booked for the two days this week and a further two days in a few weeks’ time, presenting these sessions to groups of 10-12 delegates at a time
Due to other commitments, I had a very tight time window for course preparation, really just Tuesday, the day before my first day. Up until the end of the previous week, all I had been told was that I would be doing Windows/Office taster sessions on the Wednesday, but not what they wanted on Thursday. I am highly experienced in Excel and train it often, so would only need brief preparation for that, but I train PowerPoint less often so would need to brush up my course presentation and tweak it to their outline, so that was my plan for Tuesday.
On Tuesday, I was informed that the Wednesday training had been altered so that, while I would still be doing the Windows/Office tasters in the morning, they would require a half-day PowerPoint in the afternoon. Also (at last!) that the Thursday sessions would be Excel Intermediate in the morning, with PowerPoint again in the afternoon. So I spent the day gathering my files and notes for the tasters and the PowerPoint, and making sure that I had checked it all against the client’s course outline and covered all topics. I had to create some new exercises in PowerPoint, so it was quite a busy day.
My other problem was getting there. I seldom work in that part of London, so hadn’t yet worked out the optimal route. I considered driving in to Stratford, but chickened out at the last minute on Wednesday morning, instead driving in to my usual station to get a train in and use a mixture of tube, overground and DLR to get to Canary Wharf. As it turned out, my choices were pretty poor and, although I had left in plenty of time, I used up pretty much all my leeway getting there, so arrived just barely on time, only to be held up in reception while they sorted out who was going to admit me to the building.
Upstairs (27th floor – fantastic view of iconic buildings) I was shown to the training room. Here, I was informed that the PowerPoint session in the afternoon would not run according to the (introductory level) outline, but instead would be at a higher level and “tailored to the delegates’ requirements”. Evidently the client had provided a new outline, but somewhere along the chain this had not been passed to me, so I would need to “wing it”. This happens (very) occasionally, but it’s a horrible situation for a trainer to be in.
I then needed IT so set up the AV gear and create shared folders for my course files, but there really wasn’t sufficient time to do the folders by then, so my first taster session was largely a demo, rather than being fully hands-on, though it was well received and the delegates tried things out using blank documents or their own files. The second taster went much better, though, as the delegates were able to experiment using the files I had provided for the purpose.
The afternoon followed on swiftly from the morning. Because they were mixing taster sessions (late lunch break) with a half day session (earlier lunch break), there wasn’t time for me to get anything to eat – I just had to go straight from one thing to the next. But the afternoon PowerPoint session went very well in spite of my worries, and showed that my preparation had been worthwhile. I was able to use my introductory exercise, but went into more depth on the topics around structuring presentations, using master slides, and generally following up on delegates’ questions with practical demonstrations and extensions that I had to make up on the spot.
When the day was ended, I travelled home and arrived famished, having not had anything all day except for a biscuit and two cups of coffee. Fortunately, my husband had cooked a lovely meal which was virtually ready when I got back! After dinner, I just had to gather together the files for Thursday’s Excel session as I hadn’t had time the previous day.
Thursday was altogether a different story. I travelled to a different station and was able to get to Stratford direct (though I did have to stand all the way) and then the DLR to Canary Wharf (though I did have to stand all the way). In spite of leaving somewhat later in the morning, I arrived a good hour earlier, and had a leisurely breakfast before going to the client’s premises. Another wait at reception, but once admitted to the building, I knew where I was going and everything was set up already from the day before, so all I had to do was copy my Excel files over. I even had time to add a few new slides to my Excel presentation!
The Excel half-day went very well. It was just intermediate level, so I could pretty much deliver it in my sleep, but as always some interesting questions and points came up. And in the afternoon, I repeated the PowerPoint exercise of the day before – this time as originally planned, concentrating on the beginner-level topics.
A swift and comfortable journey home – and I even got to sit down!
The first day of training at a new location is always harder, when you don’t know the way or quite what to expect when you get there. This time, it was made much worse by my poor travel decisions the first day, and by my very limited preparation time. The client made it even more difficult by getting information to me so late, and the last straw was the communication breakdown that kept me in the dark about the final, last-minute changes. In the end I feel pretty proud of the fact that I was able to deliver high-quality training to some two dozen delegates on that Wednesday and keep everybody happy.
