Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2007-01-15 07:35:16 - Graham Ellis
Last year, we started at a quarter to ten on the first day of our courses, and ended at about half past four on the last day. And indeed, hours like those are standard for EVERY day at some other establishments. How long lunch takes can be a significant factor too!
This year, we're starting daily at 09:00, and scheduled daily to 17:00. We may finish a little early on the last afternoon if all material has been covered to everyone's satisfaction, and we're dab hands at moving specific topics needed only by one or two trainees to the very end if other need to leave sharply for the airport or station.
But the customer experience extends even further than the extra hour. Our training centre, network, library, equipment is open to residential delegates 24 hours a day - giving good opportunity for another "go" in the evening and a quick revision before breakfast too. And for all delegates, whether or not they're staying, the tutor will be around from well before 8 (as I am this morning) until 6 or later on most days. When you come on a course, you need time to consolidate your learning as well as just attend the lectures.
Of course, we're unusual in that most of our delegates travel a long way to learn here (a niche business, and wherever we were people would have to travel), so we're fortunate to be able to offer this intensified and more effective training.
So how about going a step further? How about evening lectures? No. Or even "hell, no". There's a limit to how much people can take in during a session and during a day, and that would exceed it. We would be on to a diminishing return, exhausted delegates, complaints of a course they couldn't cope with. Better - much better - to make positive use of the time revising, discussing individual applications with other delegates and the tutor, and, yes, a tiny bit of socialising too.
Training limits:
* For a single type of session (e.g. lecture or practical), each session should be limited to ONE HOUR.
* A 15 minute nicotine and caffeine break should be taken every TWO HOURS
* Morning and afternoon sessions should not exceed FOUR HOURS of formal lectures or practicals each.
* The lunch break should not be less than 30 minutes, and should not generally exceed one hour.
There you have it - my formula for getting the most, and most effective, training done of your delegates.
With small class sizes and a course that's tuned as we run to cover the topics in the most effective manner for the group we have, we can achieve in 4 days what would take 5 if we increased our group size and used a prescribed standard presentation. Dear Reader, I wouldn't want to stretch it out to five days - I have plenty else to do, and I'm sure your delegate have too ... and you're paying them for every day they're here and not at their desks, aren't you?