Helpful Hints for a Good Learning Environment
By R.M. TubeloniaIn my last blog, I have recounted three of the OMG incidents in my experience as an OSH trainer. Now, here are some tips on how to avoid those OMG moments especially for out-of-town activities.
I have divided them into three periods- before, during and just after the training sessions.
Just before the start of the sessions. Arrive early- best the day before so you have plenty of time to re-arrange or improve things if necessary. Go to the training venue as soon as you can and check the following physical features: the lighting; seating arrangements; room temperature, equipment to be used including accessories like cables , extension wires, video/audio jack, and adapters; and signages in and around the room.
Fluorescent bulbs are best since yellow light from incandescent bulbs tend to duplicate night situations and can induce sleepiness from among your participants. You may need to ask the venue provider to change the light bulbs from incandescent to fluorescent. You also need to check the location of the light switches if you need to dim the room for better appreciation of your audio video presentations (AVPs). Glare can also be a factor if the location of the room is such that it allows much of the sunlight to stream in. In this case, curtains can do much to lessen amount of sunlight coming in.
Check the chairs and the seating arrangements. Walk around the room and see if a participant can see the speaker in front no matter where he or she may be seated.
Check the availability of the training equipment and accessories. Most trainers now bring in their own laptop and LCDs but check the compatibility of your equipment with the accessories that the hotel provides. Test drive the laptop and other AV equipment . Confer with the hotel AV technician if necessary. Inconveniences can sometimes be had with such a simple iitem as the adaptor! When you are used to the universal socket in Manila, you may be flabbergasted to find that provincial electrical outlets only have two HOLES and you could not fit in your laptop power cord!
Try out the air con and see if it adequately cools the room. If not, arrange to either check the equipment or supplement air movement with electric fans.
Set up or have the hotel technicians put up your banners and streamers the day or the night before the start of the training. Directional signs must also be posted in appropriate places so your participants can easily find the training venue.
Locate the nearest rest rooms, telephones and emergency exits and be prepared to give this information to the participants at the start of the training. Some hotels now make it a point to have a brief orientation on emergency exits for their training clients.
During the sessions. Be continuously alert for situations that can divert your participants’ attention from the learning sessions, like late/delayed arrival of meals or snacks; room temperature or light fluctuations; glitzes in electronic equipment or the worst OMG of all- the delayed or the non-arrival of your external trainer for the time slot allotted to the said trainer! Close coordination is needed with the hotel service staff for the meals and snacks. It is a good practice to remind them at least 15 minutes before the allotted time. It is also a good practice to talk to the hotel AV, radio technicians as they are most likely also in charge about the room lighting and the air-con. In the case of trainers or resource speakers, it is best to ask them to be at the training room at least an hour before the time assigned. I also make it a practice to call, text or email resource speakers a week, and the day before their respective schedules to ensure their coming. It is also good policy to bring along e-copies of the presentations in case a speaker does not arrive. In one instance which I remember quite vividly, a speaker for a major topic was not able to board his plane (training was in a city in Mindanao) due to flooding in the roads leading to the airport. One of the speakers adequately filled in for him because we brought along the CD copy of the standard presentation used or the Trainer’s Manual.
Just before closing the sessions. Ask the participants to check the completeness of their training materials, such as hand-outs, directories and CD materials, if any. When certificates are handed out, ask them to check one last time for the correctness of their name’s spelling. Also, provide them with your contact numbers, e-mail addresses or website for updates or follow-ups on the training.
How important are the above tips? Let me quote Garry Mitchell, author of the book, “Handbook of Training” published by the American Management Association or AMA, when he said, “Trainers can not create learning. We can only create an environment that is conducive to learning!”
Rosanna “Anna” M. Tubelonia counts on more than three decades of experience in the design and delivery of various OSH trainings, for both local and foreign participants, including those with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the International Labor Organization (ILO). She was the former Head of the Training & Public Information Division (TPID) of the OSHC of the Department of Labor & Employment and currently the Director for Training & Education of People360 Consulting Corporation.
