Training Workshops: Jump Right In!

First Day of Work, 5:30pm - I'm on a plane to Cincinnati, Ohio. On my way to a workshop, I had left quite early from new hire orientation, skipping out on badging and fingerprinting (oops). But I was on a mission. I had been hired (after a grueling 6 month process) to help public water systems understand how to comply with the new arsenic standard. I was now headed to learn everything I could from seasoned experts. I would learn even more!

These first three days of work were some of the most terrifying of my career, but critical for what I would undertake soon after. I did not know a soul then, but 30 months later I am now planning the 4th annual Cincinnati workshop. Not only was I quickly brought up to speed on drinking water treatment technologies, but the bar was set for me. I knew what made an EPA workshop successful.

Within months of this first trip, I began planning a series of 5 training workshops to be held across the country. Word spread. 5 turned into 9 which then turned into 10. That year and the year after, I helped plan the annual Cincinnati events. This time around I was asked to turn my supporting role into a starring role. 13 workshops later - I am now the seasoned expert. Scary!

I've learned a lot about developing, marketing and running a training session, but a few key points have stuck in my mind.

1. Give your participants ownership
No one knows your audience better than you. (If you don't know your audience, then why are you having a workshop?) Engage a select group of participants early on in the planning process. Keep them informed and use their ideas. This is not YOUR workshop, it's theirs. Let the group guide you and support you. An engaged focus group will give more momentum to your marketing efforts as they spread your message among colleagues.

2. Let technology make your life easier
I cannot overemphasize that a web-based registration system is essential today. You will save your own FTE or your extramural funds by not giving personnel time to answering phone calls and collecting emails. Your in-house IT folks or your contractor can set it up. Users sign up online and receive automated emails. All contact information goes into a magic black box that can be exported as an Excel file. Keep this list forever, but use it wisely (for good, not evil).

3. Enlist sufficient logistical support and maintain consistency As an expert (or someone jumping right in), your job should be to ensure audience engagement and participation. How do you do this? Develop and present fantastic content! (The same is true for web writing.) Spend 80% of your efforts ensuring that the agenda is matched with your audience's needs. Then, leverage the remaining 20% of your time managing top-notch contractors. These guys will ensure every last "i" is dotted and "t" is crossed. Professional logistical support helps ensure that your audience knows when to show up, where the restroom is and how to get your speaker's talk off a jump drive. To top it all off, don't let everyone and their mother contact your registered participants. Limit communication to come from one federal employee and one contractor.

4. Don't forget about the folks that couldn't attend Not everyone who would have liked to attend made it to your workshop.
What are you doing for them? Make all of your materials available online and on CD. A well-edited training video is an even better approach!
Takes the best material from your workshop and condense it to a few hours. Distribute the video on CD or DVD with interactive versions of your handouts. Plan these follow-up activities from the get-go. Make sure that your real audience has access to the information they need!

5. Don't forget about the folks that did attend Follow up with your attendees, have them evaluate the workshop (if you didn't do that on-site), and enlist their support right away for next time around. Make sure the attendees have contact information for all of your speakers, for those burning follow-up questions. Even better, compile a Q&A document of all questions asked on-site and via email afterwards. Your participants will remember your event and look forward to next year if they are still hearing from you.

These elements alone will not make a successful event, but they increase your odds of winning over your audience and gaining repeat participation. To say I "got my feet wet" in the past few years is more than an understatement. Though I had no training in outreach, marketing, and event planning, the "jump right in" approach forced me to develop a new skill set. On a larger scale, these events broke down a mental barrier, eliminating the fear of doing something by the seat of my pants.

Next time I will discuss a "flying by the seat of my pants" experience, My First Web Cast. No fear, of course!