In our book, "Fifteen Essential Ways To Become A Better Trainer" we shared with you the seven elements you need in order to successfully be prepared. What we didn't say was that you need to practise these until they become automatic because until you have merged them into your own process, you could easily miss out one or two of the elements. That is when things start to go wrong and you end up putting yourself under a lot of stress.
Therefore, it is critical that you become as familiar as possible with all seven elements before you start to deliver, especially if you are training at a new client's place for the first time. Remember, every time you run your programme it's best to go through the PREPARE routine, even if the programme is to be run many times.
Pre- visit the location
For me this has always been the first vital element of my PREPARE. It is ensuring the environment is right for me and right for the participants as well. Remember to liaise with the people at the training venue to make sure you have flipcharts, projectors etc., and that the room layout is right. When I'm running an event, I always aim to get to the venue well before to set up the room well in advance and to check the equipment in good time
Research the company
You might think we put this one in just to get the "R" but truthfully, this element was borne out of my experience - I turned up one day to present a seminar to what I thought was a group of recruitment agents, only to find they were accountants. I had made the mistake of getting the name of the company confused in my mind with a similar sounding one. I can tell you - the experience shook me! It also meant that I went in with lots of fun games relating to recruitment which didn't exactly work with the accountants. Our suggestion therefore generates the second element, which is to research new clients and ensure you know who it is you are training/coaching and exactly what it is they are expecting.
Engage with the 'booker'
This element is also important because it is very easy to arrive at a company and if you haven't 'engaged' with the person who booked you in the first place, it is quite likely they won't be booking you again. Show your gratitude that they have recognised your ability and extend a hand of friendship. You don't have to become best friends but it doesn't hurt to create allies in certain corporate companies.
Prepare enough course materials
I believe this is one of the most important elements of the PREPARE. It is your materials for use during the programme. As with the content it's up to you to develop these and you need to make sure you have the right paperwork in the right place at the right time and in the right numbers! I have been on training courses where I was asked to share the documentation with the guy sat next to me. I hated it so when I am training a group, I always ensure I have enough to go round!
Ask to try out the equipment
This element doesn't just cover things like projectors, it also covers checking out where the light switches are - you can't show a DVD with the lights on. You might need to see where the blinds or curtains are pulled, which machine to use for playing DVDs, whether they use overhead projector or one that runs through the laptop; if you use Apple IPad, are they compatible...
I usually go along and have a good play around before the 'course' begins. I learnt this from my DJ days when I would work in different DJ booths - all the clubs had different makes of decks and mixing desks so if I hadn't checked them out earlier in the evening, my mixing would have been so awful everyone would have left the dance floor!
Remember to bring your survival pack
Ali and I each have a bag that is filled with all sorts of things ranging from post-it notes, pens, pipe cleaner sticks, spare extension cords, spare laptop leads, a universal plug thingy and countless other fiddly bits and bobs and we can both confirm, that we have both probably pulled things out of those bags on nearly every occasion of training - you just never know what it is you night need!
Errors, eek!
This is the last element but by no means the least important. Just remember that nobody is 100% perfect and mistakes and errors are part of the normal human experience. Allow yourself to be human. If you do make a mistake, just apologise and people will think the better of you for it.
We haven't taken anything away from our seven elements but we hope we have thrown some more light on them and allowed you to see that they have all been borne out of our own experiences. As we said in the book, the solution is simple but often forgotten, particularly when you have been delivering training for a long time - maybe complacency has settled in.
'PREPARE' probably does sound a bit obvious but it is amazing how often we 'know' it, but don't actually 'do' it. Pride and arrogance can be our worst enemies. Pride kicks in whenever we are feeling fearful or nervous and arrogance rears its ugly head whenever we feel threatened. Both of those bad habits can sabotage our training, particularly if we are tired.
