Seminar at VCU went well… Lots of good feedback. I stayed in my comfort zone on the presentation though. It was material that I had presented before so I stayed with the traditional presentation style. Sorry Jane Vella… But, it works and the client is happy, very happy.
Interview was interesting. They asked what I need to get up and running and I said, “Probably everyone’s most precious resource, time. I need to understand what you have, what you need and how to bring those two things together.” They all nodded enthusiastically. Then, proceeded to tell me that they would like this new trainer to be teaching in the first 90 days. This organization has never had a training position before. Sounds like the first hurdle is to manage expectations… There is something really exciting about going in and setting the standard for training within an organization.
Then, they asked if I could leave all my training samples with them. I thought that weird. I wanted to say, “You can have my training samples but I come along with them – we are a package deal!” I just politely refused though. I never had anyone ask if they could keep my samples before… Is that just me?
2 responses so far ↓
1
Wendy Garland
// Apr 22, 2009 at 8:58 am
Argh! My comment was deleted! Let me try again — I find it interesting that you’re in T&D, but resist Vella. Just because you “wowed” a group, doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been better. Often times people are so used to death by PPT that even PPT with a couple of misc fun comments end up with a 5-star rating. I gave a presentation to some doctors last year and they were not pleased. “It’s not how we do things here”. All I was doing was teaching a new way to present lecture material – ask questions of what the audience already knows, don’t overload PPTs (use handouts instead), use a white board with markers to explain as you go versus showing an end result in a PPT slide. Have the group talk about it’s implications, etc. They were so resistant. The education coordinator stepped in and said that was why I was there – the way it had been going was ineffective and things needed changing. They were very resistant. It has to start somewhere! Learner centered! As Vella states, education isn’t a place for me, me, me – you have to be humble to let the learners take responsibility and you’re there to guide them. A SME is needed, but to guide learners, not to just input, input, input. Vella’s 4 I’s do have a rationale and I urge you to try it out — not just on paper!!!
Re: your interview – it sounds like it went well! I do think it’s odd for them to ask you to keep your ID’s. Humpf. Let them hire you first!
2
aptitude
// Apr 23, 2009 at 9:06 am
Sigh… I’m not resistant to Vella… I am resistant to being called resistant though. I was preaching Vella before I had read any Vella. I think of Vella’s style as a valuable tool in my presentation kit. I like the style. It’s thorough and covers a lot of T&D issues.
I’m not going to jump and do everything “Vella-esque” now. It is but ONE way to design/create training. I use her techniques and suggestions all ready. But, I don’t feel like her style is appropriate for every training or every topic. What is most important is that the designer is thinking about the individual learner, the audience, the client, the material, the classroom and all the other details that go into a training experience. And then DECIDE what method(s) works best. It’s about being conscientious – not going into an auto-pilot about what has worked in the past. I have been guilty of this, I own that.
Maybe everyone could have left with more of a warm, fuzzy feeling after the class. Some times, warm fuzzy just isn’t in the objectives. That can be at the sacrifice of the material and the approval that I had gotten from the client for what would be covered. So, folks left feeling good and with all the material covered and I have a happy client.
Leave a Comment