By Blake DuBose and Mike DuBose
Nearly every business, government agency, or non-profit attends (or hosts) trainings, conferences, socials, or seminars at some point. Because those events represent the organization, what happens during them can mean the difference between success and failure. Therefore, it is important to carefully think through each event in detail from start to finish.
After training 25,000 individuals in hundreds of workshops, dozens of states, and too many hotels and conference centers to count—most met with roaring success, others filled with blunders when facility staff let us down—we want to share some practices and tips that have helped two of our four companies, Research Associates and Columbia Conference Center, achieve consistent good-to-outstanding ratings for our course evaluations and conference services.
Let’s begin with the preparation needed for engaging, worthwhile training sessions. Then, we’ll provide some guidelines for workshop leaders. Finally, we’ll talk about problems that can result from failing to anticipate variables like participants’ input and response.
Training Environment: The best meeting planner or trainer in the world will have a difficult time in an inferior environment (i.e., room too small, hard seating, dim lighting, poor audiovisual support, bad food, etc.). Recently, we published a Facility Comparison Guide to assist meeting and event planners in selecting a facility that best meets their needs. The entire guide is at www.columbiameetings.com, but here are some tips to guide you in creating a meeting environment that is second to none:
? Site selection: Before we choose a training site, we outline detailed specifications for our room setup, registration area, hotel rooms, audiovisual needs, seating, catering, temperature settings, and other requirements. We have even constructed colorful seating and set up charts so that set up hotel crews could see exactly what we desired. These details help the site staff understand exactly what we are looking for and ensure we will not be assigned a room that is inappropriate for training purposes. By carefully planning and giving them advance notice of your needs, you can enhance organization and reduce frustration for both your staff and the facility team. Food ordering is often done one week in advance and the room is set up the day before, so it is difficult for facility staff to make major room set up adjustments or add a lot of unplanned catering the day of the event.
We always make an onsite inspection of the facility and know all the facts before signing a contract. We have seen some sites that looked picture-perfect on the facility’s Web site, only to find that dirty and uncomfortable chairs, non-operational heating and cooling systems, and rude staff were the reality awaiting us! Sometimes, when the event began and we needed them, we never saw the set up staff again!
Select a venue with customer-driven staff members who are pleasant, courteous, patient, and flexible. They should return communications within 24 business hours, help with planning and offer suggestions, give clearly-written cost estimates, provide you with attentive service during your event, and promptly send you an accurate billing statement afterward. Choose a facility that is easy to find, is accessible to major highways, and has plenty of free parking. If you have narrowed your search to a handful of venues and need help choosing one, select the meeting facility that supports the community, charities, and the environment. All of our companies recycle and allow time off for employees to volunteer with charities. We give all of our net profits from Columbia Conference Center to pre-selected charities and public schools.
To reduce confusion, one organized staff member from your organization should coordinate the event with one hotel or meeting facility staff representative from start to finish. We have seen great events run into trouble when differing expectations and needs were miscommunicated by multiple staff to the facility manager.
? Space requirements: Have you ever noticed that people who go to theaters, meetings, and other large public gathering places often put their personal items in the seat or space next to them? Most of us, without even realizing it, establish our own personal space, and we want a little bit of extra room between us and the person seated next to us. In training environments, overcrowding people will most likely irritate them and set the tone for a poor training experience before the presenter has spoken the first word. Avoid going cheap with a small room and “packing them in!” You want to save money, but not at the cost of quality. Set up staff will often place the fewest number of tables and chairs needed in the room since it represents less work for them. Have them set up for a few more than you need and clearly outline how much room you want between participants (within reason). Packing adults into a space barely large enough for a toddler has a negative effect on learning outcomes—and doesn’t do much for your participant evaluations either.
? Traffic flow: Visualize how people will flow from one activity to another during your event, then develop strategies to prevent bottlenecks. Too many times we have witnessed large groups of people in a single-file lunch line when the serving table could have been set up with lines down both sides of the table (or even split into two tables with four lines).
? Seating: Again, it’s important to test seating arrangements to ensure that participants are not too crowded. We check the area where the tables connect (nobody likes to straddle a table leg), ensure there is sufficient leg room, and position tables and chairs so that participants can enter and exit their chosen seat without stumbling over everybody else seated around them. We also allow adequate space between rows and create aisles to give everyone a sense of sufficient personal space. We position water stations not on participants’ tables, where accidental spills often occur, but in other parts of the room (usually, the back).
? Presenter area: A good trainer never stands behind a podium to deliver their knowledge and expertise. There must be sufficient room for the presenter to move around and interact with participants. Also, when establishing the trainer’s presentation area, take into account the space that will be occupied by audiovisual equipment. Ensure that audiovisuals can be seen and heard, especially from the sides and rear of the room. Beware of support columns located in some rooms, which can present visual problems. These columns are usually not shown in Web site pictures.
? Room temperature: When a room is too hot or too cold, training participants cannot concentrate on workshop content. Temperature affects the mood and body (and hence, the course evaluations) of training participants. We shoot for a constant room temperature of 71-72 degrees Fahrenheit, but the humidity level often makes this setting too hot or too cold (high humidity makes people feel warmer; low humidity, cooler). That is why we invested in both humidifiers for dry conditions and dehumidifiers for humid days at Columbia Conference Center. Because it is impossible to please everyone, we encourage attendees to bring an extra layer of clothing that can be easily added or removed. At the beginning of a workshop, we ask participants to notify us if the temperature is uncomfortable. If there is a general agreement among the class (we take a vote), we ask the facility manager to adjust the temperature up or down. In addition, both our trainer in the front of the room and staff assistants stationed at the back of the room carry a thermometer device with a clock (available at electronics stores) to ensure that the temperature doesn’t fluctuate from Arctic ice to Hades hot! Designate a single staff member who is allowed to ask facility staff to adjust room temperatures, and tell participants that this is who they should see if the temperature is uncomfortable. This will reduce a great deal of confusion. However, remember one important thing: you can’t please everyone. Don’t try to!
? First impressions: Participants’ mood is key. When participants first enter the training room, we project a positive, relaxed atmosphere by playing soothing music and displaying photographs on the screen that conjure tranquil images, like beach scenes. Trainers need to be fully organized and ready to go so that when participants arrive, they can greet them with a smile.
One of our four companies, Research Associates, pre-registers participants the afternoon before a workshop to enable them to check in and pick up name tags, curricula, and other materials. This allows participants to ask questions about the workshop logistics, enables our staff to set a friendly tone before the workshop even begins, and reduces bottlenecks on the day of training. Research indicates that a customer forms a perception of you or your organization within eight seconds. To make those eight seconds count, encourage all staff to smile and exhibit a calm attitude even in the midst of stress and confusion. This can go a long way to defuse a negative situation or enhance a typical one. Remember: The goal is 100% participant satisfaction, and positive first impressions are the first step in achieving this goal.
? Pre-registration: Prompt and accurate billing, detailed directions to the site (preferably with landmarks and mileage markers), and other pre-registration information ensure that participants show up on time and in a good mood. If people are upset when they arrive for a workshop, you have an immediate obstacle to overcome. And if only one other person overhears another’s tirade about something you did wrong, that irritation quickly spreads to others. We will never forget one participant in New York who had trouble trying to find the facility at which we were conducting our meeting. When she appeared late at registration, she growled with the fierceness of a hungry lion, “I want to kill someone!”
? On-site registration: The best training can be ruined by a confusing registration process, rude staff, incorrect or misspelled nametags, wrong directions, billing errors, etc. Here are some helpful tips to facilitate the registration process:
Trainer quality: Adult learners are demanding and have little patience with boring, stilted, disorganized presentations and those who deliver them. In the past, we have hired a few individuals who we thought would be excellent trainers due to their relevant experience, knowledge of the subject matter, education, and personalities. But when we put those individuals before a group of people, it was obvious their qualifications did not necessarily enable them to capture and hold their audience’s attention or teach the skills people paid money to learn!
After several bungled presentations, we now look for energetic, positive, articulate, and modest speakers who can adapt their presentations to various adult learning styles, both with individuals and in groups. We want competent professionals who can teach customers the skills they came for in the first place! Before signing on with a trainer, we watch them in action a few times for parts of a workshop and check their references, always remembering that they represent the company and its standards for high quality. We ensure that first-time trainers teach alongside a more experienced trainer for coaching and so they learn our philosophies and high standards, and we also pay them to sit and watch our best trainers as models to emulate. We simply cannot afford to make a mistake when choosing presenters!
Workshop supplies: High-quality materials and written communications are important to convey a professional image.
? Nametags: We use large nametags that can be worn on a chain as a lanyard or attached to the participant’s clothing with a bulldog clip. The participant’s first name is printed in a larger font to enable the trainer—and other participants—to use it and enhance bonding between participants and with the trainer.
? Curriculum: Our curriculum is distributed in appropriately-sized three-ring binders, complete with a professional, colorful cover and inside pockets for additional handouts. Presenter and PowerPoint slides refer to curriculum page numbers that participants can flip to to reference more detailed curriculum content.
? Certificates: When participants complete their training, we provide them with a professional certificate that can be framed and displayed.
? Participant list: While we do not sell participants’ contact information—and we let individuals know this when they register—we do distribute a list of all attendees to participants in the workshop that gives the organization they represent and their contact information. The list facilitates networking and lets everyone know a little bit about their classmates. We also encourage trainers to review the list before the session so they can get to know their audience a little better and mention relevant agencies by name during the presentation.
? Agendas: Once you have your curriculum and presentation organized, it is helpful to create an agenda to give to trainers, facility event staff, and participants. Then, try to stick with it!
Refreshments: We provide a variety of beverages and other refreshments three times a day, before and during workshop sessions. The intent is to treat our participants like guests in our own homes. However, choice of refreshments also has an impact on learning environment, and too much or too little can affect participation in your workshop. Heavy meals of high-carbohydrate foods mixed with sugary sweets make participants sluggish. We once served turkey, mashed potatoes, and dressing for lunch followed by apple pie, and you never saw so many fluttering eyelids and nodding heads! Order more refreshments than you think you need, since some attendees will consume more than their share. Hint: In our experience, Diet Coke is the most popular drink. We also suggest serving chocolate, caffeinated sodas, tea, and fresh coffee in the afternoons to keep people alert. Don’t forget diabetics when making serving selections; have some low carb goods like nuts for them.
Trainer support staff: Depending on the workshop size, we provide our trainers with one or more assistants to help with logistical issues and monitor participant needs. To keep things running smoothly, the trainer and the assistant (who is seated in the back of the room) communicate through a set of pre-established signals or verbal requests. The assistant:
If you hold a convention with multiple speakers in different rooms, always assign a staff member to each speaker or volunteer to serve as a room monitor and support staff. They should report back to a central conference coordinator, who will in turn be the sole person to coordinate with facility staff.
Guidelines for Trainers
While comments may sometimes be painful to read, we operate from a Total Quality Management (TQM) and continual improvement model where the goal is 100 percent participant satisfaction. At the end of each day, we encourage trainers and support staff to debrief on the day’s events, discussing what went right, what didn’t, “problem” customers that will need TLC the following day, etc. Staff members also keep notes on issues, and these are discussed at our corporate headquarters in post-presentation meetings. Then, we send a follow-up mailing, reporting our ratings and any issues so that participants know that we heard their concerns and are addressing them. We don’t receive perfect scores every time, but that doesn’t keep us from striving for the gold! Our goal of near perfection is attainable, since 92% of Columbia Conference Center’s customers come to us by word-of-mouth. We used all the bad and good experiences with hundreds of meeting facilities we were exposed to through Research Associates to build a great facility with all of the modern conveniences—Columbia Conference Center.
It takes work and a lot of planning to conduct great meetings, but the effort is well worth it. As in the movie Field of Dreams, if you build it (a great meeting and training program), they (your customers) will come!