Planning a Training Part 1

I've been developing a training plan to be used as our County Inset one to run in a few Divisions by being tweaked to match the venue and the stated training requirements from each Division.

The bible is of course chapter 3 of Training "Planning and designing a training session" which provides 18 pages of really good solid advice and lots of links. I thought it might be useful over the next 3 posts to cover the practicalities in relation to planning this specific training.

Firstly is at the requirements stage - I really can't impress how important it is to have a dialogue with the Training Organiser (who may be not a trainer herself) as to what the expectations for the training are! A classic methodology is for the training organiser to pick a catchy title and expect you to design the entire training around one statement. Have a number of conversations if possible and don't forget to ask questions about the potential audience. How experienced will the Leaders be? Will there be Leaders with Special needs? What facilities will I have access too? Don't expect that just because the training is in a school that you will have tables - you may be put in the gym! I once went to train in a fire station and I didn't ask, so wasn't told that the training was to be held in the garage where the engine would normally be kept. The impact being that the floor of the garage was really shiny and slippery so I had to change the programme on the hoof to accommodate the fact that we couldn't play active games on the floor. On one occasion I had a lady temporarily using  a wheel chair which again meant a quick adaption so we spilled out into the corridor to allow the room required for all the activities.

The training you deliver to perspectives Leaders is very different to delivering the same topic to experienced leaders; if you were to have s significant number of new leaders could you adapt your training to meet their requirements? Could you cover Be our Best, Good Guiding is......., Adventure and Girl Led Guiding all in the same training to new and experienced Leaders?

Secondly the budget allocation - make sure you have agreed what expenditure is allowed. More frequently these days an allowance is made per head participating - but how will you reflect this in your plan if Leaders don't commit until the last minute before the training? Make sure you get guidance from the Training Organiser if this arises, don't ever be out of pocket. (If I see and buy something for a potential training I now keep a file with annotated receipts to use at a later date if I decide I can use the resources bought at an earlier date). Start your expenses early on in the process - if you leave it too late you might forget to include something.

In this particular example the primary drivers were to provide section trainings that are accessible around the County; and that Adventure is promoted indoors through out the Winter months. We also wanted to ensure we supported Leaders in applying the 5 Essentials when adapting activities to match the interests and abilities of their girls. A tall order!

If in doubt go back and discuss with the Training Organiser!