The people you meet on Training Courses
I have delivered a large number of training courses in UK and Europe to all types of participants. The training that I have delivered is UML modelling using either Enterprise Architect (EA) or Borland Together 2006 R2 for Eclipse.Participants on these courses can be categorised into categories and below I present a light hearted explanation of these types
Criticize the Interface -- this participant asks questions like "Why was that icon used?" Why is that menu there?" and so on. These are always fun to have on a course as their questions always raise a smile amongst trainer and other participants.
Impress the boss -- the participant is either attending the course with their boss, or has volunteered to attend the course to gain "brownie points". They are well prepared (read the book before hand) and ask questions (even if they know the answer), always volunteer answers to questions posed by the trainer. A joy to have on a course since you are guaranteed interaction.
The anitmodeller -- this participant is mentioned on another post. These challenge why do I need to model when I can just write the code. I like these participants since it is very satisfying at the end of a course to have "won them over"
The expert -- the nightmare of all trainers! The participant who knows everything and likes to show it. Often a little disruptive to the flow of the course since they are always making remarks like "I do it another way ... ", "... according to X we should do it like this ... " and so on. It usually turns out that they are not the expert they believe themselves to be ... having just memorized some facts in a book or from the product manual. Given them enough rope and they will usually hang themselves.
I can't leave work alone -- it is understandable that on any training course that all participants have to keep up to date with work e-mails etc. Most participants do this during breaks, but this participant always has their e-mail (usually Outlook) open throughout the course and is always reading and answering e-mails. When you walk around the room, they try to hide their activities by Alt-Tab to the Case Tool when you approach. But the periodic "Bing-Bong" sound which announces the arrival of another e-mail gives their game away. They can be a little annoying since they often ask questions like "Can you do that again since I missed it?" I just smile and answer the question.
The browser -- very similar to the above, but is browsing the Internet rather than using e-mail.
Eureka -- a trainers dream participant (and I have had many of these). These participants attend the course because they do not have the knowledge/experience that they expect to gain. When they do, you can see on their faces the "eureka moment" when everything clicks into place. Easily identifiable by such phrases as "This is really cool, this will really help my in my job", "I must tell my colleagues about this"
These are only some of the types of participants I have met. I must say that training is a most rewarding (if somewhat exhausting) occupation and to stay fresh you must have sufficient time to recharge your batteries. For me training gives a great deal of job satisfaction.
If you are trainer reading this, do you recognise these participants? What types have you met?
If you have been a participant on a training course, which type do you fall into?