Training and Development Q&A

Would love to hear your thoughts on this @Lisa Creffield !

Hey Shawn, thanks for your question. Can you first tell us more about your business? I think training programmes vary depending on your business.

Like any student, you can try to start from an easy job, like system administrator and watch and learn, meet people and then you will understand what and how you are organized in this area and where you would like to go. For example, I want to be a professional writer, so now I use every opportunity to improve my skills. I help students on unique article writing service https://uk.edusson.com/article-writing-service, where a lot of young writers like me, help with any college assignments.

An hour is enough for me. I've only taken one on being a Master of Ceremonies. The challenge for me was keeping present when there's a screen in front of me.

Definitely 1 day a week for five weeks, rather than five classes in five days. And that assumes the class is for no more than 2 hours per session. There is no way everyone will attend over 5 consecutive eight hour days.

The reasoning is that no-one has a week where they don't have some commitment they can't get out of. Whether it's the school run, or a dentist/doctor/lawyer appointment, or a gym membership, daily life just gets in the way.

Much easier to schedule a shorter time period with a longer time apart. And you can suffice with basic tea and coffee catering.

If the "blocked-in" approach is favoured, I suggest no more than 2 consecutive sessions per week, after hours. That way, you can have each session running 3 hours (with decent catering) from 6–9pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, on 2 consecutive weeks.

Preferred days of the week is a moot point. Experience tells me Tuesday and Wednesday are easiest for most people, but each audience differs. There will always be those who can't do it, due to the reasons above.

The final alternative is a 3-day block over a weekend. Start at 4pm Friday, run 9-5 Saturday and 9-3pm Sunday. This approach works particularly well for retreats and remote locations, where the attendees are removed from distraction.

However, it will carry a much higher price tag.

I will likely sign up for an online course if I have seen testimonials and have heard positive feedback from real people I know.

Or if I know the person professionally (which sometimes mean I have developed a relationship with them over social media)

I firmly believe a mix of both is best.
If you're targeting businesses in your local area, then local physical related events would rate higher, particularly when starting out.

Atif,

I would recommend, Codecademy (http://codecademy.com), Code (http://code.org) and Team Treehouse (https://teamtreehouse.com/). Team Treehouse isn't free but they do offer a 7-day free trial and I've heard good things from others that have used it. But full disclosure, I haven't used that service myself. I hope that is helpful.

I would start following what MOZ come out with and watching Whiteboard Friday videos. I will also +1 Udemy and Lynda.com also has a lot of videos worth watching. Another great educational source is Coursera.