Design: At the design stage you need to identify the purpose and aim of your training. Why are you considering training? What is the need? Is there a shortfall in the skills level in your organisation or do you need to impart information? Who are your target audience?

For example are you introducing computers and printers into your company for the first time? If so the training will probably include the basics of Word, Access and Excel or perhaps you have a specialist system for sales and stock control.

Things that you probably have not thought about are how to turn on the computer, logging on and off, changing the printer ink and sorting out paper jams in the printer.

Out of these questions you will be in a position to draw up an aim and objectives of the training. These will form the foundations of the training. You will design the materials to match the objectives and you will measure its success according to whether they have been met.

For example, the aim of the training might be:

"To successfully implement a computerised system for sales and stock control".

The objectives might be:
By the end of the training the participants will be able to:
Session 1 Computer basics:
Turn on a computer
Log on and off a computer
Load paper into the printer
Change the printer ink
Use mouse and keyboard

Session 2 Word:
Open word doucument
Save and Print
Bold, Italics and Underline command
Font command

You can see from this example how easy it is to cover the relevant points in the training session. From here you are ready to design the training materials.

Training sessions often take the format of a presentation followed by case studies and / or work sheets to emphasise or explain the objectives. Questions and Answers can also be included into the programme.

Powerpoint is one of the most used software packages for producing training materials and word is useful for case studies and work sheets. But a word of advice, it is generally a good idea to have a hard copy of your work because you cannot always rely on your equipment working. It is advised therefore to print off your work as a safety precaution.

When these task are completed a programme, timetable or training plan can be drawn up. An example of a training plan is shown below:

9.45 Tea/ Coffee on Arrival
10.00 Introductions, Aims and Objectives
10.15 Overview
10.40 Casestudy and Feedback
11.30 Break
11.45 Questions and Answers

12.30 Lunch

1.30 Practical Application

3.30 Plenary session

You will also need to draw up an evaluation sheet to have completed by participants at the end of the session. This is standard practice and will help you modify future training.

An evaluation sheet generally asks for feed back on the following:
- Aim and whether it was met
- Objectives and whether they were met
- Suggestions for future training events
- Suggestions for how the event could be improved
- Quality of training materials
- Quality and relevance of accompanying handouts
- Quality of tutor input

You will often see the option to tick Very Good, Good, Poor and Very Poor. You notice that an Average category is not there. People often gravitate towards an average marking and leaving it out is a trick used by experienced trainers to avoid getting meaningless feedback.