Creating certificates is a time-consuming job that most trainers dislike.
Where I work there are some applications and IT systems that require users to have attended a training course before they are granted access to the system and the course certificate is the proof that they have attended.
Almost all of the training courses that I deliver involve PowerPoint. Let me be clear, I don’t mean that I solely deliver PointPoint training, rather, most of the courses require the use of PowerPoint. I have a few introductory slides (with not a single bullet point in sight!), I have a slide with contact details on that I display at the end and, for some courses, I have slides that are used to explain concepts.
When I deliver a live training course I don’t like to use cue cards or have a printout of the running order. So how do I remember which slide is up next and what about Speakers Notes?
Every month our team (at work) produces a newsletter packed full of IT tips and tricks. This month our Newsletter Editor asked me to write a couple of short paragraphs about Yammer, which has recently been introduced into the company. This got me thinking about how to explain what Yammer is to “non-Yammerers”?
Whilst building a Graphical Dashboard for a client I discovered that the Excel 2007 macro recorder doesn’t record actions that involve placing and manipulating the drawing tools/shapes.
At work, our team has recently started to offer eLearning courses. These courses are “bite-sized” (typically 15-20 minutes) modules, covering topics such as File Management, Excel formulae and setting mailbox permissions in Outlook.
Saturday morning came and we left the house in plenty of time but a combination of heavy rain, road closures and a closed car park entrance meant that I had to dump the car and run to the Apple Store. Poor Elaine spent the next 45 minutes sitting in traffic and driving round parts of Manchester she never knew existed looking for an alternative entrance to the Arndale car park.
So the big day arrived. I’d planned to work from home on Friday 28th (as this was the expected delivery date) and now they were being delivered a day early and I had to go into work. At just after 9:00, I got a phone call from Elaine. “Mine’s arrived but now I’ll have to wait all day until you get home”. I had to forcefully tell her to open it, play with it and enjoy it – truth be known she didn’t need much persuading!
When the iPad was first announced back in January I decided there and then that I wanted one (even though the UK price hadn’t been set at that point). Did I need one? Maybe, maybe not? I have an iPhone and a MacBook Pro (which I had purchased only 6 weeks previously) so from a “working on the road” point of view, I was pretty much sorted. But I wanted one and I’d find a use for it once it arrived.
Most people get appraised once a year. However, just as an actor or a sports-person is appraised each time they take to the stage or field, as a trainer, I am appraised every time I deliver a training course, a workshop or an event.
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My iPad arrived on Thursday afternoon (I bought the 64GB WiFi model). On Friday night I found a dead pixel so Saturday was spent at The Apple Store in Manchester, sorting out a new one. Sunday and Monday (a Bank Holiday in the UK) were spent setting it up and “playing” so today it got it’s first outing – it came with me to work.