‘I liked the training, but it felt a bit rushed...’
‘I liked the training, but I found it a pity that we had to skip some parts due to time.’
You are probably familiar with this feedback. I know I am: I received both frequently when I started out. The skill you have to develop in this case is invisibly being in control of time. When you master this skill, you are able to orchestrate exactly how long each programme segment will take without participants noticing you're pulling the strings.
Over the next couple of blogposts, I’ll walk you through how you do it. First up: Training Design!
Training design
If the session has been designed poorly, you can pull strings all you want, and you will still end up with too little time or too much programme. So your first order of business is to critically scan the design of the session to check whether the timings are realistic.
This will prove very challenging if you're just starting out, because you lack the experience to know how long certain things take. If this is you, have the design checked by a more experienced trainer. A practiced eye can spot timing bottlenecks in minutes.
If you do this sanity check yourself, these are a couple of things to be on the lookout for:
Does the design have some elements that can easily be cut during the day, without compromising the integrity of each segment?
Have movements been taken into account? (for example, moving to and from break-out rooms, to and from smaller groups, to and from breaks and/or lunch)
Is there enough time for reflection and interaction? The bigger the group, the longer you need.
Usually reflection takes longer than the assignment itself — is this also the case in the design?
Are the timeslots designed generously, leaving room for things to take longer than expected?
Obviously, you are looking for YES-es to all of these questions.
If you notice the design is too cramped, do yourself a favor and cut segments. Yes, it will be hard, because you will feel everything is interesting and/or necessary. However, I would always urge you to choose quality and depth over quantity and breadth.
You might also fear that if you cut too much, your programme will be over while you still have time left. What if you don't know how to fill the time?! This is a fear I've had many times. The number of times it actually happened like this is... ZERO.
So cut away and trust that it is easier to lengthen a programme than to shorten it.
This is an excerpt from my upcoming book on how to deliver awesome trainings. It comes from the chapter Essential Trainer Skills - Time Management. This theory is also covered in my Train-the-Trainer programme: Inspire to Develop.