What to Ask For When Choosing Training Resources

How to Choose the Right Ready-Made Training Material For Your Course?

As a trainer most of us have researched and compiled our own training materials at some point in our career. The process of exploring and producing our own training materials would guarantee high quality and up to date information.

So why buy off-the-shelf training materials? Until recently self produced materials were the only way to guarantee premium, current and informative courses. However, advances in technologies such as internet means that you can now research and trade at international levels from the comfort of your home or office. This has given trainers the freedom of offering their course materials to training community and obtaining what they need from these sources. Apart from saving money, time and energy, these off-the-shelf training materials have the potential to provide trainers with recent methods and discoveries in the world of training. They also become helpful in providing extra information especially when designing custom training courses as requested by a client.

However, when shopping for off-the-shelf training packages and toolkits, there are naturally a number of areas to consider and explore carefully. Asking the right questions will enable you to get the best for your money and more importantly satisfy your specific needs.

The following table has been designed to draw your attention to some of the essential points and criteria when purchasing training course materials from any source. We have included our own response in the table in order to answer these questions.

*Content & Quality*
*Question*	*Answer*
What training materials are included in a product?	You can find what we include in each product here.
What areas or subjects are covered in this course?	We provide the objectives and sessions for each product which are included in the product’s page.
How current is the content?	Our products are based on the latest information, trends and methods in training. Our qualified and experienced researchers provide us with the best content in their fields. Our products are designed using the latest design principles which make them interesting and memorable. Your delegates don’t have to endure an 80’s style power point presentation.
How relevant is the content?	Each product is targeted at a particular area. The broad field of soft skills mean that there are often too many subjects to be covered in a one day course. This means certain content needs to be dropped at the expense of others based on trainer’s judgment. This is natural and all training products are limited in this way. To overcome this difficulty, our courses have been designed in such a way that allows trainers to mix and match sessions from different courses. This option facilitates offering a specific and custom-made course to your clients.
How many slides are included?	It is important not to get short changed for what you pay for. We adhere to specific standards to produce the slides. In particular: We make sure that they satisfy the delegates’ needs. The slides are designed to be visually nice, uncluttered and easily readable. We strongly try to avoid death-by-power-point. In contrast, we try to provide as much content as we can for the trainer, so they can easily pick up the content. This means we will have to end up with a compromise when it comes to slide design. For those who are really interested to know, on average a one-day course may have 70 to 100 slides though this varies from course to course. Remember though, there is an old saying that the number of pages of a book doesn’t represent how good it is.
How much detail is included in slides? Are they just bullet points which means I need to figure out the rest myself?	Slides are designed considering the issues stated above. Bullet-point slides can be boring for delegates, though they can be useful for the trainer. We reach a compromise in designing our products.
Is the training material generic?	For reach topic, we try to be as specific as possible. If you want to teach a generic course, you can customise one from different sessions included in different courses.
How well are they presented? How pleasant is the material artistically for the delegates?	We value the artistic part of the design greatly. We believe that by appealing to the emotional side of the delegates and by presenting an uncluttered visually stimulating content, we can increase the learning efficiency and in particular memory retention rates. Countless amount of research shows that humans can memorise images much easier than sound, words or text. We take advantage of this by showing relevant images and animations when appropriate to facilitate the memorisation of the content.
What is the depth of the content?	Each product focuses on a particular topic fairly deeply and there is usually more content available in each one-day product that can actually be thought in one day. This way you can adjust the course based on the level of delegates. If they are new to the subject you may need to remove some parts, pace accordingly and stick to the basics. If the delegates are demanding or experienced, you can easily dig deeper as the content is already provided and prepared for you.
What is the word count?	In general, the workbook for a one-day course alone contains roughly 10,000 words, while trainer notes are roughly 12,000. In other words, a workbook can be roughly 60 pages for a one day course which experience shows is an adequate amount of information to absorb in one day.
How many and what kind of exercises are included?	Each course has a different setup and several exercises are included for each. Sometimes alternative or auxiliary exercises are also provided which you can choose from based on your circumstances.

Terms & Conditions

Can I customise the training product as I see fit?

Absolutely. We believe you should not be restricted with how you can use a training product within your organisation. As stated in our terms & conditions, you have the right to customise the content as you see fit.

Can I put my name or my company’s logo on the product and use it for training?

Yes indeed. Again we don’t limit you in this regard. You can go ahead, remove our name and put yours instead. We believe a trained world is a much better place and we are happy to do our part.

Would I get the materials in print, in PDF or in source files such as MS Word and MS Power Point?

You will receive digital products upon purchase. The material is provided in editable source form (MS Word and Power Point).

Ease of Use

How well is the training explained for the trainer?

A huge amount of attention is paid to make sure the trainer can quickly pick up the content. This is supported by providing general guidelines on running the course and best practices. In addition each course contains agenda, instructions on any pre-course assignment and also preferred pacing. Then there is the trainer script which is full of specific notes of what to say at each point in time and for each slide, along with stories, exercises, quizzes and thought provoking questions to capture the audience. Finally a recommended reading list is provided for those who simply want to know more.

Do I have to study several books in addition to the training resources provided to be able to teach the course?

You don’t necessarily have to. The workbook is written much like a book and we recommend trainers to simply read the workbook first to absorb the content efficiently. You can then move on to the trainer notes and obtain even more information on how to execute the course. Of course, reading books, especially those relevant to the course will increase your confidence and prepare you for more demanding delegates.

How much preparation is required when going through the training materials?

This highly depends on your expertise and overall familiarity with the subject. In general, you may need to spend a few days reading and rehearsing the training content before delivering the course.

Sample Work

Can I see samples of the training products?

Screenshots of each training course is provided which clearly shows what each product contains and is representative of what you may find in the product. If you want to know more about a particular product please contact support.

Can I see the type of content you produce so I can judge their quality?

Sure. Please visit the free training exercises section to see a wide range of exercises provided. These are very similar to specific exercises used in training materials. You can take advantage of these free training resources in addition to the specific course you purchase.

*Support & Value*
How much support do I get before choosing the products I want?	You are welcome to contact support for any questions in regard with our products. We will do our best to help you.
Would I get a discount if I buy more than one product?	We value returning customers and your enthusiasm for our products. Based on popular demand, we now have a permanent offer for those who buy several products. For details on this attractive offer please see how to obtain downloadable training materials here as a package.
Would the training product bring the kind of value and change I want to the organisation I am going to train?	We work hard to make sure our products will bring value to the delegates and make them faster, better and more efficient in what they do. We believe in enhancing people’s emotional intelligence by specific training and put a lot of thought into each product. We hope, with your excellent delivery, they will bring change to their organisation and end up prosperous and happy.
Are the products good value for money?	We don’t think you can find products with the kind of quality we offer, with probably the most flexible terms you can come by, at such low prices anywhere else. As always, we stand by our products, we are proud of them and take feedback and suggestions very seriously.