07 September 2009
Paul Smith

A room is a room for training purposes, as long as it's big enough, right? Wrong. The right room, laid out correctly, can be a huge help to you in making your training work. Conversely, just one bad thing, like air conditioning that blows a cold draught down everyone's neck, or bright sun on the screen that prevents people seeing the detail of the DVD you're showing, can make your training memorable for all the wrong reasons.

One thing that can really help is to get the layout right. The golden rule is that it should be suitable for the type of session you are running. The main layouts are as follows.

• Boardroom style (everyone round one table, often long and narrow): has the advantage that everyone can see everyone else and it's good for discussion, but it's not ideal if you expect trainees
  to look at a screen, and some members of the audience are likely to be a long way from the presenter.
• U-shaped (tables are arranged in a U shape, seen from above): everyone can see everyone else, as well as the screen and the presenter (who normally stands at the open end of the U or to one side), but it's quite space-consuming, and meeting rooms may be hard to set up this way.
• theatre style (no tables, seats in rows): this is good for packing people in, and they will all be able to see the presenter and screen, but it limits their ability to interact with each other.
• cabaret style (attendees sit round small tables): this is great for a mixture of plenary and small group sessions but it's very space-consuming, and you need to take care that everyone can see the screen and the presenter.

For a session where everyone is contributing ideas, a round table is ideal. For a general health and safety presentation, boardroom style can be disastrous, not least because almost all taking part will have to twist round to face you.

So it's horses for courses, but generally a layout that works well for most training is the flat U shape, with the bottom of the U longer than the sides. This means most people are already facing the right way and it enables you to get really close to people if you need to. It also works well if you are splitting the group into smaller work groups.Discussion is still possible, as everyone can see everyone else. This layout fits best into a room which is wider than it is deep - landscape rather than portrait, if you like.

If you're refurbishing rooms and you have any say in buying the furniture, get tables and chairs that can readily be put into different configurations. I've worked in many supposed training rooms where the furniture was so massive it might as well have been bolted to the floor.

Another good tip is not to change layout on the day of the training if you can avoid it; you'll get dirty and sweaty. Do it the day before or get some help from your facilities department.

Checked and working

Having got the layout sorted, the next thing is to look at training equipment. This will typically include a flip chart (make sure you've got plenty of spare paper and some suitable pens), a screen, a projector that you can attach to your laptop, and perhaps a white board. Some rooms will have built-in PCs and there may be a wide-screen TV with VGA lead instead of a projector and screen. You might also have a DVD player and/or video conferencing equipment.

In a later article I'll cover how to get the best out of these training aids, but at this stage we just need to make sure you have everything you are going to need, that it works properly, and that it's going to do what you want it to do when you want it to do it. Ideally, get all this sorted before anyone arrives, as once they do, you'll want to spend time welcoming them.

When I worked for a risk management company, I'm sorry to say I took part in a senior management presentation pitching for a contract where we wasted the first 15 minutes of a one-hour slot trying to get the projector to work. The MD said, "Why should I use you to advise us on contingency planning when you don't even have a back-up for your projector?" Good point. And guess what? We didn't get the business.

Exit strategy

While you're getting the room ready, do a risk assessment, including a visual check of the electrical equipment and a look for any slip or trip hazards, especially cables.

If you trip and fall over during your own health and safety course, I can guarantee that two things will happen. One, they will laugh. Two, you'll lose any credibility you had as a safety speaker. If you can't avoid trailing cables, enclose them in a rubber strip or tape them down with duct tape.

You should know what the emergency procedures are should it be necessary to evacuate the room, and remind the attendees of these. I was once running a course in the middle of a chemical plant when a klaxon went off. The delegates had to tell me it was the "chlorine alarm". What do we do now? Close all the windows and wait to be rescued! Of course, I should have checked in advance so that I could've recognised the different alarms and told the group what to do.

Blowing hot and cold

Work out how the heating and lighting controls operate. You want a balance between too hot (everyone feels sleepy) and too cold (everyone shivers).

Neither distraction will help you in your task. Remember, when you are on your feet training you won't feel the room temperature in the same way as someone sat listening; you will tend to feel warmer than they do.

The ideal lighting is generally bright for alertness and energy, but you may need to experiment so that material projected on the screen is still visible. Check whether you will need to use the blinds to get the balance right. Get any flickering lights fixed - again, it's a distraction you can do without.

Make sure you have the right materials for your course. This means a copy of everything you and the trainees will need: exercises, assessments, course feedback sheets, and so on; plus something for them to take away that captures the key points of the training. They'll need paper for their own notes and something to write with, as well as name cards if they don't already know each other or if you as the presenter don't already know everyone.

You'll also want to record who has taken part, and don't forget in your preparation to make sure everyone knows which room to go to and what time the course starts. It's guaranteed to spoil your course if a third of the people walk in halfway through because they have gone to the wrong room, or even (it's happened to me) the wrong site.

Overall, the key message is the same as when preparing the course itself - the more preparation you do, the more confident you will be and the less there will be that can go wrong on the day.

Next month: starting off on a good note.

Paul Smith is a chartered fellow of IOSH and has more than 25 years' training experience. He is head of safety, health and environment at the E.ON Engineering Academy.
 

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