3 Things You Should Know when Preparing a Training Session

Filipe Castilho and Patrick Machado, are two engineers passionate about Software Architecture. 

Our people are at the heart of everything we do. That’s why we want to give them the space to grow, achieve their full potential and sometimes, step out of their comfort zone. 

We believe there’s always room for improvement and developing new skills, that’s why we challenged our dedicated Titans in delivering a training workshop about one of their passions: Software Architecture. 

If ‘daring to change’ and ‘taking risks’ were on Filipe and Patrick’s 2023 wish list, they’ve certainly crossed them off!  

Training requires time and resources, but we like to see it as an investment in the people we challenge to successfully deliver it, and for those attending who might be inspired by their courage and braveness.  

So, how can you deliver a successful session? Check out our engineers’ 3 top tips: 

You Snooze, You Lose 

• Have a coffee-break every hour (especially if you’re dealing with a lot of theory).  
• Slides are there to support you so keep them clean and easy to digest.  
• Ask people to intervein and use online polls to keep them in the loop. 
• Include a practical exercise every session. It prompts people to raise their attention levels and discuss the topics with other trainees/colleagues. 

Make Everyone Online Session Count

• Make sure your gear is working well: sound, video, microphone, network. Bad technical conditions can create a lot of disruption and hamper your training.  
• Appeal to a broader audience (the sky's the limit!).  
• Make full use of video conferencing platforms. Some have breakout rooms for promoting collaboration in small groups (we think the sweet spot is 3 people).

Don't Lose Your Audience 

• Struggling to grab and keep participant’s attention during training sessions is a very real issue. There are some techniques that work well for us, for example, raffling off a book at the end.  

Now this one come’s as bonus: don’t forget to ask participants for feedback. That’s the juice that’ll go towards your next session. Onwards and upwards! 

We hope putting these tips into practice will help you take out some pressure of planning an effective corporate or customer training session. 

Critical’s Empowerment Programme  

We’ve developed a programme which focuses on investing in people's personal and professional development. It helps people to achieve their ambitions with the help of their mentors, colleagues, and a bespoke development plan. 

Critical organises training programmes throughout the year and they have been proven to encourage professional development, increase employee engagement and performance, and creates a more inclusive and comfortable environment for people to work in. We’re proud to be an award-winning place to work and our range of benefits are designed to help look after all our employees. You can read about them here.

However, if you've come this far and also feel like mixing things up and stepping out of your comfort zone, take a look at our recruitment opportunities. Who knows, you might be next to share your adventures with us!

Join the Titans Squad here.