6 Responses

1. Welcome event

   Pretty sure you will have sent them out a resource/information pack/

   We had to arrange an inaugural event like this last February and needed, as you say, to go beyond powerpoint.So:-

   • We had a good cross section of existing staff at the event to "buddy up" and subsequently become mentors
   • New staff were allowed to "bring a friend" -and then tour together a sort of standing exhibition/stalls from each department suitably staffed
   • Some existing staff had cameo roles in presenting short bits – What it’s like to work here or in this department etc
   • What others say about us board – a good display of customer testimonials/media reports and any awards won etc
   • Get some customers in to do a cameo role -why I like coming here to shop etc.
   • A suggestion/evaluation box – trying to find out what they enjoyed, what should have been done differently and any further support they need after the event
   • Give people a gift but make it work related – we gave out 116 tips for saving time.Choose only 5 and then tell your line manager in 3 months how they’ve been working

   Appreciate you can’t do all this but you should be able to tweak/adapt etc

   GOOD LUCK JOHN!

   Dominic

   QED Training

    qedworks.com

2. Additional thoughts

   John,

   Just some thoughts for additional idea, as I’m not in sales/retails they may not be relevant…

   Treasure Hunt – give a number of questions and get them to wander round (perhaps in groups) to find out the answers. Might be best for product knowledge.

   If you need to have presentations, try Prezzi instead of PowerPoint – different style of presentation.

   Turning the tables and asking them to create rules or plans etc gets people involved and more likely to follow the results.

   Good luck.

   — Michelle Kaye IT Trainer Boodle Hatfield

3. Induction Activities

   Hi John

   A good icebreaker & a way of people getting to know each other is have laminated picture scattered around the room (examples – pics of kids, people riding bikes, camping, aeroplanes, stacks of books, animals, scenery etc ) have the trainees move around the room and pick a couple of pictures that best represents them and then share with the group why they choose the pictures.

   Card sort activities are quite good, you can break the group into smaller groups of 3 – 4 (no more than 4 as you find that not everyone in the group will participate if the group is too big) and get them to put in order a time line or a procedure.  A fun way of getting people into groups and mixing people up is to have pictures of your products or manager’s (with their names under the photo’s) stuck under the trainees chairs and they have to find the group they belong with.

   Get people thinking rather than just giving them the answer, pose a question, write it up on a whiteboard and get them to answer it with the person sitting next to them, have them write their answers on post it note and bring them up to the whiteboard.  Gets people not only engaging but moving around as well, as there is nothing worse than sitting and listening all day. 

   A fun way of checking knowledge transfer is to make your own crossword, I’ve used these sites before and it’s free!

   http://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/   

   http://www.eclipsecrossword.com/

   The environment you train in I think is just as important as the material you are training, have posters of your product or company logos around the room, koosh balls, coloured post it notes and coloured pens on the tables, music playing as they enter or leave the room, play it in the background during activities or break out times, be careful with music though it needs to be appropriate for the activity and at the right level.

   There are some good tips on Rich Allen’s website

   http://www.richallen.co.nz/about.htm

   Hope this helps

   Cheers Christine

   Change Trainer Meridian Energy- Christchurch NZ

    

4. Thanks to everyone

   Thank you to everyones responses. Some goods things to consider and add into the mix.

   Regards,

   John.

5. Some ideas

   I haven’t done this, but would love to know if it "works."

   Get the new starters together and ask them to brainstorm the things they want to know. (I remember that just knowing how to do simple things was very important.) They might also want to know about any aspect of the business.

   Put them in pairs and let them loose to talk to anybody they want in the organisation to find their answers. New people will act very interesting and thought provoking questions.

   Bring the new starters back together to share their findings with each other, yourselves and other members of staff. If necessary, add some more questions and send them out again.

   Review, extract learning, incorporate learning, repeat.

   Daft or doable?

6. Post Training Conversations

   Not daft at all Nick – really good!

    

    

   QED Training qedworks.com