Training Materials - Off the peg?

[Nigel Wyatt]

Most trainers like to write their own material - its part of being creative - but is it the best appraoch? There are website that provide training materials - have you used them? How do do you rate them? Could you sell your materials to other trainers?

http://www.trainerslibrary.com/

http://www.trainerbubble.com
Free products at http://www.trainerbubble.com/Products.aspx?Category_ID=15&Produ...

[Lucy Sleigh]

Hello
Personally, time allowing, I would much rather put my materials together myself, rather than purchase them! If I am honest, I find that just as (if not more!) enjoyable than delivering. Plus I find if I have written it I am completely comfortable when I do have to deliver it as I know that the meaning behind things is and what is coming next!
Is it the best approach? Well, it is the most enjoyable for me (and I know that doesn't necessarily make it the best one) and on the downside I do sometimes worry that writing everything myself means my sessions all follow the same format - I guess purchasing materials would get me out of this 'rut'.
Also, as we all know, putting your own sessions together can be very time consuming!
Lucy

[liz bourne]

Hi
I am with Lucy on this one, I much prefer writing my own materials because for me too, this is the most interesting and exciting part of training. However, because I also write materials and sell them through training library, Fenman etc, I am amazed at just how many people do not want to write their own. There is alos a large number of people who want to have a half way house - in other words - to buy ready materials and adapt them for use in their own workshops.

Becase of this, I offer some free materials as well as selling them, and find that although I will never make a fortune from selling materials, there is a steady income with "royalty" cheques every now and then!!

Liz

[Anton Baumohl]

Nigel
I thought you and others in the network would be interested in news of a new website we are launching later in the year. The Crimson Kitchen will host a wide range of training exercises covering over 80 subject areas, members will be free to add and earn from their own exercises. The site is aimed at professionals - coaches, mentors, trainers, facilitators, consultants - and will also be of value to managers who want ideas for energising discussion and problem solving at their team or departmental meetings. We would welcome contact from any who feel they may have material to add. More news as it becomes available.
You heard about the Crimson Kitchen here first!!
Anton Baumohl

[Simon Raybould]

What I do is so specialised that the downloadable stuff just doesn't cut it, for us. We have to build everything from scratch. I agree it's fun - but it's also time-consuming.

Actually, I lie.... initially creating the materials doesn't take long. Checking for typos and spellings and re-drafting and re-re-drafting and... that's what takes the time! :)

S

[Robin Hills]

For me, writing my own training programmes helps me in planning the training session and learning the material. In order to get ideas and some frameworks to adapt I search the internet for powerpoint presentations to develop.

I use Google adding in the subject I am interested in and the file name "ppt". This usually throws up dozens of presentations. Needless to say most are complete rubbish - but there is an occasional gem!!

Robin

[Perry Burns]

Nigel,

We have a wide variety of tools including a very popular In Tary exercise, leadership games and activities and team building exercises. All available to download direct from http://www.sales-101.co.uk/products.htm

[Colin Mansell]

Happy New Year!

As a course designer, I believe that a course should evolve in that, once you have your top level design in place, you can seek to populate that design with the most appropriate content at the time and then make changes as you have more input available (from those who first receive the training, for example). Appropriate may relate to many different parameters - media, budget, availability, for example - but the most important are those parameters relating to the target audience.

Over time, as resources - time, budget, availability - become available, the course can be regularly revisited and can evolve to better meet the ever changing needs of the target audience.

So, I'm in the middle on this one. By all means use ready prepared resources within a course design specifically created for your audience.

Colin