Consultix is your best choice for training

NOTE: Because this is an early draft of this page, the top portion is more complete than the bottom, which is still under development.

• The materials are readily available (students and knowledge; subjects and cameras),
• everybody's dabbled with it (helping kids with homework; taking snapshots),
• too many people believe they could "turn pro" and do a good job at it.
  • Nothing could be further from the truth!

ASIDE: Suitcasing Syndrome & Monologue Meltdown The typical corporate instructor is a chronic sufferer of "suitcasing syndrome", which comes from the combination of sleep deprivation and long days of lecturing. This has a deleterious effect on the instructor's performance, which often manifests itself in a boring and sleep-inducing delivery known as "monologue meltdown".

At Consultix, we learned a lot during the years we spent presenting courses written by "top-ten" software training vendors, and later writing and presenting 30+ courses of our own.

To show you why you should consider getting your training from us, we've listed below some of the common problems students report with conventional "Intensive Hands-on Training Courses", and the steps we've taken to correct them.

The instructor

• barely acknowledged our presence
• was creepy
• in short, had very poor social skills
  • Some individuals gravitate toward computer work because they're better suited to working with machines than people. They can wind up in a teaching role, because more sociable computer-savvy people are harder to find.
    • The solution to this problem is simple—we don't let individuals with inadequate social skills teach our classes! Large training companies can't necessarily follow this simple policy, because their demand for instructors can exceed the supply of qualified individuals.

• Last time we sent an employee to Vendor X's course, we got a really great instructor. This time, we got a lousy one. Vendor X always shows "TBA" as the instructor for every course, so we never know who we'll get.
  • Most training vendors overbook their staff instructors, and decide who will teach a particular class at the last minute. E.g., Fred might be tentatively booked for Classes A and B in the same week; if Class A has enough students but B doesn't, Fred will teach Class A, and B will be cancelled. If both classes have enough students, the Vendor will search for a contract instructor to teach the class that Fred doesn't prefer. Either way, the Vendor won't know who will teach a particular class until the last minute—and neither will the students.
    • We don't play "musical chairs" with our class scheduling. We believe students have a right to know what they're getting for their training dollars, so we announce the instructor for every class in advance.

• rarely looked at us
• talked in a monotone, mumbled, and put us to sleep. Seemed half asleep himself!
• posed questions to us, and then immediately answered them himself—without looking for raised hands!
• seemed annoyed when we asked questions, so we learned to keep them to ourselves
  • As mentioned above, some instructors may be lacking in social skills to begin with. However, even the most sociable instructor can turn in a bad performance when A) not given sufficient time to recover between classes, and/or B) forced to do too many suitcased (i.e., on the road) classes in a row.
    • We avoid stupefying our instructors by limiting each to two consecutive weeks of teaching, and two weeks of suitcased training per month.

• was preoccupied with his own interests, achievements, and big-name contacts, and spent too much time talking about them
  • It can be a bit intoxicating to have the attention of a roomful of computing professionals, and that can lead to abuses of the power of the podium. This is especially prone to happen when the instructor is grappling with the effects of "suitcasing syndrome" (i.e., sleep deprivation, and monologue overload).
    • Most students find it interesting to hear a little about the achievements of our instructors, so we encourage that to a limited degree. Because our instructors aren't suffering from "suitcasing syndrome", they're able to manage this without going overboard.

• Forgot everything I said about myself in the Intro (background, company role, etc.)
• clearly had lots of knowledge, but didn't impart much of it to us
• launched into new topics without first inviting questions on, or offering a quick review of, the last topic

• was more focused on sticking to the (grueling) schedule than on giving us a good learning experience

• did nothing to control the two students who kept talking and laughing
• one wise guy in the back row "corrected" everything the instructor said! The instructor was aware of this, but didn't address the problem.
• instead of starting at the specified time each morning, he waited for the late students…so they came later every day!
• never gave us a specific time to come back from breaks, so some students inadvertently came back late and missed material
  • Many instructors—especially new ones—are reluctant to exercise the necessary degree of control needed to ensure a smoothly running class. Others may go overboard and annoy the students by paying too much attention to logistical issues.
    • Our seasoned instructors know how to apply the class management skills required to keep things running smoothly.

• was carefree about time management for the early days, but on the last day, had to blaze through the remaining (2 days of) material to get done on time
  • Bad time management can be the instructor's fault, but sometimes the vendor's to blame. For example, many training vendors will add new material to a class without allocating more time to teach it! Others seek to stretch and squeeze a given class to suit a client's scheduling or budgetary needs (e.g., teaching a 4 day class in 2.5 days), which makes it very difficult for the instructor to properly adjust the pace to make all the material fit.
    • Our instructors can successfully teach our classes in the allotted time because our classes are A) always taught over the same time period, and B) designed (and re-designed as necessary) to fit the schedule