An author named, Benton, once asked, “If you were given a choice between two different pilots–one is trained, the other not–which one would you choose? But what if there was no ‘up-front’ cost for the untrained pilot? You still wouldn’t do it?” Yet, many companies even haven’t acknowledged the importance of training employees.
We are all human, and all of us have our own weaknesses or gaps, even in our professional skills. Thus, training employees isn’t just important to any company, it’s vital. In fact, it offers a plethora of benefits not only to the people being trained but also to the company itself. Corporate training is an indispensable way to add and empower the skills of employees. At the same time, it keeps your organization competitive and shows how much the company values the development of its people.
However, some businesses often neglect training their employees due to some reasonable reasons such as past training experiences, training was done poorly, the place was not convenient enough or perhaps because they think the topics just didn’t help.
That’s why, if you want to provide the best training experience to your people, you should also consider looking for a suitable venue that will not just cater to their needs but also conducive for learning. Your ideal training room should possess the following essential features:
Adequate Lighting
A training room should be flexible. Similarly, the lighting should be versatile too in a way that it is easily dimmed or preprogrammed and designed for even illumination. Both natural and artificial lighting can be used together to lessen eye strain. If necessary, efficient blinds can also be used to darken the room and prevent glare on high-definition monitors and whiteboards.
For natural lighting, windows are used as the best ambient sources of light but make sure it can be easily adjusted with drapes or shades. On the contrary, some companies prefer to experiment with neutral colors to be safe–as color psychology suggests it’ll make concentration on learning longer (e.g. green for memorization and orange for boosting focus).
Good Acoustics and Ventilation
The design of a training room should consider the level of noise that may be generated elsewhere in the building or by a given session. These features can be achieved with the proper equipment. However, the venue doesn’t have to be necessarily soundproof. Even so, it is necessary for everyone in the training room to clearly hear whoever is in front. If the noise level disrupts the main speaker, the trainees might not be able to absorb what they’re supposed to be learning.
Meanwhile, keep in mind the comfortable room temperature is one of the essential components of successful training. Most corporate training rooms are notorious for having freezing temperatures which can make participants shiver, feel sleepy or go to the bathroom frequently. Therefore, air conditioners must be set-up properly with climate controls, so it will be adjusted when necessary.
Convenient Ergonomic Furniture and Flexible Layout
If you are planning to look for a room rental for your training session, make sure to evaluate the types of furniture–if they’re ergonomically designed–and layout–if they’re flexible enough for room configurations and maximization of space.
Items of furniture should be appealing and functional while a training room should have enough space for everyone and for setting up tables and chairs.
Free Convenient Services and Amenities
To make sure that the meeting runs smoothly, a good training room should come with plenty of best amenities available. The venue should also offer other services such as full meals, the organization of coffee breaks, free use of water cooler, ticket reservation, wheelchair accessibility, guarded parking lot and more.
Availability and Easy Access to Technology Equipment
Technology is an essential factor in training. To transfer multiple lesson delivery options, your ideal training room must have it all: ceiling-mounted projector with a remote, whiteboard, large-format screen, a monitor, lasers, speakers, sound amplifiers, wireless microphones, adapters, extenders, flash drives and a lectern from which all this tech equipment is easily managed.
A strategic design includes additional outlets in the walls, floors and work surfaces to power the mentioned technology as well as trainees’ laptops. Ideally, these power outlets should be with flip-top outlet boxes covering them to avoid trip hazards. Tables need to be durable and high-quality to withstand daily use. Chairs, on the other hand, must be ergonomically designed for superior comfort with pneumatic seat height adjustment, padding, and swivel capability options.
Fast and Reliable Internet
In today’s modern world, training programs include WiFi connections for practical learning sessions. A fast and reliable Internet helps a trainer or speaker facilitate the learning session better. Make sure to test out if the Internet is working and how it was set-up. When running interactive group activities, consider that your participants will need access to the Internet as well.
Additional Tools to Increase the Level of Information
Besides the stationary essentials, some training programs offer a system of synchronic translations that allows the speaker to organize international conferences with the participation of foreign representatives as guests or keynote speakers. This set-up helps participants to hear the translations into their native language; thus, communication is convenient and comprehensible.
Apart from this, corporate training also includes diagrams, drawings, products, 3D model and product to clients for easy interaction as they clearly see and hear all the necessary details. The application of these multimedia tools increases the delivery and level of information perception and allows the facilitator to make the right choice.
Bottom Line
Bear in mind that training employees cost a lot of time, money and materials. Conversely, not training your employees also comes with additional costs and consequences such as unhappy employees, low production value, inefficient staff, lost time and money due to mistakes, and most importantly, having insufficient employees can lead to lost customers. For that reason, all the features mentioned above should be taken into consideration to create the best and memorable training experience. While there may be potential drawbacks from it, the return on investment from the development and training of employees is really a no brainer.
