You’ve already made the decision to plan your next training event – but here comes the big question:

How do you make it a success?

When it comes to team training, the secret to this is all in the preparation. If you want a training event that goes smoothly, keeps everyone engaged, and is aligned with your values – you need to plan it well.

But, like many things – that’s easier said than done. So in this article, we’ll go over 4 steps you can take to effectively plan your next training.

Why It’s Important to Plan

Event planning is essential because we want to make sure what we are doing is purposeful.

Organizations and social movements require a strong purpose.

By aligning our training events with our goals and working out the kinks beforehand, we are more accountable to the people and they assure people truly benefit from our efforts.

If you want to recruit passionate people into your organization and really help them transform into great leaders, then effectively planning your training events is essential.

How To Effectively Plan Your Next Training Event

No matter what kind of organization you’re running – training programs always tend to follow the same pattern and flow.

Whether you’re building a community garden or establishing a national social movement – the elements of a successful training program are the same.

So make sure to follow these 4 key steps for a seamless training event.

1. Decide on Objectives

Effective planning gives us the opportunity to make sure our goals, actions, and values are all aligned.

It’s essential to clarify the specific objectives to effectively plan your next training. Choose your primary objectives and how those align with your organizing goals.

This is one of the most important steps to guarantee that we’re planning truly purposeful training events.

Don’t forget – take that extra step to specify how you will measure success. It’s not enough to only decide on objectives, you need to really understand if those objectives are being met.

2. Settle Logistics

If you want to build something that lasts, you’ll need a solid foundation.

We want to settle the Who, What, Where, When, and How.

• Who will be providing the training? Who will be handling the paperwork? Who will play a supporting role? And who will be getting trained?
• What will you work on? What materials will you need?
• Where will the training take place?
• When will the training take place – and for how long?
• How will people learn about it? How will they sign up? And how can they continue afterwards?

Answer these questions with your team and this way, you won’t miss any key details.

3. Make it Engaging

This is often the most overlooked step. We’re always so busy getting the materials, scheduling, looking for a venue, getting everyone on board…

And then we run out of time to actually make the training enjoyable.

Because there’s no reason your training needs to be cold, bland, and sleep-inducing. You can still apply techniques to keep your learners engaged and ready to continue learning.

Note: engaging doesn’t always mean whimsical. You can absolutely plan a motivating training event for a serious topic with appropriate games.

4. Focus on Accessibility

Last but not least – don’t forget about accessibility.

To build power and make change as leaders, activists, and changemakers, it’s absolutely crucial to make your training programs inclusive and accessible.

Here’s a few things to consider:

• Check for wheelchair accessibility
• Translate documents and materials and confirm interpreters for your event
• If they will be online or hybrid, what support do they need for full participation?
• If open to the public – are you able to be contacted for special requests?
• Add alt text to images
• Use subtitles for any videos

Leadership and change should be led by those most impacted. By planning for inclusion and accessibility – you’re making it just a little bit easier to make that possible.

Bonus: Run a skills gap analysis

Depending on your organization, your goals, and your connection with your learners – consider running a skills gap analysis.

This could be done before the event, or to effectively plan for your next training.

Simply ask what your learners challenges and opportunities and gauge how knowledgeable they already are in the subject.

For in-house teams, this is the easiest. Send out a quick survey to see what they’re interested in learning. Alternatively, ask for feedback at the end of your training or another event to help you better prepare for the next one.

Need Help Planning?

No matter what your purpose is, most training events have the same basic steps when it comes to planning and recruitment.

If you’d like support to effectively plan your next training, check out our Training Event Planning Template.

Use it as a guide and adapt it to your own organization. This way, you won’t miss any steps, and you’ll be one step closer to running a smooth, impactful event!

Download the Training Event Planning Template here.

Good luck planning!