Effective Promotion and Delivery of Your Training Pilot

This is the final blog post in the UNIVERSE-HPC Running a Training Pilot series. These posts contain excerpts from the Pilot Operations Guide published on Zenodo and developed by UNIVERSE-HPC.

In our previous posts we've looked at key areas to include in planning your pilot, the options for how it will be delivered, and obtaining feedback from both attendees and the training team. In this final post we'll focus on the practical aspects of promoting and delivering the training pilot, and provide tips for effectively marketing the pilot to the right audience to set clear expectations, and to help smooth delivery during the event itself. We'll also include advice on setting the tone and engaging learners from the start, and adapting to challenges during the pilot to ensure a positive learning experience.

Promoting a Pilot

Promoting your pilot workshop effectively is crucial to attracting the right participants and ensuring a successful event.

To maximise your chances of reaching your target audience, consider using a variety of advertising channels. You could reach out to groups who have previously attended your training sessions and send targeted emails to mailing lists that are relevant to the workshop’s subject matter. You could also post adverts in relevant Slack channels used by your target audience and include information about your workshop in newsletters that reach your potential participants.

Start promoting the course well in advance to ensure there is enough time for participants to learn about the workshop and sign up. Begin advertising the workshop as soon as the details are confirmed and send out promotional information multiple times to increase visibility. Something to remember is that promotion isn't a one-shot activity, so as the date approaches, consider sending reminder emails to potential participants.

Your promotional materials should be clear, concise, and informative. It’s useful to include the following key points:

Workshop topic: provide a brief introduction to the subject matter, especially if the topic is not widely known.
Course level and prerequisites: specify the level of the course (novice, intermediate, advanced) and any prerequisite knowledge. Consider including a short form or quiz to assess participants’ current knowledge.
Location: indicate where the course will be held. If online, mention the platform (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams). For in-person pilots, indicate whether the venue can accommodate certain accessibility requirements. If the venue has not yet been determined or could be changed, ask participants about their accessibility requirements when they sign up.
Dates and times: clearly state the workshop dates and times.
Eligibility: specify who the course is open to (e.g., students from a particular university).
Instructors and delivery method: introduce the instructors and outline the method of delivery.
Expectations: set clear expectations regarding what will be taught, how it will be delivered, and that learner feedback is expected.
Registration process: explain what will happen if too many people sign up. Indicate whether it’s first come, first served or if there will be a selection process.

When creating your advert, aim for brevity while ensuring it contains all necessary information. Keep the advert short and to the point, ensuring key details are prominent – for example, make critical details like the date, time, and topic bold and large. Alternatively, keep the advert short but provide a link to a more detailed explanation of the workshop - perhaps on an event website - for those who need more information.

Strategically promoting your workshop through various channels, starting early, and providing clear, concise information all help to attract the right participants.

Delivering a Pilot

How to Staff a Pilot?

From the teaching side, in addition to instructors who teach the course, you may want to consider having helpers who, whilst not involved in class teaching, assist learners with any issues or questions. Instructors often adopt the role of helper when not instructing. It's generally recommended to have a ratio of learners to helpers of between 1:5-1:10, depending on the course and how it's delivered. Helpers work particularly well with in-person courses, or those held online with the cohort separated across different virtual rooms (e.g. 5 learners per room with 1 helper in each); in both cases helpers are able to address issues with a minimum of crosstalk. They are less effective with online instructor-led courses however, since issues can't be vocally discussed without interrupting the instructor. Complex issues may be resolved in separate virtual rooms, although it becomes much easier for the learner to fall behind. Smaller issues can be resolved over text chat.

Helpers do not necessarily need to come from within the internal training team. For courses delivered to learners within a singular discipline, recruiting helpers from the same discipline who have applied the taught techniques is very effective. Groups that request training for their less experienced members may well have experienced staff happy to act as helpers throughout the course.

Counterintuitively, instructors who are not experts in the subject matter can be an excellent choice for novice courses, especially if they learnt the topic or skill recently. This is because their obstacles to learning the topic, and how they overcame them, are still fresh in their mind and can be applied to their teaching. Conversely, there's a tendency for experts to suffer from an "expert awareness gap", where their own struggles in learning the fundamentals are long forgotten and so are harder to appreciate, especially if they haven't taught the topic before. For less experienced instructors, short informal practice teaching sessions with co-instructors boosts confidence and helps identify areas for improvement.

How to Schedule a Pilot?

Scheduling a pilot workshop requires careful planning and flexibility to accommodate potential issues and gather valuable feedback.

Before the workshop begins, consider organising a pre-pilot software installation surgery, particularly if installation is complex. This session allows learners to ensure all necessary software is installed correctly on their devices and to familiarise themselves with the new software and tools that will be used during the workshop. It also provides an opportunity for learners to speak directly with instructors and resolve any technical issues. This preemptive step can prevent delays and disruptions on the first day of the workshop.

It can be helpful to allow larger time margins during a pilot workshop to handle unexpected delays without rushing through the content. This is particularly important on the first day where unforeseen technical challenges are most likely to occur. For example, you could start early on the first day to allow for extra time setting up and addressing any last-minute technical issues and have extra helpers available at this time to help with troubleshooting.

Consider scheduling half-day sessions rather than full-days for a pilot workshop. This approach gives you the chance to tweak materials between sessions if necessary and to make course corrections based on feedback and observations from the previous session. Half-day sessions also reduce the intensity of the workshop, making it easier for both learners and instructors to stay focused and engaged. Additionally, learners are likely to retain new information more effectively if the content is spread over multiple days.

Pilots can be more taxing than regular workshops for both learners and instructors. To ensure everyone remains attentive, schedule regular breaks throughout the sessions to prevent fatigue and maintain concentration. The instructors could also encourage participants to stretch, hydrate, and step away from their screens during breaks.

How to Run a Pilot?

Delivering a pilot workshop effectively requires careful planning, clear communication, and adaptability.

First, let’s consider the introduction to the workshop. You can enhance your workshop introduction with a few key elements to set yourself up for success in the rest of the workshop. Start by having the instructors and helpers introduce themselves. This initial interaction increases the likelihood that learners will engage throughout the workshop. From the start, establish an upbeat and exciting tone to create a positive and energetic learning environment. If the workshop will be long or cover difficult content, prepare learners for the challenge and remind them of the benefits of mastering the subject matter. Clearly indicate which aspects of the training are being piloted and which are well-established and emphasise the importance of receiving feedback from the learners on the piloted aspects of the workshop. In the introduction, it’s also useful to inform learners about the break schedule for the workshop so they can plan their time accordingly.

Throughout the workshop, regularly check in with the group to gauge the pace and give learners the opportunity to ask questions, and adjust the speed of the course as needed to ensure everyone is keeping up and note any questions or problems that arise. This feedback provides valuable insights for improving the materials and delivery in future sessions. If the workshop is instructor-led, consider sharing the delivery between multiple instructors. This approach helps keep the energy high and gives each instructor a rest. Make sure you adhere to the break schedule announced at the beginning, since this helps learners manage their time and maintain focus.

As this is a pilot workshop, it’s likely that not everything will go to plan. When something goes wrong, it's helpful to remember that this is the purpose of pilots. If appropriate and feasible, you could work with the learners to solve the problem in real time, or make notes of the issue so that you can fix it before the next workshop. It can be particularly helpful to identify and connect with learners who tend to encounter issues first. These "advance party" learners can help identify problems before the larger group is affected, and provide an opportunity to resolve or mitigate issues before they become larger problems experienced by the wider group. Encourage them to report issues promptly and consider offering incentives for their feedback.

Overall, when delivering a pilot workshop:

Encourage an interactive atmosphere to foster engagement and create a dynamic learning experience.
Provide clear instructions to minimise confusion.
Be prepared to adapt your plan based on real-time feedback and observations.
Continuously collect feedback throughout the workshop to refine and improve the content and delivery for future sessions, and ensure that the participants understand the importance and value of filling in the post-workshop survey.

In Conclusion

This post concludes the UNIVERSE-HPC Running a Training Pilot series, which we hope you've found useful. You can find the full training guide, on which these posts are based, on Zenodo.