Training Delivery Options Part III: Public Training Courses

My definition of a public training course is one that is open to anyone who can pay the admission fee and features good old fashioned in-person training. This type of training is offered by private companies such as Spectros Associates, by professional groups such as the American Chemical Society, and at scientific meetings such as the Pittsburgh Conference. These courses are frequently held in hotel meeting rooms or at conference centers. No doubt many of you have taken this type of training before.

One of the advantages of public training courses is the ability to interact with the instructor fostering the transfer of information from lecturer to attendee. Another advantage of public courses is it allows attendees to receive hands-on training. A nice thing about public courses is that it gets people away from the distractions of their offices and the need to “put out fires”; allowing attendees to focus more fully on learning. A unique advantage of public training courses is the opportunity to interact with people from different companies. It has been my experience after teaching hundreds of these courses that attendees not only learn from me, but from each other as well. Public courses also give people the opportunity to socialize and make new friends.

The disadvantages of public courses revolve around money and convenience. Since these courses are held at a central location attendees typically have to travel to them to attend. This involves travel time and costs and means one’s work and personal lives are put on hold to attend the training. Cost wise public training courses are the most expensive on a per-head basis since there are travel costs in addition to the cost to attend the seminar.

It’s time to pull together the three blog posts on training delivery options. Public training courses make the most sense if there are one or a few people who need training. For groups of 4 or more onsite training is more cost efficient with the advantage the training is in-person and can be customized. Online training works well for groups scattered at different locations, for people who cannot travel for some reason, or at companies looking to slash their travel budgets.

Spectros Associates offers FTIR training courses via all three of these delivery methods. For more info click here: www.spectros1.com .