Can I save Time by teaching Microsoft Excel

I have been training people how to use Microsoft Office for fifteen years and in particular Microsoft Excel. I also teach Time management, Presentation and Project Management skills. I used to call myself an IT trainer but now I call myself a time saver trainer, why?

When you teach computer sessions to a varying array of companies as as often as I do , it becomes very clear that the majority of people attending computer courses spend a large amount of their time creating documents, analysing data and presenting reports. On many occasions, I have listened to groups explaining either what they do daily, weekly or monthly, realising the amount of time that I could save them with some simple instructions.

There are large employers out there with very competent staff in key roles that unfortunately do not realise the money they would save if they invested in training sessions geared to save time. I believe all IT training must be tailored with saving time in mind. It is nice to know how advanced features work and how to make things look pretty, but can trained personnel get their work done any quicker when they return to the work place?

The business should benefit from training not just the individual. Time is the key, time means money, time saved is money saved.

www.itseasy.co.uk

 

Let Excel talk to you

Look at www.itseasy.co.uk to find out how to use Microsoft Excel's speech feature. 

9th/12th Royal Lancers (PoW)

We will not lie down and fade away, we will not be quiet, we will not be made in to dust, we have stood tall for nearly three hundred years, we don’t fade, we don’t go away, we are the 9^th/12^th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’). 

We were at Waterloo, we are the Delhi Spearmen, have you heard about us?  We were with Wellington did you know, we were in the Crimea did you know that?  We have been to Afghanistan before and again we serve.  The South Africans know about us, do you?

World War One saw us on horses with Lance, the Germans knew us. Do you?

World War Two saw us near Dunkirk holding the line, at the Battle of Alamein and in Italy.  We have been to Northern Ireland once or twice, seen the desert sun and the forests of Europe, we are the 9^th/12^th Lancers do you know us?? We will not lie down, we will not fade away, we are the 9^th/12^th Lancers.

Oh well what can we do??

I have just found out that a training company that I have recently worked for and owe me money have gone bust. Tell me that the MD, CEO and the rest didn't know that before they booked training, less than 10 days prior. The staff don't know what is happening they are still asking me training questions. What a joke and a moral disconnect they must have. Why do we allow people to do this? I know they will reform and try again regardless of the people they destroy on the way to getting rich. God help us.

Keyboards

Why do computer manufactures create keyboards using symbols instead of descriptive text?  I am currently training some basic users on Word and Excel.  The biggest issue I have is explaining the keyboard layout.  The young generation have grown up with the keyboard and know it well, however the over 40's have no idea.  It is just an extra barrier to them and an excuse not to learn.

Tailored Training

How good is a tailored training session?  I have just completed a one to one session with a PA, she arrived with all her data and issues.  We worked through them one by one solving each problem and saving the correction.  She left with information that saves time, creates a standard scheme of work and the ability to automate her whole business process. 

She felt great I felt great and there was not a script in sight.

Customise training sessions

I have recently gone and am still going through a bit of a metamorphosis in the way I deliver training sessions. Gone is the structured session following a lesson plan stating goals and objectives, in is a learner reactive approach.

It is much harder to achieve as a trainer but seriously more beneficial as a learner. How does it work?

I have loose structure to start with and a lot of useable examples from a range of levels and experience. The learner is interviewed prior to the session starting, sometimes on the day, with the aim of identifying skill gaps and potential time saving procedures. The sessions are far more interactive and job specific. It is limited to smaller groups and usually from the same company but it really works, even though it breaks a lot of the more established training conventions a better service is delivered.