An e-xciting-TRAM Ride
About a week ago, I organised an online training event aka TRAM which stands for TRAiners’ Meeting. It’s a training event for trainers willing to develop their knowledge and skills. The theme of the event was Training Event Development — Best practice sharing. I could write a lot about the event and what we managed to reach. The day after the end, I got the following message from one of the participant. With his approval, I’m publishing it here.
Herve Tunga
Hi Herve,
It’s been 12 hours since the e-Trainers Meeting (e-TRAM) on Training Event Development-Best Practices ended. The buildup of emotions behind this meeting still has me reeling — the connections we made, the memories created, the lessons we learnt and the ideas we co-created. This write-up attempts to visualize snapshots of each day’s experience.
Great Expectations? Nope.
In the past, I had only conducted training sessions with my own organization, IPSF (International Pharmacy Students’ Federation) — and we often received emails from the Youth Non-Governmental Organization Training Network detailing unique training opportunities from other NGOs. However, being a native of the Asian region, the geographical inhibition always outweighed the benefits and coverage of any training opportunity.
Then, one day, I received an email forwarded to my Trash folder detailing a virtual event being held within the Network! I read and re-read the email, and proceeded to opening the Call and reading the requirement. I then gave myself time to calm down, read it a third time and then filled in the registration form.
Going in, I honestly had no expectation that I would actually be accepted— there were probably many trainers like me, pouncing on the opportunity to join an event like this. At the same time, I allowed myself to dream and look forward to the opportunities that would open up if I could be a part of it. So you could picture my ecstasy when I received the email from Alex, coordinating the information to the event, informing me that I was accepted — it was like seizing the golden ticket to Charlie’s chocolate factory; I was over the moon.
I came into the Training with a mixture of emotions running havoc inside of me — on one hand, I was determined and excited to learn as much as I can, from as many people as I can; on the other hand I worried and fretted I would not be able to fit in or contribute with my limited amount of external training experience. As the days ticked down and the hours closed in, I found myself preparing for a jump into the unknown — exciting, but daunting at the same time.
Poising myself, I took the leap and jumped into the Training Grounds.
The Training Grounds
First thought on entering: Awesome! … and then I blacked out. Literally, because my family internet was just being reset.
After 5 minutes, I was back online and back in the session as Mirna was halfway into the Opening Briefing. The first thing that struck me was the challenge and standards set by the Speakers from the get-go: to participate and make each session dynamic and stimulating; to co-create a collective understanding of each topic with the Speaker; and to provide constructive feedback to improve the pioneer session. Each of us shared our expectations going into the event before breaking off into our respective sessions.
Day 1: The Start of Something New
Virtual Teamwork had Lyda Michopoulou, Speaker at the event, throwing us, trainers, right into the fray of standard intensity training: placing our perceptions of the topic on the Mural board she prepared for the session, brainstorming and teaching each other the similarities, differences and traps of virtual teamwork, before wrapping up with our own best practices in virtual training. It was also my first experience with the Mural application — it was love at first sight for a person who has a post-it mosaic on his room mirror.
After a short break, it was time for my second session in Achieving Quality in Training Performance. Milda Latakaite introduced the Trainers’ Compass — personally I consider it the big brother of the Leadership Compass — as well as the Points of You self-evaluation/mindfulness technique. Personally I was inclined to take such sessions with a pinch of salt, but the breakout sessions more than made up for it as we opened our hearts to each other and discussed on ways we would move forward together. The first day ended with a short sharing of highlights of the day and I crawled into bed exhausted at 3 am in the morning.
Day 2: The Lion Awakes
I was still feeling the effects of the first day when the second day’s sessions started — I used to be a night owl, but I’ve been weaning off for quite a while now. My neck was sore, my shoulders were sore — heck, even my brain was sore. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, as most needs for the day in the check-in session were “breaks, positive energy and focus.” It was also around this point I started to doodle in my notebook, and then I got a brainstorm: hey, what if I arrange the words into a picture of some sort. So I began to randomly write words all over the place and in the end drew a (poor attempt) of trainers trudging up the path of an Everest-esque peak.
The first of my two sessions for the day was Participants’ Flow of Emotion with Mirna Smidt. It was an eye-opening experience in terms of both training delivery and training content — all of us participated eagerly in giving suggestions for the energy level at each point of training, as well as the corresponding energies — and Mirna took the time to address each and every comment as far as she could see. Prior lessons I had taken on how emotions impact learning awoke from their slumber and added to new permutations and neural pathways of thinking.
This was further amplified by the second session, “Fun with Learning” — Paolo Ghisleni masterfully made us “Funnyfy” training schedules, accuse each other of farting and then in a stroke of fate, got disconnected — leading to a live singalong session on the Lion King’s “Circle of Life” and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”.
Oh, right- before I forget — the networking session! With the starting banter being on best and worst food, I decided to high roll and go with the stink bomb durian as my best food while going with petai (bitter bean) as the worst. To my glee, most people had heard of durian before, and reacted just as I planned. We also got into small breakout sessions, chill and get to know each other better. We also got to listen to Marijana’s experience in ERASMUS as a volunteer/intern until Paolo’s session came on.
With such an incredible day, you would think I would be burnt out by the end of it. Strangely, I felt a sense of peace and relaxation — it was as if I had just been with my clan for the day. It didn’t feel as if I needed to do anything; I had a sense that I belonged with the group, part of the pride. With those thoughts in mind, I fell into a sound sleep.
Together We Make A Promise — Day 3
As we began the third day check-in, one nagging thought etched itself to the roof of my mind: I can’t believe this is over. As I glanced over the Zoom call at the now-familiar faces, I realized that I would miss them more than I would let on.
We started off with the session I was looking forward the most: Design of Training Events in an Academic Environment. I was not disappointed — Paul de Roos engaged us in our training needs, and tailored the discussion to center around the topics we wanted to learn the most; and powerful discussion theories formed as we argued on how a training-based academic subject could function, assess and objectify their outcomes, as well as the complementary aspect of including evidence into training design. This was the topic touching close to home, as my heart lies in academia and teaching young people using the andragogy model.
The last session prior to the Closing was The Visual Aspect of Things with Herve Tunga. For some reason, I realized that I had somehow “dodged” all of his other sessions — to put it in perspective, Herve had a total of 6 sessions, 1 for each time slot, out of 15 available sessions. His session formed part of my soft landing as he painted a landscape of using visuals and the environment as our natural Training Ground. It was interesting if not a little daunting to picture the methods of engaging training mode anywhere, anytime. Nevertheless, challenge accepted! ;-)
As the curtain drew on the stage of the Closing session and we interacted with each other to share insights for our final time, one looks over the little screens and wonders: When will we see each other again — singing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, sharing small jokes, deep discussions, and having a blast in general? As one by one, we said our final words and those little screens switched to black, we knew that in our own hearts and minds that “It was not the end. It’s only just started.”
It’s not the end, it’s just begun.
My Gleanings from the Training Harvest
What have I learnt?
I learnt to stop and get my bearings as a Trainer.
I learnt that energy and emotions are tools to make or break a training session.
I learnt that good fun in training challenges and motivates people.
I learnt that both virtual and live teamwork are two sides of a coin — it is a matter of selecting the right tools and channels.
I learnt that the world is your Training Ground.
I learnt that training can be part of academia, and vice versa.
And most importantly, I learnt that we are all the same Trainers at heart, no matter where we come from.
What will I resolve to do?
1. To set my resolution as a Trainer and steps to improve my skills on a Mural Board and read it every day.
2. To incorporate energy and emotion levels in the next Training Session and to present it with my fellow Trainers.
3. To practice visual learning skills in terms of drawing and making visuals.
Final Words … for now.
Reading about Best Training Practices is one thing, but experiencing it at this intensity is another world altogether. I can only imagine the potentials of this e-TRAM if I was able to attend it live. Definitely looking forward to the next Trainer Meeting opportunity. Cheers!
A Provisionally Registered Pharmacist and IPSF Trainer in Malaysia that loves training, reading and sipping a hot cup of tea.