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Low-Cost and Free Training Resources
August 20, 2007
From local schools to suppliers and professional associations, inexpensive training solutions are plentiful if you do your homework.
By Nanette Miner, Ed.D.
It is costly—both in terms of time and money—to create your own training courses. But very often, you don't need to do so. Free and low-cost training resources abound in your backyard, if you just know where to look.
Local Colleges
If you have just one or two employees who need training, check the non-credit or continuing education catalog produced by your local college; these courses are always open to the "public." If you have a group that is large enough (a dozen or so), most colleges will send instructors to your company to conduct the training on-site.
Companies With Whom You Do Business
Many of your suppliers already have training programs in place to train their own people. Simply ask if you can borrow their programs or perhaps pay a fee to use them with your employees.
Public Seminar Companies
Public seminar companies provide all sorts of topics and courses for differing levels of employee need and proficiency. While these types of offerings used to be more soft-skills-oriented, you'll find a wide array of technical topic offerings these days
Video
Watching experts perform and model correct behaviors and techniques is one of the fastest ways to learn a new skill. There are two options for video: training videos you purchase on a particular topic or videos you create yourself at your own workplace.
Creating your own training video in-house does not have to be an elaborate or expensive endeavor. You do not need expensive equipment or professional actors. Simply videotape the best people doing the job the right way, explaining it step by step as the process is completed, and, voila, you have a training video. In addition to watching an expert perform a skill correctly, another benefit of video-based training is that the trainee can refer to it as often as he or she needs.
The Web
I don't have to tell you the Internet is a wonderful resource. In addition to e-learning courses, which can be accessed on demand at sites—such as CyberU (my.cyberu.com) and e-Learning Center (www.e-learningcenter.com). You also can find free tutorials simply by using Google to search. Try various combinations of words—such as "tutorial," "demo" and "course" when searching. For example:
• Excel+demo
• Creating an Excel spreadsheet+tutorials
• Narrating a PowerPoint show+tutorial
• Unlawful workplace harassment+free online
• Safe lifting techniques+free online training
Microsoft also offers a wealth of software training, demonstrations, and tutorials for all of its Office products. Go to www.office.microsoft.com and look for "Training" in the left menu bar.
Associations
Professional associations are an often-overlooked developmental resource. Most large professional organizations such as the American Society for Training and Development, the American Payroll Association, or the Association for Women in Communications have local chapters that meet monthly and offer speakers, seminars and workshops on topics of interest specifically to their membership. Typically, by being a dues-paying member of the chapter, you can attend these monthly events for free. Many professional associations also offer full-day workshops or conferences as fund-raising activities at reasonable fees.
Government Agencies
Agencies such as the Small Business Administration and the Small Business Development Center exist to provide consulting to small businesses. Training is often one of the forms the consulting takes. For more information, visit www.sba.gov. Also, search out assistance offered through your own state's Department of Labor via the U.S. DOL site at www.dol.gov.
Interns
High school and college interns are excellent resources for training endeavors. Many institutions require their students to complete a workplace-related project. If your local college or university offers human resource or training degree programs, you are more than likely to find an individual—or perhaps even an entire group—that needs a placement site. Most often, these resources will be helpful in gathering and organizing data. An intern with a focus on training may even have the skills to design customized training for you.
Teleseminars
Teleseminars are similar to conference calls in that many individuals dial into a common number at the same time; however, teleseminars usually are designed for a large audience. The teleseminar—or tele-class—is conducted by an expert on a particular topic. This type of training typically lasts an hour or less. Similar to video-based training, you can find public offerings or create your own internal experts.
Conferences
Professional conferences, which are produced by professional associations and typically encompass three or more days at "destination" locations, are a wonderful way to immerse yourself in learning. Conferences typically include general sessions that feature a well-known expert related to the theme or industry of the conference; concurrent sessions that are short, one-hour to 90-minute sessions conducted by various practitioners and subject matter experts; workshops that are half- to full-day sessions on a particular topic, usually held immediately before or following the conference itself; and special events that can include plant tours or field trips to locations of interest to the conference attendees.
Almost every conference offers audio recordings of the general and concurrent sessions, which you can purchase if you aren't able to attend the conference in person. Check out www.allconferences.com for a comprehensive list of conferences in myriad industries.
Providing employee development does not have to be an arduous task, as long as you are able to apply a little creativity and look to your local and professional resources for opportunities.
For more information on this topic, refer to "The Accidental Trainer: A Reference Manual for the Small, Part-Time, or One-Person Training Department," Pfeiffer, ISBN 0-7879-8046-3.
Nanette Miner, Ed.D., is president of The Training Doctor, LLC.
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