Skip to content

Introduction

Preparation for trainers

Here are some general tips provided by CiviCRM trainers:

  • See if any learners want to do a presentation on how they are using CiviCRM. Having one of these on each day is great.
  • Before each session, open up tabs which will be useful.
  • Do not try and explain absolutely everything or talk too much about edge cases - there is more than can be covered in the length of an average training course.
  • Try not to interrupt exercises, better to share additional insights at the end.
  • Check how learners have answered the questions on an individual basis (like a teacher would). You'll likely find a few mistakes and it will give you a good idea about how individual people are getting on. You can start doing this towards the end of the exercise period.

Course Introduction

  • Icebreaker examples:
    1. Get attendees to interview each other in pairs. Tell them they'll report back to the group on their partner. They should report back on their interviewee's:
      • Name.
      • Organisation.
      • What they do there.
      • How they are using CiviCRM.
      • What they want out of the training.
    2. Get everyone to introduce themselves:
      • Name
      • Organisation
      • One thing they are finding challenging
      • One thing they are excited about
  • Possible structure of training:
    • 5 sessions each day - each is 1 hour long.
    • 1 hour of extra time at the end of the day.
    • Sessions format is generally:
      • presentations and discussion, followed by
      • exercises, followed by recap of the session
      • start with the basics, gets more advanced as we go on.
  • Exercises:
    • You don't need to include all of them - you can save some for afterwards.
    • Please feedback on our exercises as we go. If you think of something, make a note and feed it back to us.
  • Questions
    • Feel free to ask questions as we go
    • Please also respect everyone's time - we are a diverse group so please don't ask a long series of questions on your very specific use case.
  • Usernames and passwords:
    • Wi-Fi connection information.
    • Training CiviCRM site username and password.
  • Venue specific information:
    • Emergency exits.
    • Toilet locations.

Round Up

At the end of each day you may wish to "round up", we've provided some example/suggested steps below:

  • Tell people what they just learned - (go back through the day)
  • Tell people to think about their choice of session for day 2
  • Choice of session
  • Reminder about feedback on exercises. If you think of something, make a note and feed it back to us.
  • At the end of the course: Thanks for coming
  • At the end of the course: Hope it was useful
  • At the end of the course: Introduce to CiviCRM Community and CiviCRM Events

Subsequent Day Introductions

If you're running a multi-day training course you may wish to do a small recap at the beginning of the 2nd/3rd/Nth days, we've provided an example format below:

  • Ask people to tell us about something they learnt yesterday
  • Recap the day for them
  • Introduce this day
  • Decide on the topic for the afternoon
  • Reminder about feedback on exercises. If you think of something, make a note and feed it back to us.