Trainer in Black. 5
Fail #5
On Attendance
An Adrenaline-Fueled article
It’s not as scary as a man missing a date, but a whole group not showing up for a learning session? That’s something else. I’m sure every trainer has faced this moment, when only five out of 20 participants show up. Despite the fact that 100% attendance is almost never guaranteed, being prepared for such a turn of events is not easy.
I had this happen once, with a few aggravating factors. So, here’s the story.
In our youth, we never seemed to have enough time to finish studying that last ticket for the exam… and that harmful habit sometimes follows us into our professional lives. A trainer might sometimes feel they need just one more day to perfect their program. But how wonderful would it be if you could have everything prepared just the day before: a program is ready to go, you’ve briefed the guest speaker and inspired them, printed the materials, aligned the chairs perfectly, laid out markers and sticky notes in an aesthetically pleasing way, rehearsed your blocks, hung a dazzling new notebook on the flipchart, ironed your lucky dress the night before, and fell asleep at 9 PM with handwritten thesis notes tucked under your pillow…
And then, the morning arrives, and nothing seems out of the ordinary. You arrive at the venue two hours early, make the final adjustments, and suddenly, a strange sense of anxiety begins to creep in. That inexplicable, trainer’s feeling of unease hits, which you push aside because you’re certain you haven’t forgotten anything (ha-ha).
That’s exactly what happened to me that day. We were launching a major program, with a guest speaker, the CEO of a company, an expat, scheduled to speak at 9:20 AM. The training was set to begin at 9:00 AM. By 8:45 AM, there were only three participants in the room out of the 20 expected.
I can feel the blood pressure rising and the heart rate accelerating of every trainer reading this. Is it necessary to say that I was in complete panic mode while desperately trying to keep myself composed because I still had the entire training day ahead of me?
What did I do?
I started quietly inquiring about where the other participants were.
Do you remember the wonderful movie "Peter FM"? I recall it every time I tell this story. A quote from the film: “People meet, fall in love, get married. But what if there were not just two genders, male and female, but five? And in order to save humanity from extinction, all five needed to meet. But what if the first one got sick, the second one was late, the third one mixed up the passwords and locations, and the fourth one just changed their mind… and only the fifth was ready to meet? What then? It’s great that there are only men and women!”
Back to the trainer’s reality. It’s a major learning event, starting at 9:00 AM.
It’s now 8:50 AM, five participants have shown up out of 20, the CEO is arriving in 30 minutes, and I, a trembling and pale trainer with sweaty palms, am frantically dialing the phone numbers of those who haven’t arrived.
It turned out to be exactly as in the movie:
One person was sick and didn’t notify anyone (a typical story).
Three people were delayed by a train and their phones died.
Two others mistakenly went to the conference room of a hotel across town where they had attended another training six months ago (they thought this event was there too). Don’t ask.
One was just late.
A few were stuck in traffic (the most unexpected event of all time).
At that point, calling the remaining participants was pointless.
I had to deal with the reality that was right in front of me. Having a speaker present for only five participants out of 20 was not ideal. The next thing I did was call the speaker and ask if he could delay his presentation by 15 minutes. Surprisingly, he could and was fine with it. However, those 15 minutes didn’t help me much .
I started the program at exactly 9:00 AM with seven participants. By 10:00 AM, the speaker arrived, and there were eight people in the room. Eight is better than five, but still far from 20. The CEO was a bit surprised by the small group but did a great job, and the training ended on a positive note.
But…When working with any audience, even an adult one, always remember the “kindergarten” effect. Before the program, many participants will experience some unexpected event that affects their memory, sense of direction, analytical thinking, and basic manners.
This is a group effect (anti-synergy), not something specific to the participants themselves, but something that needs to be handled like this.