What should I expect attending training in-class?

Attending a training course can be a pretty daunting experience. For many of our delegates, it has been a long time since they were in a classroom and the thought alone is quite off-putting! On the other hand, we have a lot of delegates who have not long left education and don’t overly relish the thought of being stuck in a classroom again for a few days. Here at Armada, we have been welcoming delegates onto our training courses for over 25 years, so you can rest assured you are in safe hands with us.

If you have read any of my other blog posts, you will know that I have personally attended our AutoCAD Essentials course. When I attended this course back in 2019, I had only been working for Armada for a week, so I was very new to everything and didn’t have a clue about AutoCAD. You can imagine how nervous I was about the prospect. That being said, I had soon forgot my nerves and felt totally at ease in the classroom learning environment. Nearly six years later, I have seen 1000’s of delegates attend our courses and answered countless queries from delegates booked to attend courses; so thought I would put together this FAQ blog post to help ease any worries you may have.

How will I know where to go on the first morning?

A week prior to your course start date, you will receive an email from one of Armada’s Operations team that contains your course joining instructions. This email is really important as it contains all the information you need to know about the location of your particular training centre, the car parking/public transport facilities, and where to go when you arrive at our building. If you have any questions once you have read this email, just reply back to the team member who sent it and they will be happy to help.

What time should I arrive at the centre?

We suggest delegates aim to arrive by 9:15am, so they have time to get a drink and settle in, before the training starts. Should you arrive early, there will be a friendly member of the Armada team ready to welcome you at the centre from 8:45am. If you are running a bit late, please don’t panic. Just call the office, and they’ll let your trainer know what time to expect you.

Should I bring my own refreshments?

We provide a selection of hot drinks and chilled water in all of our training rooms for delegates to help themselves to during their course. There are also plenty of biscuits to snack on during your breaks!

On arrival, our colleague will offer to make you a drink while you get comfy at your desk.

What about my lunch?

We have got this covered too and it’s a pretty great lunch whichever centre you are training at! I attended my course at our Bromsgrove Holiday Inn centre, and we had a lovely cooked lunch in the hotel restaurant. At most of our centres, you will be asked to place your order (from a set menu) when you arrive each morning. There is lots of choice, with vegetarian and vegan options too. When it’s time to finish for lunch, your trainer will take you to the café/restaurant where lunch will be. And don’t worry, we pick up the bill at the end 😆.

If you’re attending our Sheffield or Nottingham centres, lunch is a buffet that is brought in, so if you have any dietary requirements we’ll need to know ahead of time.

Is there a dress code?

No, absolutely not. We want you to be as comfortable as possible, and welcome delegates to dress casually.

I don’t have a laptop – do I need to get one?

No, throughout the course you will have sole access to a computer running the relevant software. If the application you are learning is both Windows and Mac compatible, you will be asked ahead of the course which you’d like prepared for you to use during the training.

We also provide a notepad and pen on each desk, along with your training manual, for you to make as many notes as you want. This will be your ‘workstation’ for the duration of your training, and you can leave your notes and manual there until the course finishes (unless you want to take your manual home for some bedtime reading, ready for the next day 😊).

How many people will be on my course?

This is a tricky one to answer, as our centres have different maximum capacities and our courses have different levels of popularity.

Our most popular CAD courses, such as AutoCAD Essentials, Revit Essentials or Fusion Essentials are likely to have class sizes of around 8 or so delegates, whereas the more niche CAD applications or the Adobe courses (like Introduction to InDesign, Introduction to Premiere Pro or Introduction to After Effects), will probably have much smaller groups of around 3-6 delegates.

What if I don’t understand something my instructor is saying?

Don’t worry, I didn’t understand a lot to being with, but my instructor, Carl Portman, was so experienced in training that he could tell straight away if anyone looked a little bit lost or confused, so would know to go over anything or spend a little longer on a topic; especially at the start when we were all still a little bit nervous and shy! After the first morning session, we were all much more comfortable so just spoke up, or got Carl’s attention if there was something we were stuck on. Our trainers are not only experts in the application they are teaching, but they are highly experienced trainers too and really friendly people. They encourage delegate interaction and questions – if you are thinking something then the chances are another delegate is too!

So, what if you get to the end of your course and you don’t feel you grasped the concepts or learned enough to be able to put the skills into practice? We understand that you’re relying on us to teach you the skills you need, so we offer a training guarantee that lets you repeat the same course, completely free of charge.

Do I get to keep the work I do?

Yes, absolutely. If you bring a USB memory stick in on your final day, you can take away any files you’ve created during your training.

Alternatively, you can upload them using a file transfer utility such as WeTransfer – all of our computers have Internet access.

You will also have your training manual to take away to use as a refresher if you need one.

Is there anything else I should know?

Yes… try and have fun! As well as learning new skills, we want all of our delegates to leave their course having enjoyed their time with us, and hopefully to come back for any future training you may need 😃.

Lyndsay