I just signed up a large training company as a client. They asked me to deliver an advanced course for them. In preparation for the course I studied the training materials and filled in any gaps in my knowledge. I was ready …

… Or so I thought.

All went well, apart from one small thing - my timings. One day into the four day course I was getting behind schedule. After two days things were looking serious. Feeling desperate I called a fellow trainer. He gave me some excellent tips and I somehow made it through. No one complained, and everyone on the course seemed reasonably happy.

Since then I’ve delivered a lot more courses. I still don’t always get the timing right. Here is what I do when things gets out of hand.

Preparations

Getting back on track starts before the course. You have to know the topic and the course materials well, and know what the participants are expecting and what are nice-to-have extras.

Have well-designed exercises which can be done independently after the course if necessary. That gives you some freedom to shrink the time for exercises. And whilst the participants do the exercises you’ve got a bit of downtime to prepare (see below).

And, last but not least, have a schedule. Without a schedule you don’t know if you’re behind or not - until it is too late. I usually have a spreadsheet with start time for each chapter and suggested durations for each exercise.

During downtime

Hopefully you’re not talking all the time, and there are periods when participants are working by themselves. Use that time wisely.

Monitor and act. The sooner you know you’re off schedule, the easier it will be to get back on track. Don’t wait too long to make changes. If you keep doing what you’re doing it’ll just get worse. Instead, take action. Worst case you’ll have some extra time at the end.

Work ahead. Read ahead and plan the next topic, how to deliver it fluently. And line up the next example or whatever else you need to keep moving.

Minor speed ups

If you’re only a little behind schedule, here are a few things you can do.

Talk faster But check in with everyone and make sure they can still understand you.

Focus Only cover the slides’ key points. You know your topic, you know what matters. Don’t get distracted by every minor bullet point.

Less detail You know your topic and can talk about any minor detail for hours. Now is not the time. Stick with what matters to the course participants.

In case of serious trouble

Maybe you got carried away, delegates asked more questions than usual or you decided to spend more time on the fundamentals than usual. For whatever reason, you are now seriously behind. Here are some suggestions.

Explain the situation. Be honest. Give it a positive spin if possible. For instance “Apologies, I spent more time on the basics to make sure everyone thoroughly understands them. It does mean that we now have some catching up to do. I hope that’s okay”.

Check in A topic may come up later which no one is interested in. If so, maybe you can skip it.

Ask the participants, for each of the remaining chapters, if you should skip, skim or fully cover it. Handle this with care. If everyone says ‘skip’, suggest you skip that topic. If even one person wants you to cover it fully, try cover it. Everyone paid their money, expecting all advertised topics to be covered. Part of the job is to teach all course topics to the best of your ability.

Get buy in You should now be able to decide how to go ahead. Let the participants know and ask for their consent.

Things go wrong, no one is perfect. What matters is how you handle this.