As we move into the Halloween season, it’s the perfect time to share the spookiest of tales. But what chills the heart of a TD professional is much less mundane than your everyday ghost or ghoul.

Carry on if you dare. But know that these real-life training terrors are not for the faint of heart!

Power Outage Nightmare

By Ginger Swart

It was a beautiful but hot July day, and my team was hosting a user training conference at a downtown convention center. Over a year of planning had been done, but as we would soon find out, there are some situations that you just can’t plan ahead for.

As I strolled around the center, I noticed a few lights flickering here and there. Before I knew it, the center was plunged into darkness. A fellow coworker ran up to me to ask if I had seen the fire. Sure enough, a large plumb of smoke was bellowing out of a building nearby. A power station was on fire, and downtown was now completely without power!

With no end to the blackout in sight, we quickly jumped into planning mode. Miraculously, we were able to switch to a different venue, coordinate transportation for all of our attendees, and start our sessions. And we did it so quickly that we only lost an hour from our schedule.

My lessons learned:

• Take a deep breath and stay calm.

• Be quick to ask for help when you need it.

• Accept that your plans might need to change.

• Good training can happen anywhere, even without that beautiful presentation you put together.

• Maybe carry a flashlight in your bag, just in case.

The Tale of the Cursed Projector

By Bianca Woods

When the projector refused to play nice with my computer at a recent event, I didn’t worry at first. After all, I was covered, right? I had my slide deck on a USB key and there was a backup computer that had worked beautifully for the last presenter. So, imagine my horror when the projector suddenly decided it now hated all computers and rejected the backup as well.

The session was supposed to start in a few minutes, so the clock was ticking. As I tried to keep cool and make small talk with the audience, one AV support person swung by to help. And then a second came in to assist. Making jokes with the attendees seemed to help all of them feel comfortable with the tech challenges, but in the back of my mind I was frantically trying to come up with creative ways to do a visual design session with no visuals. Could I draw my examples on flip chart paper? Just describe them with words? Would I need to deliver the session through interpretive dance?

Thankfully–with just three minutes to go–the AV crew managed to appease the projector and get everything working. What a relief!

My lessons learned:

• A backup plan is good. But sometimes you need a back-up for the backup.

• Make friends with the AV team. They’ll absolutely save the day.

• Interpretive dance is never the solution.

Fists Full of Facilitation (or the lack thereof)

By Rick Lozano

It started with a small comment—a seemingly minor disagreement over an opinion shared by one individual. I didn’t think much of it; if anything, I agreed with the second person’s position, but I didn’t say so. I moved on, blissfully unaware of the storm clouds rolling in. About thirty minutes later, the second comment was a little more pointed. Personal. Apparently, the original participant did not appreciate the differing opinions expressed and had time to stew on them. It made me uncomfortable, and rather than addressing it directly, I quickly redirected the conversation toward the subject matter at hand and stressed the need for focus with the limited time we had before the upcoming break.

The third and fourth comments came fast. They weren’t friendly. Before I realized what was happening, they stood up and shouted at each other, and it was ON. I loudly asked them to be respectful and headed in their direction, but by the time I reached that side of the room, they had engaged each other physically. A full-on fight was in effect.

I separated them, loudly called for a break, told one person to wait outside for me, and tried to contain the other. What had just happened?

Oh–and despite the image that your brain might have created for the characters in this story–the combatants were two women!

I was early in my career and learned several important lessons from the fiasco:

• Respect is paramount. No comment is too small, and it is the facilitator’s responsibility to maintain a safe environment. Always.

• Addressing things directly and early, professionally and tactfully, is always the correct answer.

• My discomfort is not a reason to shirk my responsibilities as a professional.

• Gladly, nothing like this ever occurred again. I would never let it.

The Unexpected Audio Switch

By Cindy Huggett, CPTD®

Audio in a virtual class always sounds better when you use a wired headset. But the over-the-ear headband on mine gives me a headache when I wear it too long. That’s why, after a full day of facilitating back-to-back virtual classes, I switched to my Bluetooth earbuds for my final program of the day.

Everything was going well, until all of a sudden, my audio dropped. I heard some strange sounds. But even worse, the participants couldn’t hear me at all. Thankfully, my expert producer swiftly recognized that something was wrong. He moved the participants into an activity while I dove deep into troubleshooting.

That’s when I recognized the music from one of my young son’s video games… oh no! He had innocently started up a game on my tablet. But because I had forgotten to disconnect my earbuds from other devices before using them with my laptop, the tablet’s audio took priority over my audio connection. A big mistake!

I had two choices and needed to decide fast. Did I leave my desk to go find the connected tablet, or did I plug in my headset and switch my audio connection in the platform settings? I picked the latter, tested the connection, and was back in business. I was able to debrief the learning activity and continue with the program.

My lessons learned:

• Use wired headsets for clear audio and fewer technical challenges.

• Don’t like headband-style headphones? There are other wired options, like behind-the-ear bands, or external microphones that sit on your desk.

• If you have to use wireless audio devices, be sure to disconnect them from all other sources except the one you’re using.

• Partner with a producer or co-facilitator who can be a backup option in case of tech issues.