I've been sitting in a lot of database training sessions recently, and I've been reminded of the following: whether you are doing the training yourself, or you use your vendor or a third-party for training, when you're teaching a process...

• Tell them what you're going to do
• Do it
• Tell them what you did.

Far too often I see trainers jump right in on a process without actually preparing the learners for what they're about to see. And then, once they've completed the training task, they move right on to the next without recapping what was just taught.

As a result, very little of what was taught is actually retained by the learner.

Learners need to understand the context of what they are learning (tell them what you're going to do) and then need time to process what they just learned (tell them what you just did).

It's a simple yet powerful formula that will dramatically improve your training effectiveness.