I had an interesting conversation with my workshop participants in Massachusetts last week. Some had taken a week long SharePoint class from one of the big “we teach everything” technology training companies. Here’s a comment left in the End of Workshop Evaluation survey:

I learned more in 2 days in Mark’s training than a week at a [national training company] SharePoint class I took!!!!

What does this really mean? Where does a comment like this come from?

I have discussed this issue with training managers and corporate trainers to see what the real message is here. It seems as if the large training companies don’t have a specific focus on any technology. They want to cover as many subjects as possible to reach the broadest audience. This is how they keep prices low. It’s a legitimate business model, but is it really best for the people taking the classes? Should cost be the primary motivating factor when selecting a company to deliver SharePoint training?

When you take a workshop or class from a company that specializes in SharePoint, they are putting their SharePoint reputation on the line: “We know SharePoint” is the message. A workshop by EndUserSharePoint.com or the Ted Pattison Group or Bob Mixon or a bootcamp by Dustin Miller has an implied message: “We are the SharePoint guys. This is what we do.”

That leads to the point of the true cost of SharePoint Training. Sure, you can take a week long course from a generic vendor and walk away with cursory knowledge of SharePoint. And yes, it will cost less than using a SharePoint specific vendor. But what is the real dollar value of that training? In business terms, what is the true Return on Investment (ROI)?

Using a SharePoint specialist allows the participants to bring up real world issues, get immediate war stories from experienced veterans who have been in the trenches, know where the pitfalls are and can work you around the mine field that a novice SharePoint trainer would not even know existed.

If you have taken any generic SharePoint training, was the instructor able to get off the slide deck and actually help you with a problem that needed solving?  Did you walk away with a solution to your specific problem? Was the instructor able to expose problems that you hadn’t thought about?

A good SharePoint trainer is as much a facilitator as an instructor. Facilitation pulls the real problems out, puts them front and center, dealing with them in the moment with real world, context driven solutions.

The value of a SharePoint Specialist is exactly that: Real World Experience. You can’t get that experience by passing a test and getting a certificate. You don’t get that experience by reading from a slide deck and going through the examples created by someone else. You get it from flailing with the software, banging your head, screaming at the screen and getting back at it until you reach a solution and understand how you got there so you can explain it to someone else.

When you choose a SharePoint training provider ask yourself this, “Can this company come in and help me solve my problems?” I think the answer will be self evident. Use a specialist and get your money’s worth.

I’ll end this “beat the drum” post with another testimonial from the EndUserSharePoint.com Power User Workshop. This was from an IT Support person who had also previously taken a generic SharePoint class:

I wish I had this course 3 months ago when we were first implementing our SharePoint sites. It would have been immensely  helpful to walk through the [Information Architecture] worksheets Mark provided for how to layout your sites.  Mark explained many items I have been struggling with on our SharePoint site, it’s all crystal clear now!  Thank you thank you thank you!

And thank you. It always makes me feel good when things go well and people walk away with something they can use immediately in their day-to-day work.

Regards,
Mark