After 12 years as a tutor of courses about Web publishing, I thought I’d experienced all training calamities: a person reading The Guardian all through a course (the first time I’d taught at PTC), the Internet connection going down, the training laptop being stolen mid-way through a course, an in-company course where all the websites I needed to look at were blocked… I could go on.
Just after lunch, whilst teaching my Search Engine Optimisation course at Book House, we were told to quickly gather together our things and leave the building, as there was a strong smell of gas downstairs.
So I grabbed my memory stick – it has all my passwords on it – and the remaining handouts and left the building with my delegates. I suggested that we go to the Huguenot Graveyard behind Book House and finish the subject we had started looking at. But it was too wet to find anywhere for us to sit. We made it onto the traffic island and were about to go to the East Hill pub to continue, when we were directed to the Steam Bar over the road. We found a little private dining room at the back of the restaurant, removed the glasses and napkins from the tables and carried on.
No computer and no Internet connection.
Now 12 years ago the thought of teaching a course about that most interactive of web services, search engines, without an Internet connection, let alone a computer, would have filled me with horror. But a kind of ‘Blitz spirit’ kicked in amongst the delegates and I. We vowed to carry on. I ‘drew’ my examples in the air. Thankfully the delegates had good imaginations and a lot of experience with using search engines and could imagine my examples and diagrams.
After being accompanied by gentle folk music for half an hour the music was turned off and we offered tea, coffee and biscuits. Thanks to the kindness of the staff at The Steam Bar I carried on and successfully finished teaching for the rest of the afternoon. Teaching will never be the same again.