You already own the cow....so start milking it.

Invite participants to a premier.....participants who meet the profile for the course.

Make sure trainers/facilitators are present to co-train-observe...etc.
Add opportunities for process breaks during the session to check-in with participants.

Post a Bin or Parking Lot paper on the wall to catch all the ideas and questions that may not fit...but can be used later when you make upgrades. (Questions are free consumer research!)

Adapt Schewhart's PDCA cycle to deliver and upgrade:

PLAN. Establish the objectives and processes necessary to deliver results in accordance with the specifications.

DO.Implement the processes.

CHECK. Monitor and evaluate the processes and results against objectives and Specifications and report the outcome.

ACT. Apply actions to the outcome for necessary improvement. This means reviewing all steps (Plan, Do, Check, Act) and modifying the process to improve it before its next implementation.

I hear what you're saying, traveler, and I can see benefits to doing it that way too...but at the same time... purposely opening the pilot run of something to things you know are going to mess things up seems counter-productive. Actually, I've found that having the best possible folks at a pilot is extremely challenging because they are usually very critical of everything.

The other thing to consider in this particular context is that it is leadership training. If people are ill-prepared or come burdened with other common frustrating issues... I would question why they're in a leadership program in the first place.

Just some food for thought.

Thank you so much for your help!