I am in need of/guidance on rolling out laptops and software programs to 1500 sales associates in 60 offices.

high-level look @ constraints:
1. not all 1500 will recieve the exact training; it depends on the product lines they sell (they do all go through a general session training that is the same - we're looking to do this via web-based training)

2. we can't take everyone out of the field at one time; as sales is the life-blood of the organization

3. there is a priority to get the laptops & training in the field ASAP

4. there are only 3 trainers in the organization on this project.

I am looking for any experience, guidance, advice that may be out there. Thanks!

Here is and idea: Train one representative on the program and in the specifics for the product lines they manage in their offices. That person will be the " program expert for that office or branch" Your organization will be responsible of the training, materials, and support of those experts. After their training, they will be responsible for the training of the rest of the associates of their office/branch. After the training, you and your trainers can visit the offices if needed to check progress and provide more support. Also request that each "training representative" share a post mortem of the project. Make sure their efforts are acknowledged and recognized.

Good luck! Ines

Thanks for your feedback - your idea is very similar to the approach we're taking!

Where are you located, Becky? There are many consultants for whom providing this type of support is their life blood. (Not speaking for myself, but colleagues who may be able to help you.)

Corporate office is in the Orlando,FL area, I live in Central PA (York/Harrisburg). My time is split 50/50 between these two locations.

As with everything - there is a lot more to the question that I originally posted.

I came into this project when it's about 60% complete with an extremely aggressive plan to complete it and an equally aggressive plan to deploy/train. Because we're talking about 3 days of face-to-face computer lab training (technical and specialized) I'm concerned about the effectiveness of one-off training or the train-the-trainer approach - financially and sustainability it makes sense.

We have little time to develop content prior to deployment (less than 2 months). The deployment plan is national, to ~60 offices with 10-30 associates per office. Without developing a train-the-trainer approach we can't get to that many locations and roll this out as quickly as what they want to see happen.

I was hoping someone could share successes and failures they experienced so we could try to have the strongest roll-out possible.