Residential training courses work best when networking, collaboration, and immersive learning are important. Non-residential courses are usually better when minimizing cost, travel, and time commitments. The best choice depends on your objectives and your audience.
Some courses can certainly lend themselves to being good courses to run in person and over a few days, and these include courses on team building, mindfulness, Inclusive Leadership. Certain management courses can cal also benefit from the social evening events being built into the whole course.
So below we look at the pros and cons of holding residential versus non-residential courses.
Benefits of Residential Training Courses
1. Bonding on Residential Training Courses
As previously mentioned, residential courses can create a powerful bonding opportunity with social connections and activities adding to the training.
The social element can turn an otherwise less attractive course for some into a mini-break.
A residential course can also give participants more time for networking, which can be seen as an additional bonus, considering how important making social connections is for people’s careers.
For others, though, it may be seen as an unnecessary extension of the day, so ensuring you understand your target market here is key.
2. Those Traveling a Distance for Training
Some delegates might have to travel quite a distance in order to attend your training.
Residential training courses can offer a solution to this issue, making it a more attractive option for some potential attendees.
3. More Focus on Learning
Residential courses can give participants a chance to focus more on their learning.
Being away from home and from the habitual place of work takes away many distractions of everyday life. Thus, learners can really immerse themselves fully into the training experience.
Without worrying about commuting, preparing food, and carrying out all other daily chores, participants are free to focus on learning.
4. Commercial Opportunity as a Trainer
As a trainer, offering training might well be your business. In addition to trying to offer high-quality training programs and workshops, you no doubt are looking to increase commercial opportunities, where possible, from the training.
Residential courses provide a wonderful option commercially to source a percentage of income from the accommodations offered.
You can offer the exact same price to attendees that they will get from other sources for the same hotel, but by creating a bookings.com (affiliate) account, you can link the bookings through your affiliate link.
If, for example, you are using a local hotel as the accommodation for all course attendees, you will receive a commission without needing to manage any of the hotel bookings at all.
It is possible to make a few thousand pounds a year in extra income just from this one source!
Disadvantages of Residential Training Courses
1. Costs
Making a course residential inevitably increases overall costs, and this potentially might price participants out of attending.
For courses that are likely to be paid for by the candidates’ company, this becomes a greater possibility.
2. Time and Niche Topic Considerations
As previously discussed, time, in this post-modern world where we are constantly chasing our
If you are sure there is demand, such as because you are offering a niche course and you are clearly the expert in the field, why not make it residential if you feel that demand will make it worthwhile?
Certain subject areas are niche such that people are willing to pay whatever it costs (within reason) because they are determined to attend a course run on a certain subject by a certain trainer.
We have seen this specifically with art-related subjects, such as dance workshops.
Furthermore, the opportunity to add one evening entertainment (such as a dance show or give participants the opportunity to dance, if it is a dance workshop) means an even deeper experience for those attending.
You might also find it useful to check our workplace training design hub and the training delivery guides.
