Case
Study
Dress for Success Oregon
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Five
Basic Pieces
| The..."training
sessions, which include both a PowerPoint™
presentation and interactive exercises,
are professional and effective. Our volunteers
have thoroughly enjoyed (them), and have
gained the necessary skills to help our
clients select the most flattering and professional
clothing for their interviews."
Barb
Attridge,
Co Director, Dress for Success Oregon
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Flexible,
versatile, budget conscious wardrobe
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Goal
Train Dress for Success Oregon's Personal Shoppers to build
a wardrobe using basic pieces and to help clients select flattering
clothes.
Problem
Dress for Success Oregon utilizes a primarily volunteer staff
of Personal Shoppers. Personal shoppers must be able to outfit
Dress for Success Oregon clients for job interviews plus provide
wardrobe support after clients find employment. Personal shoppers
are critical to the success of the program. They require a comprehensive training program that prepares them to help
a variety of clients to find effective attire from
a limited selection of garments.
Personal
Shoppers participated in two wardrobe training programs:
Initially
racks of garments were used to provide visual examples for
the training. Managing the garments required considerable
time, effort, and expense.
Using
actual garments has three big disadvantages:
- You
must collect the garments.
- You
must store the garments.
- You
must load and transport the garments and the racks to accommodate
them.
Solution
Customized PowerPoint™ presentations were developed to
provide visual reinforcement for the training. The bulky,
heavy racks of clothing were retired.
Results
Both the trainer and the participants benefited from the introduction
of the PowerPoint™ presentations.
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Benefits
to the Trainer
The work load of delivering the training was lightened.
A laptop computer and projector were easier to transport
and carry than a heavy, cumbersome rack of clothes.
(If you are traveling by plane to deliver training there
is additional time and expense to pack and ship garments.)
Customizing
and adapting training materials for varying needs and
situations was accomplished quickly and efficiently
using PowerPoint™ materials. Customizing racks
of garments was more time consuming since it involved
collecting and organizing garments.
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Benefits
to the Trainee
Participants learned more quickly, participated more actively,
and showed an increased grasp of the material in post
training testing. The PowerPoint™ presentations illustrated
the concepts being presented by showing real people dressed
in a wide variety of outfits. Trainees fully participated
as active learners with the "cast of characters"
in the PowerPoint™ presentations. Most impressive
was the speed and agility that trainees evidenced when
asked to complete an exercise that measured their mastery
of the material. Participants who were trained with only
racks of clothing to illustrate the material took longer
to complete the exercise and were able to produce less
complete results. Participants trained with the PowerPoint™
presentations completed the exercise in roughly two-thirds
the time required by the earlier groups and their responses
were more comprehensive. |
These
results prompted the creation of PowerPoint™
presentations on a range of image related topics to make
it easier for all Image Consultants to deliver effective,
successful presentations and training sessions.
Learn
more about corporate consulting
services and training
materials.
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