As an instructor for Salesforce University, I (like all my colleagues) love to teach. Nothing beats the buzz you get from spending a few days working with a bunch of inquisitive and enthusiastic students, then sending them home with the tools they need to do their jobs and enhance their careers.

So how do we Salesforce instructors get the skills and technical knowledge to deliver such a training experience to our customers, partners, and fellow employees? Especially as Salesforce is such a huge product, encompassing a number of different technologies. It's one of those things where the more you know—the more you realize there is to learn.

Self-study is great, and there are many options for that, but nothing really beats learning from a real live expert, so the opportunity for me to attend one of our own instructor-led classes and learn from a trainer with deep knowledge of the subject was too good to miss.

It's an odd feeling being on the "receiving" end in a classroom. You notice lots of things you wouldn't necessarily be aware of (or worry about) standing up front: Is the chair comfy? Is the room clean and tidy? Does the equipment work fast and reliably? Am I being blasted by the air conditioning? Will the sweets drawer ever run out? (It didn't!). Some of these may seem trivial, but when you're sitting there for up to five days, what may be bearable for a day can be intolerable after a week.

Then there's the learning itself. As an instructor, you're not just learning the technical stuff━you're learning the delivery too. It's always great to watch other instructors deliver training. Everyone has their own style, based largely on their previous experience, and I for one shamelessly steal anything that I think will make me a more effective trainer. For example, the instructor on my course had some novel demos that helped untangle some particularly hard to understand concepts━those ideas have definitely gone into my kit bag!

I guess it shouldn't really be a surprise that you also learn from your fellow students. Either from the questions they ask, or just from chatting to them over coffee or lunch. In fact, I really believe that almost every class I have ever delivered has always been a two-way learning experience, from instructor to student (of course), but also back the other way. This class was no exception.

Finally, did this experience help me to quickly acquire the technical knowledge I need to deliver this training myself? Yes, it did. Did this experience enhance my instructor skills? Yes, it did. Did I eat too much chocolate? Sadly, yes I did!

If you, too, want to Master Salesforce with training from Salesforce, learn more about our extensive curriculum of instructor-led classes.