The Accidental Trainer (TAT) has been years in the making. It started as a "best-practices" inkling in the mid-1990's. As a long-time consultant, I was surprised at the number of Accidental Trainers I did work for. How did these one-person or small training departments keep all the balls in the air? Many TAT's are designers, developers, facilitators, marketers, evaluators, audio visual technicians, facilities managers, cleaning crews and to a large extent - CHEERLEADERS for professional development within their organizations. As I consulted for many of these organizations I was able to share best practices among my clients - but much too slowly….

The first attempt at establishing a community came via an ASTD "Infoline" publication entitled The One Person Training Department, in July of 2001. The Infoline is a giant job aid for trainers that covers such topics as Managing Projects and Time, Generating Support, Outsourcing Solutions, Short-Circuiting the Instructional Design Process, and more. In essence, the Infoline assists TAT's in being all things to all people.

In June of 2002 I was a concurrent session speaker at the ASTD International Convention and Expo (ICE) held in New Orleans. With more than 200 people in attendance at my session - it was obvious this was an important topic. Perhaps mid-way through the presentation I "lost control" of the audience - and they took over. Attendees started to stand up and share solutions to problems they had encountered. They shouted web addresses and phone numbers across the cavernous meeting room. They began assisting each other in doing things better, faster, and cheaper. At the conclusion of the concurrent session many attendees said, "This was the best session! I wish we could have this kind of forum all the time."

And so, The Accidental Trainer was born. This site is intended to be a forum and community for all TAT's - from one-person training departments, to HR folks with training responsibilities, to managers who are the sole source of training and development for their employees. It's time to stop reinventing the wheel and start sharing resources!

Nanette Miner, EdD

TAT Founding Director