This situation is probably one of worst disaster scenarios of all. The old building and equipment is intact but completely unreachable. Tantalizing and frustrating. Sigh. What to do?

Hope and pray that you've got an excellent disaster recovery plan and a very competent team, that's what you do. In this case, you'd better have a hot site or, at very least some excellent backups. Not only that, you're business continuity plan had better be totally finished and rehearsed. You see, in this case you will not even be able to look through ruble or burned building for papers, disks, CDs or anything else. Nothing, absolutely nothing, will be available for your use for a long, long time. In fact, if any of your people are in building you may find them unavailable (as in quarantined) as well.

Lightening - One day a few years ago, when I was just beginning in computer field, I was working late, way past midnight. I was just sitting in computer room (freezing my butt off), listening to one of heaviest rain storms that I'd heard in a long time. It was kind of eerie, listening to rain drops on roof and thunder in distance.

Suddenly, room lit up and I was blinded for a few seconds. I instinctively pulled back from keyboard, and I believe that saved my life. I felt heat on my face and body, and when I opened my eyes computer room was dark.

I soon learned that lightening has struck power pole just outside building. The computer simply melted down - no circuit breaker in existence could have protected it. I was lucky to be alive - wow, what a rush that was!

Unfortunately, this company did NOT have a disaster recovery plan. We had to purchase a new computer system and build it back up from scratch. Fortunately, we did keep backups off-site, and within a week or so we were back up and running.

And that's reason why, now, I have a complete belief and focus on disaster recovery - if you have a plan and have prepared well, you will recover just fine (even with unexpected bumps and such). If you don't, then you basically leave it up to fate or whatever else you believe in. Personally, I would rather be in control of situation. I find that makes things much easier.

So what does a computer trainer need to do? The main thing is to remember how they felt when they first started using computer and how they wanted to pull their hair out when they thought they would never learn stuff. How they were afraid to even touch computer. Computer trainers fail to realize not all students want to become computer geeks and nerds. The everyday user want to know how to do simple stuff like how to do a letter, track their finances with a spreadsheet, develop a slide presentation for their company or club, or make a simple website. A trainer needs to make complicated world of a computer simple, easy and fun for client or student. Let's face it, not everyone is or wants to become a systems administrator or has enough certifications to cover a wall a Subway. The majority of computer users are beginners that want to learn how to be more productive at home or in work place.

So what does it take for a computer trainer to help students learn computer? Try keeping computer sessions and information simple and fun. Every trainer has a big responsibility to teach others what they know so student can be more productive. Trainers need to realize you have got to keep training simple because if student can't learn, you do them no good. So keep it simple…please!!