As any trainer knows, there is a fine line between consulting and training and every user insists that they are an exception. You can imagine how difficult a one-on-one training model is to sustain, so concepts are typically broken down in a number of different ways - skill level, business process, etc.
Add to that the fact that no one ever has time for training, and many users are resistant to the change that SharePoint brings. So, you may design a training program that builds on itself. In the first class, users could learn the difference between publishing and collaboration templates, then you can add library design and security models, followed by publishing concepts. For people coming from html pages and shared drives, SharePoint training is a lot of information designed to get people away from tools used in the past to share and surface information to different audiences. It's not just teaching them the steps, it's teaching them business process improvements. More and more, we are seeing that a good SharePoint trainer is a good Business Analyst.
I've made the comparison that SharePoint training is like trying to teach someone to be a good parent. Everyone is going to manage their site differently based on the needs and personalities in their group. As a trainer, I can teach you not to shake the baby, how to change a diaper, and what the symptoms of serious childhood diseases are that require immediate medical attention, but in the end, it is up to you whether or not you participate in school activities, help your child with their homework, and start saving for their college fund. I think this helps to explain the passion that people who work with this technology have for SharePoint. Every site, by design, is deeply personal and collection administrators have the power to create a very user-friendly tool. For any user who claims that SharePoint is not intuitive, I blame the bad site administrator who didn't raise the child site right.
So, we make training mandatory and we teach them not to use SharePoint Designer, how to change their default views, and when to send tickets to the service desk. We show them the steps to manage a new site, but the reality is that things are going to come up that we might not have mentioned in class. People are going to need support beyond training and if you were a good, kind teacher, then people are going to want to confide in you and ask you for help. But those situations turn into a lot of consulting and less training for others. The time you need to spend developing new content to keep up with the skill level of your users is perpetually spent supporting new users. In the industry, it is often referred to as burn out, but trainers rarely leave positions where they are teaching, they typically leave because they have been relegated to phone support.
When designing your training plan, make sure that you account for one-on-one support. A good training class is just the beginning. Even after the Sermon on The Mount, after everyone was fed and many were in awe at what they'd just heard, the first thing that Jesus encounters is a leper asking to be healed. As instructors, we have to design content for the masses, but don't fool yourself into believing that any training class is going to be good enough to account for every situation. Who is supporting you? Are people allowed to bypass training all together and just speak directly to you? If so, then you will soon find yourself in a one-on-one training model handling only the special circumstances. Who is taking care of the 5,000 while you do that?
If you fail to plan for what happens after class, your training plan will fail. Make sure that you are not the only person that your users feel comfortable confiding in. Make sure that you are not the only expert. And NEVER, EVER put your email and phone extension on a slide presentation. EVER. Refer the users to their support model to get help after class. If you love your job, then remember your place. If you love the one-on-one problem resolution, then professionally develop yourself into a BA role. Trainers are meant to be on stage to a faceless multitude. If that's why you love training, then make sure that the job you do reflects your unique skillset. A lot of people are good in small groups, but your company needs you because you excel in front of a crowd.
And I don't want to hear any whining about the skillset of the support model either. You're a trainer for Chris' sake! Teach them! That should have been the first step in your training plan.