Frequently Asked Customer Questions

• General FAQs
• Onsite Seminar FAQs
• Public Seminar FAQs

General FAQs

1. What are your office hours?
• 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Pacific time Monday-Friday
2. Is this seminar hands-on or heads-up?
• It depends on the seminar. All of our Cisco and Linux seminars are hands-on. Our security and workplace skills seminars are heads-up, but they are still very interactive for the learners.
3. What is the difference between a "hands-on" and a "heads-up" seminar?
   • Simple. Hands-on seminars include computers for the students. Heads-up seminars don't, but they do include lots of student interaction and dicussion. We can't think of anything more boring than sitting and listening to someone lecture all day, so we don't do that
4. What is your refund policy?
   • You must be satisfied with the training you receive or, upon request, we will refund your enrollment fee or your onsite fee
5. What's the difference between a "public" seminar and an "onsite" seminar?
   • Again, it's really simple. Public seminars are available for anyone to register and attend. They are typically held in hotel meeting facilities. Onsite seminars are held upon request for one organization at their location and have closed enrollment. Public seminars are perfect when you have three or fewer learners. Onsite seminars start to make sense when you have four or more learners.

FAQs for Onsite Seminars

1. What equipment do we need to provide? And what does soundtraining.net  provide?
   • soundtraining.net provides all of the instructor's equipment including his/her computer(s) and a projector. For router and firewall classes, we provide one router or firewall for each student workstation (we recommend two students per workstation). You are responsible for providing a classroom with a projection screen or a clean white wall, a dry-erase marker board, and student computers for hands-on seminars (we can arrange rentals if you prefer)
2. What are the computer specs needed for the onsite training?
   • For our public seminars, we generally use P4 laptops with 1GB of RAM. The minimum requirement for onsite seminars varies by seminar, but in general the requirements for student computers (obviously, the more powerful, the better) are:
     • P3, 700 MHz or better
     • 256 MB RAM or better
     • 20 GB hard drive or better
     • Keyboard, mouse, and monitor
     • IMPORTANT FOR CISCO SEMINARS: One working and available DB-9 serial port or USB port (please advise if your computers will NOT include a DB-9 serial port)
     • One working Ethernet port
     • Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP, or Windows Vista
     • IMPORTANT: The student computers should NOT be connected to your corporate network
3. Are we using our "live" computers hooked into our company's network?
   • Not recommended. See above. During the course of the seminar, you will be using services and protocols that could conflict with your corporate network. It is STRONGLY recommended that your seminar be conducted in an isolated classroom network which we will provide
4. How do we confirm dates that we want?
   • It's easy. Check date availability with our training coordinator at 206.988.5858. Give us your verbal confirmation, return the signed training agreement with your payment, and the dates are confirmed.
5. What dates are available for an onsite seminar?
   • Just give us a call and we'll let you know. We typically schedule three-to-four months in advance, but if you're flexible, dates are often available with shorter notice.
6. For onsite training, is the training fee all inclusive?
   • Yes. The only additional expense you might incur would be to rent student computers. See #1 above.
7. How do we customize the onsite training to address our specific needs?
• Prior to the training, you and your trainer will go over the learning objectives and the course outline to tailor the training to your specific needs.
8. What type of training room set up is required for onsite training?
   • We try to be very flexible, but in general you'll need the following:
   • A banquet-style table for every two students
   • A banquet-style table at the front of the room for the instructor
   • A projection screen or a clean white wall
   • A dry erase marker board
   • The room must be secured in the evening between the first and second day for two-day seminars
9. Are the hours flexible for an onsite seminar?  We have different work shifts to consider.
   • Absolutely. You're the customer. We want it to work for you.
10. What is the minimum number of students for an onsite class?
    • There really isn't a minimum. Most people find that it makes financial sense to conduct onsite training with a minimum of four people in the class, but some of our clients will even do it with only two learners. That's really up to you.

FAQs for Public Open-Enrollment Seminars

1. Are you going to definitely hold a public seminar that is scheduled?
• In general, we will hold a public seminar if two or more students are enrolled. Sometimes we'll even hold it for one person. If it's necessary to cancel due to low enrollment, we will make every attempt to accomodate you in another seminar. If that doesn't work for you, we will refund your enrollment fee in full.
2. How do you pick the locations for your seminars?
   • We consider many factors including ease of access for you, free or low-cost parking, proximity to restaurants, and the venue's reputation. If you would like to recommend a location, just give us a call at 206.988.5858 or drop us an email. Our contact info is here.