What Do You Do for New User Orientation?

An anonymous reader asks: "What do you do for new user orientation? I started at a company as part of a very small help desk / MIS department. Part of my job is to give orientation to all new computer users for the entire company (no more than 10 new users a week). Right now I have to sit with each user, go over logging in, passwords, email, outlook, Microsoft Office, and so on. This takes between 30-45 minutes. What do other IT departments do? I was thinking of a Flash presentation or website, and maybe even a short orientation movie. What ideas have you tried and how well did they work?"

Not the Flash presentation!

[PalmerEldritch42]

Unless you want to spend a lot of money putting together a professional and engaging presentation, don't bother with that route. I am not a manager, but I have been to enough new employee orientations that I feel I have a good understanding of what works (at least for me). Sitting a new employee down in a room and making them watch some presentation, be it on DVD or online is pretty much a waste of time. The thing that a new employee needs is face time. Sit with them and show them what they will be doing. Sit them with their co-workers and let them show him what, exactly, the job entails. Orientation is about gettin gto know your peers, learning about the company you will be working for, and finding out what the job is that you have been hired for. There is always the obligatory legal issues (dress code, no bad language in the workplace, no molestation of the opposite sex, and whatnot). But the important thing is to get a feel for the new environment and find out what you are being hired to do in a more specific way than the interview process would have lead you to believe.

Re:A movie or flash is nice

[PRC Banker]

I know, I've done that for a product presentation. After one year, new version, throw away the presentation, start over again...

I agree that multimedia is good, but it's not the only thing to have. I've been giving and receiving presentations for a few years, and a good video is really useful. More useful, however, is a paper copy containing all of the key points. Paper can be picked up and browsed at one's leisure, it can be pinned next to the desk (quite useful for new users learning how to log-in), it can contain all of the useful information and pointers (for example, advising users to check a wiki for details relating to specialist applications).

A paper (laminated) hint-sheet is easy to produce, can address the majority of simple issues, and can can ensure that users always have an easy-to-access reminder of what they learnt from individual sessions and video presentations.

One more thing, it doesn't matter how fabulous the video presentation was, be charasmatic. It makes people feel good about you, feel more interested and able to learn, and puts you on their side instead of them feeling no qualms to call/bother 'the faceless tech guy'.