The Instructor Success Kit – Part 3: Stop Building PowerPoints from Scratch

Fire department training tools you can count on. If you are a fire department training officer, this scenario probably feels familiar. It’s Monday afternoon. Your Tuesday night drill is tomorrow. You know the topic cold, but now comes the administrative heavy lifting:

• Sifting through video clips online
• Formatting a 30-slide PowerPoint
• Drafting discussion prompts and student handouts
• Writing a quick quiz and checking NFPA compliance

Before you’ve stepped into the classroom, you’ve already invested hours just building the lesson.

The Hidden Cost of DIY Curriculum

Most training officers didn’t sign up to be full-time graphic designers or curriculum developers. They are firefighters, company officers, chiefs, and dedicated volunteers balancing training responsibilities with operational demands or full-time jobs. Yet, every week they are expected to deliver engaging, standards-based instruction.

Building quality materials from scratch every single week isn’t just exhausting—it’s hard to sustain. More importantly, every hour spent wrestling with slide transitions is an hour lost to what actually matters: preparing your crew for the next alarm.

A Complete Training Framework: Preparation, Delivery & Evaluation

Great instruction requires preparation, but preparation shouldn’t mean reinventing the wheel. As we discussed in Part 2: Why Instructors Need More Than a Login, a complete instructional tool must support you through every phase of training. The Action Training Systems (ATS) Instructor Success Kit provides a turnkey foundation designed to be adapted to your department’s specific SOGs, apparatus, and equipment.

 

Key Resources Included in the ATS Success Kit

• Preparation: NFPA standards matrices, lesson plans, and correlation guides that ensure compliance without the headache.

• Delivery: Professionally produced videos, student handouts, and customizable PowerPoint presentations you can tailor with local photos and procedures.

• Evaluation: Practical skills evaluation sheets, written exams, and certificates of completion to verify true on-scene competency.

You don’t have to start with a blank screen. The foundation is already built—you simply make it your own.

Spend Less Time Formatting, More Time Mentoring

Training officers become instructors because they care about mentoring recruits, sharing hard-earned experience, and sharpening physical skills on the drill deck. That’s where real learning happens.

Technology and video are vital tools, but the instructor remains the heart of emergency services training. When instructors are equipped with the right tools, preparation time shrinks, confidence goes up, and crews stay safer.

Ready to Simplify Your Next Training Session?

Stop starting from scratch. Discover how ATS Instructor Success Kits provide ready-to-teach, standards-based training programs complete with customizable presentations, facilitator guides, and practical evaluation tools.

[Explore ATS Training Programs & Delivery Options]

• Pro Tip for Training Officers: Create one standardized slide template containing your department logo, safety brief slide, and SOG reference format. Applying this template across all ATS customizable products creates a consistent, recognizable experience for your firefighters while cutting down prep time even further.

• Part 1 of our series: Instructor Success Series #1: Why Every Training Officer Needs More Than an LMS