I like Xavier's style and demeanor. Just needed better pace, a variable pace, take more time on the intro, ditch Ruby/Rails at the beginning of the class and focus on MongoDB, talk more about WHY you would want to use Mongo or any other NoSQL / Document DB. Mention you cheat sheet (the included rb files in the code). Label your todo's in the code with numbers and have a matching slide (give the students a road map). Leave that up on the screen while the lab is going on. For those that had problems with the setup, suggest (early) that they pair up. The slides would have been good for a presentation but for a training class you need denser material and you should make it available to the students so they don't have to ask to go back and forth to see examples Also (is my opinion) that you should spend more time on Map/Reduce portion and possibly add some illustrations on the topic. I know it is simple once you get it but I would push the training so they get it earlier. So in summary, do Mongo alone ==> Mongo w/ Ruby ==> Mongo with Mongoid ==> Mongo with Mongoid in Rails My .2 cents

It was very evident you had solid knowledge on Mongo. Hearing the details of it's Map/Reduce implementation was super helpful. My opinion is that there was too much time spent on the coding exercises, of which it seemed like everyone was struggling due to a lack of understanding the context. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the problem domain vs. implementing Mongo. Though it seemed like a simple object model, I felt it was still too complex for using in a sandbox environment. I would love to see this class again once it's more polished.

Xavier's MongoDB training class was one of the most effective class I have ever attended in the last 5 Ruby/Rails conferences. First thing that he did differently and which I think every presenter should do was email all the setup instructions 24 hours in advance. Secondly he was on his toes all the time always helping everyone in the room ~40+ with setup and then with running the tests and making sure everyone understood the concept at the very least even if they weren't able to write the unit tests.

Great job Xavier.