If there are things you don’t understand with regard to charts, or anything else of course, don’t be afraid to ask the instructor. It may be worth you noting down some of your questions just so you have them to hand on the day. Most instructors will have time to go through a few things before or after your session. We always look for how closely venues plan their sessions when we visit for our blue pin reviews for reasons such as this.
If there are specific areas or airports you want to fly to then try to make contact before your session. They may be able to reassure you that they already have good scenery for that area, or they may be open to getting some if required. If you are keen to do a flight on VATSIM do ask whether they are connected and familiar. We will be publishing and article and releasing a podcast soon with more information on VATSIM – keep an eye out for that!
You can also let the venue know what your level of experience is to allow them to best tailor your session – there may be no point giving you the 15 minute briefing on the basics of flying if you have hundreds of hours on a home simulator and/or a PPL for example.
If you are going to try a simulator for an aircraft type you may want to do a little research to get some familiarity with the instrument layout and how it flies. For example, the vast majority of my experience is on a B737 simulator, so if I booked some time at one of the A320 simulation venues on our directory I would try and find some guides on the A320 or videos on YouTube. There is no need for you to turn up and be an expert on the aircraft type, but it helps if you have a little bit of understanding which you can build on when you are there. Regardless of whether you are familiar with the aircraft type, the instructor will go through any characteristics of their specific simulator.