Ask anyone who has attended workshops and they can give you a list of what makes a good training session… and what doesn’t! Make your own list of training sessions where you have found value and those that fell short and felt like a waste of time. What were the things that the trainer did or didn’t do? What about the room setup? Consider the participants and their readiness to learn and willingness to participate. Here are five quick tips that will help your workshops fit into the value category:
- Content and Goals: Before you facilitate any training, make sure you understand the goals of the training. While this may sound like a “duh” statement, it’s amazing the number of people who are given materials and told to train without any context or understanding of the desired result. Knowing the goals along with a solid knowledge of the content will help you be more flexible throughout the training and not just have to follow the script.
- It’s about communication; not perfection: Participants are not looking for perfection – they are looking to learn. Participants learn best from people they connect with and who communicate effectively. Make sure that you are using the 3 V’s appropriately: Visual (body language, eye contact and facial expressions), Vocal (Tone, Volume, Rate of Speech), and Verbal (using verbiage that is tailored to your audience and avoiding too many acronyms). Focus on connecting with your participants by being authentic and listening to their needs. Greet them as they come into the room to ensure that you are creating an environment that is comfortable for both you and your audience.
- Get Engaged! The more questions you ask, the more activities you include, the more you have the audience participating in the learning, the more they will learn. Learn the fine art of truly facilitating conversation through the use of effective questions. Talk less, engage more!
- Put your Sales Hat on: Part of our job as a trainer is sometimes to convince our audience that what we have to share is valuable to them. Provide benefits to what they will learn in your training session and then remind them of those benefits during reviews and at the end of the training.
- Practice, Practice, Practice: The only way to improve your skills and confidence is to practice. Seek out opportunities to facilitate meetings, train groups or individuals or just practice with co-workers. Ask for feedback on what you did well and what you can improve so that you are always focused on areas to practice more!
Whether you are a new trainer or have many years’ experience, perhaps you have some tips to add value to training? We’d love to read some of them!