20 Tips for Effective Training

Myelita’s Twenty Tips for Effective Training

1. Know Your Customer: Learn everything you can about your client before designing your program
1. For associations: What are the characteristics of members who attend training programs?
2. When possible, get email addresses from program participants in advance.

i. Send attendees a welcome message. Start building the relationship before beginning your training

ii. Develop a survey of no more than 5 questions for participants to answer in your email. If you keep your request for information “short and sweet” you are more likely to get responses.

iii. If you don’t get responses, take your survey as a
“pre-training” questionnaire. Distribute it at the start of your program and take up the responses during the first break. Review them quickly at your next break and alter your program’s content if necessary.

iv. Make sure to include some of your attendee’s learning objectives in your program. Nothing angers people more than being asked for input and then being ignored!

v. Keep the email addresses in your database for e-zines and newsletters

vi. After the program, send another email to thank the attendees for making it a great day and offer further assistance

2. Walk in the audience’s shoes: Take an on-site tour of their facility or meet your client in their corporate environment.
1. If the client is in a distant state, find a company with similar needs in your area and ask for a meeting. Who knows? You might convert this meeting into another training session.
3. Set a good atmosphere: Specify the type of room set up and equipment you prefer. Put this list in your contract or service agreement.
4. Arrive early: Make sure you got the room set-up and equipment you need. Make sure everything works.
5. Solve problems: Never create problems with a bad attitude. You won’t be asked back for another program nor will you get an important referral to other clients
1. If you didn’t get the room set-up or equipment you requested or if the gear doesn’t work, go to your “Plan B”
2. You should be able to do your program with nothing if you had to!
6. Begin working as soon as your participants arrive
1. Welcome them as they enter the room to begin putting names and faces together
2. Always ask your client to prepare name tags or have blanks in your travel kit to take with you to the site
3. Ask questions to your attendees and use the answers to make your program personal and relevant. Something simple like “why are you attending my program today” makes for a great ice-breaker.
7. Use good training structure
1. State your program’s learning objectives in a conversational way
2. Make your program follow a logical progression
3. Before a break, summarize what you have covered and state what you will be doing when the group returns from the break. Your audience will appreciate the fact that you have a plan and that you are sharing it with them.
4. If your training program is suited for role-play or other interactive activities, give ample time for these. Intersperse them through the program. This sort of activity is good just before a break. It provides the group an opportunity to move around, change their focus and put your plan into action.
5. What activities will you use to illustrate your training objectives?
8. Design effective handouts: Don’t cram too much on a page. The learner needs “white space” for a more powerful visual effect. Having adequate “white space” on a page makes it easier to read and allows space for taking notes.
9. Create effective PowerPoint presentations that you can easily and quickly modify for other programs
1. Take care when selecting the background you use for your presentation.
2. All LCD projectors do not maintain consistent background or font colors. The age of the projector’s bulb can make your snazzy presentation look horrible!
3. Personally, I prefer a neutral background and font color. It works well in either light or dark rooms and with almost any kind of projection system.
10. Use Your Voice Effectively: Pitch, Power, Pause, and Pace
11. Warm up your voice and body before beginning your presentation: Correct breathing and stretching prior to a program will prevent damage to your vocal cords
1. Pace yourself so you are at your best from start to finish
12. Practice telling your stories — and write them down!
1. Never tell the same story or joke to the same group twice. Boring!
2. Keep your story list in your client file for easy reference
3. Know the length or timing of your stories so you can eliminate them if you must to keep within your time constraints
13. Keep It Moving! Plan your movement to help make points. Movement is critical to the “flow” of your presentation. No one likes a speaker that is afraid to leave the podium!
1. Move when it’s appropriate, be in character when necessary
2. Good training can be good theatre
3. When making an important point, stand still so the attention is on you and what you are saying
4. Practice your gestures in front of a full-length mirror
14. Use sustaining feedback: Sustaining feedback builds rapport and trust between audience and trainer.
1. When you ask a question and the participant gives you an incorrect answer, don’t say, “no that’s wrong.”
2. Ask them to think a little more and present options to them
3. Giving negative feedback will inhibit your audience. They will be afraid to answer your next question. No one wants to get the answer wrong. Set your group up for success!
4. Make sure to give positive feedback when the learner asks a question. It is OK to “table” the question and return to it later in your program. Just make sure that you do!
15. Use an “off the beaten path” approach:
1. Yes, even adults like to win prizes – I take prizes to give away after breaks and at the end of the day. I’ll ask content questions and the winner gets a prize. You will be surprised how hard people will work for the smallest prize or recognition!
2. Sight gags are great fun and can be extremely useful
16. Know your equipment thoroughly: Take extra batteries for microphones and any other wireless gear.
1. Put your program on a CD or portable USB drive in case you have computer problems
17. Know your body, your voice and YOUR limitations:
1. It’s better to cancel a date and reschedule it than it is to try to train when you are sick!
2. If the show must go on, make a contingency plan
3. Seek an NSA colleague that can pinch hit for you if absolutely necessary
18. Buy a small, satellite travel clock: Put it on top of your computer where you can see it but your audience can’t. Use the clock to keep your program on track. Most large retailers carry these clocks for $10 or less.
1. Never go over your allotted time! A pro always adjourns on time
2. Clients get annoyed with speakers who start late and/or run over their allotted times
19. Schedule breaks regularly
1. Watch your audience, if they appear droopy and are squirming in their seats, it’s time to take a break, no matter where you are in your program — the audience always comes first!
20. Treat every program like it’s the first one you’ve ever done!
1. Be a good cheerleader. Show your enthusiasm for your subject and your audience
2. Make your content sound fresh. You might have done your program thousands of times — but your audience is hearing it for the first time. Make it memorable.