Who remembers their first Instructor-led class or ILT? Ten minutes before the class, some participants enter the training room, and your mind begins to wander. “How was my preparation? Did I prepare enough? Did I prepare with the right material? Did I brush my teeth? How does my hair look? I really have to go pee!”
More participants enter the room, and the air begins to flow with the conversations of co-workers, friends, and leaders. There is a sweet melody to the soft chatter of participants coming together for a common goal, almost like a “smooth operator”. The mood is light and airy under the fluorescent lights. On the other side of the room, where you feverishly review your notes, the air has quite a different feel. It’s warm, humid, and a bit balmy. You did review your notes, right?
“Hi. how long is this class?” Asks Sally, the nice lady from HR.
“I need to know as well, I have a one o’ clock”, commands the squeaky voice of Henry.
You calmly smile, look at both Sally and Henry, then at the class, “Please take your seat, we are starting in 3 minutes.” Wow, that wasn’t so hard. All of your previous training and experience has taught you that no matter what you feel inside, keep it positive for the participants. They will never know if you don’t show or tell them what is really going on.
You begin to overhear the chatter of other participants.
“I am really looking forward to this. I have so much to learn.”
“Why do we have to be here?”
“I really want to try that new restaurant. I hear they have a hot sauce which will…”
You look at the clock on your computer and see that it’s 10:00am. “Thank you everyone for coming today, can you please take a seat so we can get started?” This brings us to Tip #1.
PPPPP – Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance
In our training classes, we always insist facilitator’s prepare thoroughly for their classes. If this means reviewing a PowerPoint deck twenty times, then it means that you must review a PowerPoint deck twenty times. There are few key components where you should focus your efforts when reviewing materials.
- Mark where to use the blank screen (Tip #3)
- Take notes on your guide/notes to summarize key points, areas where you can address participants for questions, and stopping points for breaks. Often times, I find myself summarizing the talking points in 3-5 large words I will write down. If I have to look at the notes, those words serve as a shock to bring the talking points back to memory.
- If your training materials do not have activities, look for activities you can build from the material every 10-20 minutes. An activity is one which requires the participants to do or say something.
- Do not read from your notes. Try to memorize as much as possible!
The Participants First Training, Your Nth Time
When tasked with delivering a training topic, remember that it will be the participants first time taking this training course. Even if you have delivered it a hundred times, this will very likely be their first time taking this course. You must deliver this course with this thought at the forefront of your mind.
This is the Best Training Ever!
Often times, you hear trainer’s say things like “we just have to get through this”, “I know this topic is dry, but we have to do it”, or even “It’s only 20 minutes, do what you need, but I just have to complete this stuff.”
I had a client in the past who tasked us with developing and delivering a 4-hour security training course. We would have to deliver this twice a day for a month. The four-hours were a time requirement by the regulatory agency. During the development, we built in many activities and opportunities for engagement with the participants. After delivering this lengthy course twice in one day for two weeks became incredibly tiresome. However, do you think we complained about that to the participants? The answer is a firm “NO”. We delivered the last class as positively outrageous as the first class.
And the end result, participant surveys revealed they would look forward to that class next year, when it was required again.
The Blank Screen
Did you know you can turn your presentation to a black screen or a white screen? If you strike “B” during the presentation, it turns the entire screen black. If you hit “W”, it turns the entire screen white.
The purpose of this function is to direct the participants attention back at the instructor. When the the screen goes blank, it is completely natural for participants to look around, possibly confused, searching each other for answers. Since your happy face is there is front of the room, it is even more natural for them to look at you. This works well when you want to emphasize a key talking point or to pose a question to the learners.
Provide Exact Breaks and Make Them Productive
It is very important to take 3-5 minute breaks every 30-45 minutes. When doing so, make sure you say exactly what time the class will resume. It also helps to have a wall clock or timer available for view. This could go something like, “we are going to take a 3 minute break. Please be back in your seats at 10:33am.”
If no participants happen to come to you, this is a good opportunity to engage with the “less-interested” participants. We all know who those are, those who are trying to use their phones, maybe they can’t keep their eyes open, or possibly even disinterested (not possible with a custom SEED course). Take a moment to chat with them about… well.. anything really. By making a connection with these people, it will make them more engaged. I am no psychologist, but it works every single time. Try it!
Once the break is over, make sure you start your class right when you said you would.
“That was such a great class”, says Ling
“I thought you had a power failure when the screen went blank”, says Nancy, “then I realized how it really gave me an opportunity to think about the question posed on the slide. Thank you!”
These are 5 simple tips for powerful ILTs, which will bolster your training. This is just a small sample of all of the useful tools you can get in one of our facilitator training workshops. If you’d like to see more details on a real-life example, check out the interview training we developed for a prior client.
Contact us to learn more.
