How to Get People Involved in Training?
August 14, 2007
· Filed under All, Training Development 
Print This Post
How to “hook” participants from the very beginning!
FOR ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN TRAINING:
Fly In the Face of Conventional Wisdom!
What’s the best way to assure your training participants groan inwardly and “turn off” the first second you open your mouth? Simply by following conventional wisdom about how to open a training session: introduce yourself and provide your credentials.
Instead, generate curiosity, interest and investment from the outset. Use a “Hook” before introducing yourself. Participants will hear your credentials better after you “hook” them, anyway!
Three Ideas for Powerful Hooks
- Quickie Quiz: Create a 3-5-question quiz and ask participants to take it the minute they sit down. It’s best if the questions are slightly provocative or contro-versial. Throughout the class, answer and clarify the issues. Here’s a “real-life” example currently being used in a Risk Management class for supervisors:
- What percentage of claims and incidents filed against this company were closed in 1999 without payment?
30%
50%
80% - If an employee is sued because of an act s/he committed within the scope of their duties, the employee must provide his/her own legal defense. (T/F)
- This company is self-insured for Auto Liability and General Liability. (T/F)
- What percentage of claims and incidents filed against this company were closed in 1999 without payment?
- Questions: Carefully constructed questions are often the easiest and most powerful “Hooks.” Questions can begin with the words “How many here have…?” or “Did you know that…?” Your question should demand a physical response from the participants, such as nodding, raising hands, even standing up.
- Visualization: This technique gives even “dry” subjects the emotional content you need to hook the learners’ interest. Here’s a real-life example of a visualization “Hook” from a supervisory class on wage and hour laws: “Close your eyes and imagine that you are a 10 year old child in the 1930’s working in a factory 12 hours a day, 60 hours a week for 10 cents an hour. You’ve never seen the inside of a school…your feet are cold and you get just one meal break a day. How do you feel?”Ask the participants to open their eyes. Debrief thoughts and feelings; connect to the course topic and state the learning outcomes.Remember: to prevent “Pour and Snore” training, hook your participants from the very beginning. Good luck, and tell me how it goes!
“The rate of learning must equal or exceed the rate of change.”
Reg Revans, inventor of Action Learning
The world is in flux. There is no more “business as usual.” Everyone knows that organizations must continue to both learn and educate to survive. But how can you reduce your organization’s dependence on outside trainers, workshop designers, and facilitators? How can you best transmit your organization’s expertise to both internal and external customers?
By working with Guila Muir and Associates, your organization will be able to:
- Develop a core group of highly qualified faculty and designers of training.
- Prepare outstanding seminars and presentations - FAST.
- Save money by reducing dependence on outside training consultants. Hold fewer and more productive meetings.
| REINFORCE THE LEARNING: TRY THE “SNOWBALL TECHNIQUE!”After you present material in class, ask the participants to print one question they have on a piece of letter-sized paper. Tell them to crumple their questions into balls. Take the next 30 seconds for a “snowball fight”: participants stand and throw their question balls at each other! Stop the action and ask everyone to pick up a snowball. They have 3 minutes to open it, read the question and find the answer using anyone or anything in the room as a resource. Then have participants read their questions and give their answers. |
HOW TO BREATHE LIFE INTO THE COMPUTER-BASED CLASSROOM
(or, how to prevent those blank faces and make teaching easier on yourself!)
Situation: You’re leading a computer-based training session. You suddenly become aware you’ve lost not only the “technophobes” in your class, but even those with real interest and ability. You’re sick of the sound of your own voice and just want OUT!
Sound familiar? Click here for a cure!
DID YOU KNOW…
“Today’s average consumers wear more computing power on their wrists than existed in the entire world before 1961.”
Morrison and Schmid
Future Tense: Business Realities of the Next Ten Years
Read more articles about Training Development. Learn about Guila Muir’s Trainer Development Workshops or Individual Coaching.
Guila Muir is the premiere trainer of trainers, facilitators, and presenters on the West Coast of the United States. Since 1994, she has helped thousands of professionals improve their training, facilitation, and presentation skills. Find out how she can help transform you from a boring expert to a great presenter: www.guilamuir.com
© 2007 Guila Muir. All rights reserved.
You may make copies of this article and distribute in any media so long as you change nothing, credit the author, and include this copyright notice and web address.