from June 2012 Issue of A/E Marketing Journal, by
Joanne G. Linowes
Picture this: you are the seasoned professional
with a reputation for expertise and excellence. You are invited to do a
training seminar for up-and-coming professionals. You gladly accept the
invitation and proceed to prepare your training session.
Before: Your
preparation includes gathering information and resources that will form the
content. You identify projects and anecdotes that will help make your points. You
develop your PowerPoint slides and other visuals and/or handouts. Your prep is
all content-related.
During
the seminar: You go through your content-heavy visuals
and/or handouts, explaining each one as the participants read along, and you
embellish by talking about the details. This is sprinkled with questions, for some
planned interaction. The group seems satisfied and instructed.
After: You
feel you have done a great job. Casual conversational feedback and emails
confirm this. Yet, when the written evaluations come in, you are surprised to learn
that most of the group tuned-out for large portions of the lecture, the visuals
were rated as inadequate, the learning experience was less than productive, the
time spent was not so worthwhile.
What happened?
Lesson: Great
content, comprehensive materials, and even a great presentation style, do not
necessarily make a great training session. To turn a well-developed and
substantive presentation into a productive, engaging educational experience,
you need to add instructional elements. Here are the top three:
1.
It’s not just about content. Your prep must
also include teaching approach. As you develop the content, think carefully about
how adults learn – you will want to incorporate differing methodologies, as not
everyone responds to the same instructional methods – aural learners may be
best with lectures; visual learners with slides, boards, computer animation, etc.;
experiential learners with case studies, problem solving, or small group tasks;
tactile learners with models, props, and other manipulatives. Be sure to reach
every person in the seminar. Give each person equal opportunity to absorb your
information. Integrate a variety of learning approaches to reinforce your
points. The strategy is to use multimedia.
2.
Consider the age group. Regardless of YOUR age,
you need to adjust your instructional style to accommodate the learning style
of the seminar participants. When addressing more seasoned and experienced
professionals, you will find that they respond well to a traditional “expert-centered“
lecture blended with whole group discussion. This approach, however, will not
be so successful with younger millenials who respond better to small group
problem-solving, whole group sharing, and “student-centered” give-and-take. Your
job is to build in the techniques that create the most productive learning environment
for the profile of the participants.
3.
Break up the material into graspable groups. In
the short, one-shot training sessions common in today’s busy firms, the goal is
to have participants acquire maximum information in a minimum timeframe. You
can help that happen by making the information more absorbable. Look at your
slides, handouts, or boards – are they content-packed? Break the content into two
or three slides – give each one a different and descriptive title. Make your
subject matter memorable by organizing it into a series of smaller info-chunks.
You do not need to tell your trainees everything you know about the topic – be
selective and cull just what is important for them to remember.
A great training session is
carefully structured to achieve results within the group’s learning styles and
the overall instructional goals. Your job is to adapt your comprehensive
content and great presentation so the message will stick!
Joanne G. Linowes is a nationally recognized
presentation coach and marketing communications advisor, providing in-house training
exclusively for the design and building professions. She can be contacted at
jlinowes@ixdi.com
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