Mix it up - Deliver interesting not boring training

I found myself thinking about training a bit over the past week. Training takes a lot of time to prepare and deliver but more the point, it takes up time of those you are training. How can you demonstrate the expected value?

I can recall many occasions where I have been at a training and awareness session about something and have walked away feeling disengaged and bored. Typically this experience is coupled by a rather dull subject which is delivered via PowerPoint with 20 or so dot points in 12 font crammed onto each slide. It’s a good time to reflect on your own training delivery.

We often deliver induction training, continuation training or refresher training using PowerPoint or similar as an expeditious way to get the message across in the limited period of time because:

1.     It can be prepared relatively quickly

2.     The training package can be used more than once

3.     Everyone else is doing it – right?

Are these reasons good enough? Are there other reasons to run training this way?

Despite the validity of reason #1 and #2 – I do often use PowerPoint (let’s say reason #3 is invalid unless we are lemmings). The problem may still be getting people to attend the training and making the training interesting enough for people to stay (or come back next time). Here are some tips:

1.     Mix it up from time to time and deliver the training without PowerPoint. Instead, use a whiteboard, smart board or flip charts

2.     Get the participants involved (see tip #1)

3.     If you use PowerPoint, reduce the number of points on each slide

4.     Break the presentation down into bite size chunks and discuss or have a quick-fire question and answer session after each section

5.     Include slide animations and interesting (relevant) images but don’t go over the top with the animations as it can detract from learning

As a final tip, it is also useful to provide a training feedback form with questions on the content and delivery so you can further improve next time. Don’t become the victim of cookie-cutter training! With a little bit of effort or forethought, your training can deliver on intended outcomes and be interesting.