Category: Blog

I’d like to provide a never-fail shortcut to organizing the training content that can clutter your brain.

Before we begin, I am assuming two things on your part:

1.You believe in the value of using learning outcomes (often called “objectives”).

2. You are able to create learning outcomes.

Just to review:

What are Learning Outcomes?

Learning outcomes are “activities that participants will be able DO by the time they leave the learning experience.”

So—a learning outcome might look like this:

“By the end of this class, you’ll be able to explain the three most important e-mail etiquette rules.”

So—once you have your training topic and your learning outcomes, what steps should you take to develop content?

What Comes Next? The Kite!

Picture a traditional, diamond-shaped kite. In your mind’s eye, draw horizontal stripes across its face—one stripe for each learning outcome. That will look something like this.

The Law of the Stripe: 3 Guidelines

1.Each stripe represents one of your learning outcomes.

2.Each stripe contains the content you must cover to achieve that outcome, along with a minimum of one activity.

3.The activit(ies) should allow participants to practice one or all of the content points in that stripe.

In this way, each Stripe contains everything you need to ensure the participants achieve that particular learning outcome.

Here’s an Example of One Stripe

Learning Outcome: “By the end of this class, you’ll be able to explain the three most important e-mail etiquette rules.”

Content Points: Subject line, greeting, think twice before hitting ‘send’

Activity: Provide 3 example e-mails. Participants individually choose most appropriate subject lines and greetings for each situation. Debrief in large group.

Once you have the bare bones of content in each Stripe, it is easy to flesh the rest out. Make sure that your content and activities in each Stripe enable learners to achieve that learning outcome.

Quick and Easy

Using the Law of the Stripe greatly reduces your design time. It also ensures that your training is outcome-focused and lively.

Empathy is a tool. Alan Alda

Presenting online is a challenge. One of the biggest downfalls I’ve noticed is when presenters seem trapped in their own heads. They don’t notice when participants raise their hands, suck in breath as if they want to speak, or crinkle their brows. These speakers aren’t using the secret power of scanning.

What is Scanning?

Albert Einstein call it “field awareness”. Korean speakers call it “nunchi”, some call it emotional intelligence. Scanning is the ability to use our eyes, ears, and a quiet mind to experience a group’s energy, and then to respond to this awareness.

Why is Scanning Valuable?

Scanning enables presenters to get out of our own heads (which might be humming with anxiety) and to pay attention to the larger reality. Counter-intuitively, doing so is one of the best ways to combat performance anxiety. Our nervousness diminishes as we feel connected to a larger whole. It’s not all about us!

What if We Pick Up Negativity or Resistance?

Number one, it’s good to know what we’re dealing with. Secondly, negativity is a strength test, not an evaluation of you. It probably has nothing to do with you, although it may pertain to your topic. Don’t succumb; just acknowledge it presence. Never allow negative energy to hijack you.

What Do I Do Once I Scan?

Scanning doesn’t require that you verbally respond to what you pick up. Simply open your chest and feel the information that speaks as loudly as words. Because energy changes continually, our challenge is to maintain this awareness throughout the session.

When we operate from the awareness that scanning provides, we honor the group’s energy. Our responsiveness is the secret to greatness as presenters and facilitators.

Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.  Benjamin Spock

What’s potentially more effective than using affirmations or self-talk to build your confidence as a presenter? Nostalgia, until recently thought of as a psychological disorder, has been found to be a powerful and effective tool. Dr. Constantine Sedikides and his team, from the University of Southampton, UK, has found that nostalgia helps to build resilience, mental fortitude, and social connectedness.

What great tools for presenters!

What is Nostalgia?

Sedikides describes nostalgia as a “wellspring of meaning that acts as a buffer against existential threats.” Our internal stress system often reacts to presenting as if it were an existential threat: our heart races and breathing becomes shallow as we prepare to defend ourselves. Nostalgia offers us the  “perfect inbuilt neurological defense mechanism”.

Nostalgia, for presenters, is not about our external behavior. In fact, continually bringing up your own memories will probably alienate your audience. Instead, using nostalgia as an emotional foundation can provide presenters with inner strength and resilience. Sedikides says, “Nostalgia is like an inexhaustible bank account which is there for you if you want to withdraw from it.”

How Can Nostalgia Help Me Present?

If, as the researchers claim, nostalgia “is like a vitamin and an antidote to nervousness and fear”, how can we put it to use?

Pre-Presentation: Identify a Memory

In a relaxed state, days or weeks before your “gig”, close your eyes. Breathe deeply. Recall a time when you were truly happy. This memory can be either personal or professional. It doesn’t have to relate to presenting. Perhaps you were surrounded by friends, receiving an award, or just relaxing with your cat at your side.

Once you identify the memory, really feel it. What colors, sounds, and smells do you recall? Where in your body did you feel the happiness? Did your body move around, or was it still? Allow yourself to accept and truly feel that level of happiness. You are building your nostalgia medicine.

Return to this memory several times as you prepare for your presentation.

It’s Showtime: Recall the Memory

Five to ten minutes before starting to present, find a private place (bathroom stall?). Close your eyes, breathe, and recall that familiar, happy memory. Allow it to flood you.

By truly allowing your memory to fill you, you are taking your nostalgia medicine. And it’s good for you!

Next: Step out. Begin your presentation, feeling fortified, grounded, and resilient.

(Interested in learning more about the power of nostalgia? Read the research.)

 

 

Have you ever felt strangely wired, unbalanced, or out of your comfort zone when traveling to train or present? While it’s super-rewarding to know that distant folks value your expertise, travel can spur unexpected anxiety. How do you keep from getting derailed?

Out of Control

We depend on exerting a fair amount of control over our familiar environment. We know what our houses look like, how our pillows feel, where to eat, etc. We may not realize how much comfort we derive from these homely details until they are no longer there.

What to Do

I’ve collected some suggestions to help traveling trainers and presenters retain a sense of healthy wholeness. To reduce your anxiety, try these tips:

1. Visit the room you’ll be presenting in upon arrival. If possible, make sure it is already set up correctly.
2. Contact your host to confirm that you are in town. Depending on your personality and the situation, consider opting out of pre-“Big Day” invitations for dinner. Do what makes you most comfortable, NOT what you think others want you to do. Be selfish with your energy.
3. Upon arrival in your hotel room, set it up with familiar things. Picture of partner or pet? Special hairbrush? Prepare and lay out your outfit.
4. Practice your presentation once, and only once, on the road. (This assumes that you have rehearsed well before you left home.) Do not over-practice.
5. Be sure to get physical exercise while traveling-even if it means just walking the conference room grounds. Keeping your body moving protects against nervousness. Remember to bring your swim suit.
6. Don’t worry about getting enough sleep. Chances are that you might not. But the magic truth is: You will perform just as well as you would have with enough sleep. Know that things will go fine. You can make up your sleep deficit later.
7. If you have time, try to fit in some version of your usual meditation or yoga practice.
8. Be sure to make time for a hearty breakfast the day of your presentation.

Then What?

Arrive in your training room at least one hour before start time. You may be surprised how familiar things seem. This is because your subconscious mind has been preparing you all along for this moment. Relax, take some deep breaths, and step into being the star that you are.

“Introverts thrive in learning situations that enable solitude, independent thinking, and time to process.” Dr. Kate Earle, Quiet Leadership Institute

First, let me bust a myth: Introverts are NOT all shy. In fact, Susan Caine makes the point that shyness (fear of negative judgment) is quite different than introversion (a preference for minimally stimulating environments)*. Many dynamic trainers are introverted. They just need time to recover!

But what about the introverted participants in your classroom? How can trainers and presenters best meet their needs?

Acknowledging Diversity from the “Get-Go”

Early in a workshop, Myriam Hadnes suggests that you may want to ask each participant to answer the question: “Would you rather talk to think or think to talk?” This question immediately acknowledges that both introverts and extroverts are present, and welcomes both.

Before asking that initial question, however, you must design a workshop that truly respects introverts.

Designing Introvert-Friendly Workshops

When developing your training session, use these five tips to engage introverts (while meanwhile keeping the extroverts energized)!

1. Always build “thinking time” into activities.
2. Use “Think-INK-Pair-Share” as an activity (note that participants individually write their responses before sharing in pairs).
3. Use “Walking Brainstorms”: Participants walk about the room, silently adding their ideas on post-its into various topic or question categories.
4. If technology allows it, use clickers, instant messaging and other forms of electronic communication to answer questions or take surveys.
5. Provide materials before the class for participants to review.

Delivering Introvert-Friendly Workshops

On-site, use these training tips:

1. Meet everyone one-on-one before the session begins.
2. Force yourself to wait 5-10 seconds before answering questions.
3. Use meaningful scenarios and examples; avoid those that are obvious or superficial.
4. Design the flow of the class with enough breaks so that people can stretch physically and mentally.
5. Encourage introverts to speak up in group discussions. It’s OK to (gently) challenge them—they won’t break, and may enjoy a meaningful exchange of ideas.

Your training sessions will soar when you design and deliver them with introverts in mind!

*In fact, Susan Caine, the author of the important book, “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking” differentiates between shy extroverts, calm introverts, and everything in between.

So, I’m not being ageist.

Presbyphonia, or changes associated with the aging voice, is a real thing. If your voice sounds rough, shaky, or breathy, or you lose your voice often, presbyphonia may be catching up to you.

Muscles in our vocal chords weaken, shrink, and get dry as we age. Since nothing is more essential to speaking and training than our voices, is there anything we can do?

Whatever your age, use these tips to prevent the dread presbyphonia.

Anti Aging-Voice Care

1. Use It or Lose It

The research is clear. Those that use their voices regularly, (without yelling or excessive throat-clearing), maintain supple, normal voice quality. In fact, singers often avoid problems entirely.

So…sing! Hum! Talk! Tell stories! Read aloud! Just don’t whisper. Whispering causes more trauma to the larynx than normal speech.

2. Have fun with a straw

To stretch and strengthen the muscles of the voice, grab a straw and hum into it. Start with a wide straw and progress to a smaller one, such as a coffee stirrer. Start with “hmmm, hmmm”, and then imitate a siren. Do this about 10 minutes a day to build vocal stamina.

3. Work that Body

Decreased use and volume of the respiratory system is a major cause of presbyphonia. You need to get those lungs working! Swim, bike, run, play soccer, walk the dog, do anything that makes your heart pump. Your voice will thank you for it.

4. Find your Perfect Pitch

We enable presbyohonia by speaking at too high or low a pitch. To find your natural pitch, try saying “mm-hmm,” as if you’re agreeing with someone. Carry that note or pitch over as you begin a sentence. If you typically speak at a pitch that’s higher or lower than this, you may be putting undue strain on your voice.

Speakers, presenters, and trainers, I exhort you: follow these invaluable tips to keep your voice beautiful at any age. As Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, “The human voice is the organ of the soul.”

We’ve all been driven crazy by a presenter who overuses words like “you know”, “um”, and “like”. Surprisingly, research finds that these filler words serve an valuable purpose. Using them helps a presenter transition to what he or she will say next, and audiences appreciate a little break between thoughts.

However, let’s get back to the “being driven crazy” part. Overuse of these words is a great way to lose credibility. And contrary to popular belief, the overuse of junk words is usually NOT due to nervousness. Instead, the culprit is more typically the speaker’s lack of preparation.

If you want to keep an audience’s attention, you must practice your presentation out loud, in front of a mirror, anywhere between 3 to 5 times. This is the surest way to rid yourself of junk words. The following tips will help, too.

3 Steps to Getting Rid of Junk Words

1. Increase your awareness.

Enlist a friend or family member to listen as you tell a 2-minute story. Have them tabulate the number of “you knows”, “ums”, and “likes” they hear.

2. Make eye contact.

When you truly connect with audience members, your use of junk words diminishes. When speaking during a conference call, don’t pace or stare out the window. Turn your full attention to your notes and to what you are saying.

3. Pre-plan your transitions.

Smooth transitions make a speaker sound super-confident. They also help eradicate junk words. Try inserting these into your next presentation:

• “Let’s move on to…”,
• “Another important consideration is…”
• “Let’s transition to talking about…”

Rehearse your next presentation and follow the tips above…and you’ll never drive your audience crazy.

(Erad, 2008: Um…Slips, Stumbles and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean)

In my October newsletter, I asked “What’s going on with training?” More than 90 training professionals across the United States responded. THANKS to all who shared your experiences!

Communities Got Clean Water, Thanks to YOU

I promised to send a donation to the Global Women’s Water Initiative for each completed survey. Our collective donation helped to invest in a whole new generation of women water experts in developing countries around the world. (Survey results are still coming in, and you can still respond). THANK YOU!!

The Survey Told a Clear Story

“Sally”, the persona I will use to show the survey results, is a subject matter expert who presents training, just like 68% of you. She may well be a learning or human resources professional.

First, Picture Sally as a participant in an on-site, group training session at work. She loves it! Like 77% of survey respondents, Sally finds the interaction and feedback of on-sight, group training helps her learn best. Another persona, Richard, on the other hand, represents the smaller percentage (23%) of folks who prefer online training.

Now, picture Sally clenching her fists, wrinkling her forehead, and heaving a sigh. Although on-site training is her passion, she, like 75% of everyone else who responded, suffers from lack of time to hold enough of it in the workplace. (Only 20% of survey respondents identified “cost” as the biggest barrier to training.)

What Does This Mean?

Chances are that this survey only reinforces what you already know. Training’s biggest schism is that, although the great majority of us value classroom training the most, we can’t find the time to do it.

So–are there solutions? Here are some ideas:

• Short, online content can precede or follow a live training session to achieve maximum learning in the least amount of time.
• Use non-classroom tools (checklists, templates, job aids) to supplement classroom time.
• Many “Sallys” of the world need to master the skills to create both live and online learning opportunities.

(What other implications do YOU see?) Please let me know how you might use survey data to create effective training strategies for your organization.

Meanwhile, THANKS again to those who participated. Happy training to all!