Category: Training Development

3 Ways to Involve Participants from the “Get-Go”!

What’s the best way to assure your training participants to “turn off” the first second you open your mouth? Just follow conventional wisdom and open your session by introducing yourself and providing your credentials.

Instead, generate curiosity, interest and motivation from the outset. Use a “Hook” before introducing yourself.

Three Ideas for Engaging Hooks

Quickie Quiz: Using either a half-sheet of paper or a slide, create a 3-question quiz that relates to your topic. The best questions are slightly provocative, controversial, or amusing. Ask participants to take the quiz the minute they sit down. Throughout the class, answer and clarify the issues.

Option: For more up-front engagement, ask participants to share their responses with a partner before you formally begin. Be sure you have a way to bring their attention back to you. (Use a bell, chime, etc.)

Questions: Carefully constructed questions work great. 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 raising hands or standing up.

Guidelines: Be sure to ask two questions or more. Instruct people to respond physically, and wait for them to do so. The best questions include a bit of emotion (laughter is great, but so is a smattering of anxiety or intrigue).

Visualization: This technique gives even “dry” subjects the emotional content you need to hook participants’ 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, introduce yourself, and state the learning outcomes.

Remember: To increase interest and motivation from the get-go, hook your participants immediately!

October 2, 2019
How to “Pump Up” What Students Remember
As a trainer, have you ever wondered why the information you provide doesn’t always “stick?”

What do You Know About Memory?

Take this quiz to find out:
1. Learners who can perform a new learning task well are likely to retain it. (T/F)
2. Immediate memory will dump input in 30 seconds or less. (T/F)
3. Lifting weights improves memory and cognitive function better than aerobic exercise . (T/F)
How well did you do?
1. FALSE. Even if a learner performs a new learning task well, chances are high it will not be permanently stored in memory.
2. TRUE.
3. FALSE. Although no studies have found a link between weight training and cognitive function, aerobic exercise improves memory and cognitive function of both adults and children.
How Can I “Pump Up” What My Students Remember?

Students can only process input intently for about 10 minutes before losing focus. To prevent the material from fading, we must quickly use it in a different way. In training, this could involve applying the information through an activity, like solving a case study, building a model, talking about how they’ll use it on the job, etc.

In order for information to encoded into the learner’s long-term memory, it must meet two criteria:
- Does the information make sense? (Does the learner understand it?)
- Is the information relevant? (Can the learner connect it to past learning and current needs?)
Think of the training YOU do. How well does it meet these 2 criteria for helping your students to remember?

Making Better Training

You can probably guess by now that the odds are stacked against your learners’ remembering everything you teach. Here are 3 helpful, easy techniques to help boost retention:

1. Use humor.
Increased oxygen and the positive feelings that result from laughter improve the probability that students will remember what they learned.

2. Make clear what the students will be able to do as a result of the lesson.
State the learning outcomes at the beginning of class, and return to them as you move from one chunk of content to the next. Be sure to test throughout to make sure your students are actually getting it.

3. Provide prompt, specific, and corrective feedback.
Frequent, brief quizzes will build retention better than one large test.

Remember: You CAN boost your students’ retention. Just use these simple techniques.
July 1, 2019
Enthusiasm in Training

As a trainer or presenter, enthusiasm goes a long way in making you the best you can be. As your joy excites your participants, their energy rises to meet yours. People feel good. Work gets done.

But what if your enthusiasm has taken a hit? How can you regain a sense of joy while giving a presentation or training a group?

These five practical steps will help.

1. Create a list of 10 positive aspects about the subject. Your brain may balk at doing this, but you’ll be forced to see the subject in a new way. Its “newness” will stimulate you in unexpected ways.

2. Do something physical. When your blood pumps aerobically, it helps wash away your “blaahs.” Don’t wait — you can take a walk right now.

3. Visualize yourself being enthusiastic. Take a moment to close your eyes. See yourself as you would from the outside, feeling fantastic and emanating positive energy. Seeing yourself this way can kick-start your acting this way.

4. Smile. Research has shown that when you smile, even if that smile doesn’t come easily, your brain chemistry changes. Try smiling and feeling joyful, even if it is difficult. You’ll be surprised how it “ups” your mood.

5. Get excited about the success of those around you. When you express authentic enthusiasm about what others are doing, your own mood improves. You start feeling excited about what you’re doing, too.

Keep the vitality and magic of life as you train, facilitate or present. It will be your gift not only to others, but to yourself.

July 4, 2017
The Myth of the Facilitator
Here’s a pet peeve of mine: Adult educators who call themselves “Facilitators”…and then go on to give a traditional, one-sided, PowerPoint-heavy training session. I estimate that 87.5% of trainers who call themselves “facilitators” are lying. Why? Because they model few skills of facilitation.

Well Then, What is a Facilitator?

A facilitator is content-neutral. Because of this, the most appropriate role for a facilitator is that of meeting leader. In this role, he or she can extract insights and enable collaboration.

The trainer is a content expert. The trainer’s role is to elicit behavior change in participants. This behavior change is called learning. A trainer’s role is to ensure that learning of specific content takes place. (That’s why so many trainers just tell, tell, and tell!)

So What About “Facilitator of Learning”?

This term is less popular than plain old “facilitator”, but to me, it is the gold standard for which all trainers should strive. A trainer can be considered a “facilitator of learning” only when he or she:
- shuts up (a lot),
- asks meaningful, provocative, open-ended questions, remaining aware of group dynamics at all times, and
- provides many opportunities for participants to figure things out for themselves.
Put most simply, a facilitator of learning ASKS. Asking creates disequilibrium and curiosity in participants. Disequilibrium requires participants to adapt, to question themselves, and ultimately to change. Learning IS change!

How to Be a Facilitator of Learning, not Just an Authority Who Spews Content?

If you strive to see behavior change in your participants and are willing to drop the more comfortable role of constantly “telling”, and these guidelines will help.
1. Ask questions.
Plan and integrate questions that will spur not-so-easy thinking and feeling.
1. Be provocative.
Be willing to name dynamics, factions, or hidden assumptions in the group…with the positive intention of causing disequilibrium and curiosity.
1. Encourage experimentation.
Balance your “Telling” role with opportunities for participants to explore, create, and make mistakes.

When trainers facilitate learning instead of staying on the safer shore of “telling”, we often feel more vulnerable and closer in status to our participants. This unpredictability may not feel comfortable. Each of us must decide for ourselves what type of adult educators we want to be…and be honest in what we call ourselves.

Sign up for Guila Muir’s newsletter to receive monthly tips and techniques.
February 3, 2017
Not Just Your Grandmother’s Pun!

My grandma was “word-clever” almost until the day she died. I especially remember her corny puns and plays on words, which made me both laugh and groan. Researchers Alan Seidman, of Johnson and Wales University, and Stephen C. Brown, of the University of Alaska, say “Puns are a humorous way to get adult learners to think more critically about any subject.”

Puns Can Help Adults Learn

Believe it our not, research has found that we can use puns to help adult learners in the classroom. Puns represent a true form of critical thinking as the brain stretches itself to find dual meaning for certain words (Lems, 2013). Puns can also improve memory, because the internal incongruity they create helps students recall information (Summerfelt et al., 2010).

Try using puns you grew up with, or others you find on websites. You can used them as Hooks, to reinforce a point about a particular topic, or as pun-filled riddles. Here’s an example of the latter, used in an adult geography class:

Q: What is the capital of Antartica?

A: The letter “A.”

A couple I’ve enjoyed:

Sleep? There’s a nap for that.

If you take an exam in a freezing cold room, you might become a testicle.

So have fun as you use puns to bring your classroom alive!

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 trainer: www.guilamuir.com

© Guila Muir

January 28, 2016
Get ‘Em Moving!

Anyone who jogs regularly will tell you that they feel sharper both emotionally and mentally after a run. But did you know that exercise also “pumps up” learning?

The science is clear. Not only can exercise work at least as well as antidepressants to improve moods, it improves people’s learning ability.

One recent study showed that participants learned vocabulary words 20% faster following exercise than they did before exercise. Another experiment revealed that adults’ cognitive flexibility improved after one 35- minute treadmill session at a moderate pace.

What Does This Mean for Trainers?

The best trainers acknowledge that adults learn better when they connect their heads to their bodies. So get your students moving! Use these three strategies:

1. Bring content alive by using relevant, engaging activities.

2. Periodically lead the class in some quick, stand-up stretching.

3. Take frequent breaks. (My preference is to take one 10-minute break every 60 to 75 minutes.)

Remember-we learn with our entire bodies. Don’t treat your students as if they are just “heads” alone!

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 trainer: www.guilamuir.com

© Guila Muir.

December 6, 2015
When a Trainer is a Presenter: Five Top Platform Skills
Great trainers must be great presenters as well. I believe that participants learn most from highly active classes that imbed great design and content. However, I also know that the trainer’s presentation skills can help or hinder learning.

What are Platform Skills?

Platform skills are presentation behaviors that a trainer uses to transmit content effectively. Not to be confused with skills that guarantee participation (which, in general, only trainers use), both presenters and trainers must demonstrate excellent platform skills to get their messages across. Platform skills is one exciting arena where training and presentation cross paths.

Five Top Platform Skills for Trainers

Prepare for your next training session by making a commitment to the behaviors below. Then, ask a peer to observe you and let you know how you did.

I compiled these criteria by researching some of the best resources in the training field, and have listed them in no particular order.

The trainer:
- Clearly communicates the session’s topic, goal, and relevance to the participants at the beginning of the session.
- Effectively manages nervousness so that it does not distract the participants.
- Uses humor, analogies, examples, metaphors, stories, and delivery methods other than lecture or PowerPoint.
- Faces the participants most of the time in a “full-frontal” body position.
- Summarizes and closes the class with energy.
Want more tips to improve your trainings? Learn how Guila Muir’s Instructional Design Workshop can help you to create powerful, effective training sessions.

Learn how to present with pizzazz using the Kite Method with Guila’s Instructional Design book.

Guila Muir, a premiere trainer of trainers, facilitators, and presenters, has helped thousands of professionals improve their training, facilitation, and presentation skills. Find out how she can help transform you into a great trainer.
May 9, 2015
Which is More Important? How You Design or How You Present?
After observing trainers for years, I realized one counter-intuitive, yet powerful, truth. Design (the way you organize your training session or presentation) often trumps “how” you present it in terms of effectiveness. That is, the rational, linear, and creative planning you used to develop your session may ensure your success MORE than the way you use your voice, hands, or body language.

Shocking! Isn’t using your charming personality enough? Isn’t it enough to “go with the flow,” enjoying your interactions with the audience (or just the sound of your own voice)?

When I’ve asked audience members how much they learn from flamboyant, charismatic speakers, I often hear “I really enjoyed the speaker. But once I thought about it, I realize I didn’t get anything out of the session.”

Three Magic Elements

So what about the opposite type of presenter? She may be severely introverted. She may even slouch and not make much eye contact. Of course, she, too, can ruin a session. BUT: if this presenter has:
- Designed her session using a logical flow of information,
- “Baked” interaction between the participants (not just with the presenter) into her design, and
- Reduced her dependence on PowerPoint,
The chances are high that her participants will leave her session feeling grateful. They may not remember being “bowled over” by the speaker, but they will have gained practical knowledge or skills they can actually use.

The Role of Speaker Energy

An ounce of energy is worth a pound of technique. Roger Ailes

What is the one thing that would improve that second speaker’s delivery? The simplest ingredient is energy itself. All audiences respond to the level of energy a speaker exudes. That’s why some speakers have come to rely on energy alone.

First, you must build an extremely robust foundation. Do that by integrating the three elements above into your session’s design. Then rehearse your session, exuding a much higher level of energy than you would use in any other professional situation. Rehearse it out loud, several times. Maintain that same energy level each time.

When it’s “Showtime,” you will be amazed at the positive effect that your good design, combined with your high energy, has on your audience. They will remember YOU, and most importantly, they will remember your message.

Want more tips to improve your speaking self? Learn about Guila Muir’s Presentation Skills Workshop.

Guila Muir is a premiere trainer of trainers, facilitators, and presenters. 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
February 23, 2015
Transform Your Training with This Easy Tool
Does your training environment sometimes feel dull (or even dead) as you deliver content? Does the environment itself feel uninspired? Wouldn’t it be great to have a magic wand you could use to inject your training with energy!

Such a “magic wand” exists. Called Pair and Share, it is arguably the easiest and most effective training tool you can use. It always increases interaction, whether your class consists of four participants or four hundred. Importantly, Pair and Share also deepens every single participants’ interest and retention.

So…Is Pair and Share Magic?

Once you try it, you may think so. Pair and Share is simply a structured opportunity for your participants to process information in groups of two.

Why Does Pair and Share Work?

This super-easy technique does three important things. It:
- Helps store information in long-term memory
- Allows participants to reflect on content and make it their own
- Increases individual accountability
You can sprinkle Pair and Share several times throughout any training session to increase participation while reinforcing your message.

How to Use Pair and Share

Before or after providing content, guide the participants to form pairs with the person sitting next to them. Instruct them to process a specific, relevant point in the material. Your instructions should force them to work through the topic’s application to their own lives or work. Provide a total amount of time for the exercise—perhaps 30 seconds to one minute.

Select from the following verbs, or use others, when you give instructions.

“Turn to your partner and …
- List
- Discuss
- Fix
- Do
- Figure out
- Fill in
- Share
- Explain (etc.)
Examples:

Please turn to your neighbor and …
- Name five types of safety gloves and what each are used for.
- Define “saturation level”.
- Tell them the most important fact you have learned in the last ten minutes and why.
Believe it or not, this simple technique can determine if your participants remember or forget essential pieces of content. Sprinkle Pair and Shares liberally throughout your training sessions, and watch the classroom come alive!

Want more tips to improve your trainings? Learn how Guila Muir’s Instructional Design Workshop can help you to create powerful, effective training sessions.

Guila Muir , a premiere trainer of trainers, facilitators, and presenters, 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 trainer!
January 12, 2015
What’s To Love About Training? A Selfish List for Trainers

Training is expensive and energy-intensive. In Robert Mager’s words, training should be considered an “intervention of last resort” to fix a problem. And as more and more organizations adopt a Human Performance Technology (HPT) orientation, training can play a progressively diminished role.

So, trainers, let’s be selfish for a minute. Even in the larger HPT picture, training has value. Truly great training–that is, training that excites participants about learning and changes their behavior as a result–relies hugely upon our passion.

I’d like to share my favorite things about training. I hope this list invigorates and stimulates your passion.

So what’s to love?

1. The energy exchange between the trainer and the participants.

If you are an extrovert, the interaction between you and your participants is your life’s blood. It motors your soul and helps get you through the drier parts of your work responsibilities.

If you are an introvert, this exchange provides a uniquely rewarding opportunity to share your knowledge with others. (It also provides you a legitimate reason to “hole up” and treat yourself after the session.)

2. Seeing the light bulbs pop

Nearly all my clients say this is their favorite part of training. Few things reward a trainer more than hearing participants say, “NOW I get it!”

3. Knowing you “did good” in the world.

We trainers have the right to say, “I helped people learn and change. In my small way, I changed people’s lives for the better.”

If hearing the words “I never thought I could do this, but now I can” is the biggest compliment you can get as a trainer, rest easy. You are in the right business. Your passion is a priceless gift to the world of Human Performance Technology. Happy New Year!

Find out how Guila Muir can help transform you from a boring expert to a great trainer.

December 4, 2014