Posted by Rohan Agarwal (Knowledge Buddy)

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Recently I again came across a popular saying… “One should learn from one’s own mistakes..!!” But to leverage the learning opportunities, one has to also learn from others’ mistakes. 

As I prepare myself to take the training sessions for open source software, I felt it would be a great opportunity to learn the DOs and DON’Ts from the other training sessions that I have attended. Of course the learning process never ends and knowledge only increases when shared. So I share what I learnt in the recent past about Training Sessions.

Before the session 

• Prepare the presentation in advance and go through it thoroughly: In one of the sessions, after I went inside the room, I found the instructor making changes in the slides that were to be presented. The first impression that I got was – “The instructor has not prepared himself. It is probably the first time he is presenting these slides.”

 

• Never assume that your audience knows all basics: It generally happens that instructors choose to skip the basics. However, there is a possibility that the audience may not know the basic terms and features. So, even when it is an advanced training session, it is very important to quickly revisit the basics as it would ensure that everyone is on the same platform.  

 

Start of the session

• Introduce yourselves, your organization and your session suitably: A proper introduction will ensure that the audience understands you and your organization well. The agenda of the session should also be presented to the audience so that they understand the structure and flow of the session.

 

• Relate yourself with audience: A training session cannot be effective if the trainer doesn’t associate himself with the audience. It is very important for a trainer to understand the objective – “Why are the people sitting for this session..??”

 

• Respect your audience: Nobody is perfect, neither are you. It is a very high possibility that your audience may know more than you about certain aspects of your topic. Even the best preparation cannot ensure a zero probability of the above case. Therefore, the trainer should never be egoistic about knowledge and should respect his audience.

 

• Never mention the weaknesses at the beginning: Even if it is a good practice to share the positive and negative points about the topic of your presentation, the trainer should ensure that the negative points are not kept at the beginning of the session. They should be always shared at the end so that the audience doesn’t lose interest during the session.

 

During the session

• Follow timelines strictly: The trainer should follow the structure/ agenda of the presentation in accordance with the laid out timeline. This enables the audience to structure their own thought process and also to manage their time, thereby focusing on the content.

 

• Mobile phones should be on switch-off/ silent mode: Even as it is a part of professional etiquettes to put the mobiles on switch off/ silent mode, it is all the more important for the trainer to do the same. In case there is a very important call, which has to be attended in midst of the session, the trainer should seek an apology and move outside the room to take the call.

 

• Never talk negative about a particular community/ country/ religion: During the session, the trainer should never talk anything negative about any section of the human-society. In one of the sessions I attended, the trainer said in a negative tone – “You know the mentality of the Indian consumers is that they always want this…” Now even without judging the correctness of the statement, in my mind, I built an impression that the trainer didn’t respect the Indian Consumer segment.

 

• No informal talks; slangs should not be used: Even if the trainer is highly enthusiastic and passionate about a certain point and wants to state it with more assertiveness, he should not do so using slangs or informal talks. There are always better and professional ways to do the same which are more welcome and appreciated by all kinds of audience. Nobody appreciates informal talks/ slangs.

 

• Always welcome questions and never get panicked: When a question is put across to the trainer, it should be perceived as a good sign because it proves that the audience is paying attention to the content of the session. The trainer should always welcome questions in a humble manner. There may be situations when the answer to the question is not known. These questions should be parked and the query should be resolved during the breaks or after the session.

 

• Long questions should be parked to be answered offline: Long questions generally are a result of one’s tendency to enter into an argument. This puts an impact on the structure of the overall presentation and therefore, should be avoided. To handle such individuals, the trainer should take up their queries during the breaks or at the end of the session.

 

• Listen to the question patiently before trying to answer: Some trainers show an anxiety to answer specific questions and many a times, don’t even listen to the complete question. This not only creates a possibility that the query is not resolved satisfactorily (as the trainer would not even know the complete question), but also conveys a negative attitude on the part of the trainer by communicating disrespect towards the audience.

 

• Talk more about the product/ service rather than credentials/ customers: Although it is always better to quote examples and refer to cases during the session, they should never overcast the actual content. Case-studies and examples should always be used to support a point and not as individual points themselves.

 

• Be careful while giving live demos: Live demos of the product/ service sometimes make it easier for the audience to understand. However, they also pose certain risks. Any mistakes/ failures during the live demo will create a highly negative impact. Besides this, live demos also have a tendency to take the discussion on a tangent, thereby hampering the original structure of the presentation. If possible, live demos should be given at the end of the session. 

 

After the session

• Seek feedback from the audience: A genuine feedback provides an opportunity for the trainer to improve on the content and delivery for the future. It also helps judge the effectiveness of the session.

 

• Resolve the questions that were left unanswered: All the queries that were kept for the end of the session should be resolved to the satisfaction of the audience. Any follow up required after the session should be done immediately and should not be procrastinated.

Tags: Tips, Trainers, Training