How to be a Good Trainer and Be Entertaining
by Bob Shivley, Enerdynamics President and Lead Facilitator
As we wrote in our recent blog Facilitation is Key to Compelling Classroom Training, “Classroom-based learning will continue to play a vital role in the future of training. But the old way of delivering classroom training will not satisfy today’s learners. No longer will PowerPoint-based, front-of-the-classroom lectures to passive listeners be tolerated.” In today’s world of learning, just knowing your content and being able to present it aren’t the only skills of a good trainer. Today’s audiences want to be entertained!
You may consider yourself a content expert who likes to teach but who is definiitely not an entertainer. Aren’t entertainers those popular folks who can carry a room with their natural skills resulting in effortless jokes and compelling stories? You'd be surprised at how much the entertainment factor is learned through practice and preparation. The comics you pay to see on Saturday night or the actors at your local theater put in long hours to be entertaining, so it stands to reason that an entertaining instructor also has to work at it. Here are some techniques you can implement:
- Learn to be a good storyteller, then do your homework to find stories that directly apply to the key learning points. Stories make content memorable, but of course, it has to be a story that makes learning memorable – otherwise your learners end up like fans the day after the Superbowl. They remember the commercial they loved but can’t remember what company is was advertising. Want ideas on how to be good storyteller? Read An Introvert’s Top Tips On How To Be A Great Storyteller. Two key things you’ll learn are to refine to key details and practice, practice, practice.
- Engage your learners in their own storytelling. There is nothing better to helping your learners to expand each other’s knowledge through specific stories about their workplace. But again, be sure to strive to keep the stories on point. Your learners will probably not have practiced and refined! A key technique is after an audience member has told a story, immediately use it to reinforce a learning point.
- Frequently switch up learning techniques. Go from lecture, to discussion, to a video, to group exercises. But do it intentionally and don’t just go for an exciting splash that doesn’t deliver a key point. Continually tie your activities back to key learning points.
- Engage learners in ongoing questions and answer dialogue. Conversation about interesting topics is entertaining, just listening to a lecture on even an interesting topic becomes less than entertaining quickly.
- Use demo props or other ways to psychically or visually demonstrate your content. Many people are no primary audio learners, so demonstrations can be a key means of learning while also being entertaining.
- Show your love for your topic. Folks who are passionate about their content and what it means to them personally are far more interesting than those who aren’t.
Of course just being an entertainer is not enough to be satisfied that you have the skills of a good trainer. But if you work on the above examples of how to be good entertainer, you will find you are further along the road toward being a quality facilitator whom learners will want to come back to time and time again.
Questions about Enerdynamics' seminars or its talented cast of trainers? Email us or call us at 866-765-5432 ext. 700.
