“Welcome to the training on communication skills! Let’s quickly go to slide number 1 to show the objectives of today!” (….) “Before we start, let’s look at how the dictionary defines communication”. (voice over:) “It was at this moment, the trainer had lost half of the audience” 

We have seen so many training sessions start like this, it’s almost a crime against the noble training profession. Painful on so many different levels:

• It’s content driven, not participant driven. Participants are people of flesh and blood, who come into the training with expectations, emotions, pressure, pain, families, ailments, etc. etc. You can’t just ignore that and point at slide number 1! Why are they here? How do they feel about this topic? What do they know already?
• Sending info at people won’t make them learn! Remember the old saying: “communicated does not mean understood”. There are so many different ways you can approach the topic of “communication training”! How about a group discussion? How about role play? How about an exercise? How about a game? How about some case studies? 
• The WIIFM needs to be clear from the start, or adult learners will just tune out (at best), or get out (at worst). “If you cannot make clear What’s In It For Me, my mind will find something better to do”. 

Still, so many trainers start designing a training by opening PowerPoint; so many senior managers ask for “the training material” and expect to see a PowerPoint, and even participants get nervous when they enter the room and the projector is not on full blast. 

A proper training company (like no-nonsense.training) knows that a presentation can be a part of a training, but it shouldn’t be the main ingredient. If you want to visualize a model, for example, a presentation can be useful, but don’t mistake the presentation for a training!

Contact us for some proper training on various topics!