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Training a class or course can sometimes be a rather daunting proposition, especially if you are not used to the experience.

Here at Silicon Beach Training we run a regular, hands-on Train the Trainer course which provides the skills required and the opportunity to practive them in a safe environment, receiving feedback from our award-winning trainers and other attendees.

However here are our top 10 tips which should make the experience a lot easier:

1. Organise yourself properly

Take time to prepare your training course. Try and make it a structured, well thought out and interesting lesson. Go further than reading a manual or practicing with the programs and applications. One tactic is to relate the topic to a real life situation or a prior experience as this will help the audience engage.

2. Arrive early

Make sure that you have the time to set up and organise your lessons before the students arrive, get used to the room and organise your files etc so you know where everything is. This is even more important if, as well maybe the case, your lesson involves the use of computers as you don’t want to waste half the lesson getting them started.

3. Introduce yourself

First impressions are important and will often set the tone for the rest of the lesson, so try and make your introduction friendly but also professional. What you want to come across as is confident, knowledgeable and approachable.

4. Ask questions

This will help your students engage and also test to see if they understand or are listening. However don’t be too critical if they don’t understand, some people take longer than others and making them feel under pressure and bad about it will only dent their confidence and make it harder for them to make progress. A good question to ask a lot is “does anyone not understand.” It is the entire point that they do understand and some can be rather reluctant or too shy to come forward off their own bat, however if you give them this opportunity it will appreciated.

5. Don’t rush

This will only help confuse the people you are supposed to be trying to train and muddle you up. If this is a result of nerves then just take a deep breath and relax, the students aren’t hear to judge just to learn.

6. Don’t take anything for granted

For instance it would be wrong to assume that you don’t need to go over an area in sufficient depth because you feel it is easy as it could very well be the case that someone else doesn’t and greatly needs to go over it.

7. Be flexible

If a training method is clearly not working for someone then it is up to you to find one that does, there is no point in wasting your time and trying to teach someone something in a way in which they can’t understand.

8. Be sympathetic

Think back to when you first started and what it is like. With this in mind it is far better to be sympathetic to someone who is struggling, than annoyed or mean, as this may only exacerbate matters. In order to train people to the best of your potential you need a good learning atmosphere.

9. Don’t bluff

If you don’t know something then admit it, this is a far better option than guessing, as the truth will doubtless come out eventually. No one will blame you if you don’t know something, just as you would not blame others, in fact your conceding that you don’t know might help others to feel confident enough to ask you for help in the future.

10. Get Feedback

None of us are perfect, but we can all strive to be better. The only way to do this is by gathering feedback on the training sessions you deliver and acting on the responses. Hand out a short feedback form or questionnaire at the end of your training session. Provide the delegates with the opportunity to mark your delivery style, course content, structure and knowledge of the subject matter. Make sure you also give them the opportunity to leave comments as well as just marks (e.g. “how could this training course have been improved?”). Finally – people usually feel awkward about handing a feedback form directly to their trainer, so provide a box for them to put their completed forms in, or ask them to hand them in at the venue’s reception as they leave.

Further advice, hints and tips for trainers can be found in the Train the Trainer section of our Free Training Resources pages.

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learning environment, Tips for New Trainers, top tips, train the trainer, Train the Trainer course, training environment, Training Tips

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This entry was posted by Colin Welch on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 12:47 pm and is filed under New Free Resources, Personal Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.