Want to Design Training that Sticks? Make it Concrete.

Before I deliver a training session in front of a real audience, I often drag a few colleagues into a training room to do a rehearsal and get feedback.  The most common piece of feedback I receive is some variation of the following statement: “Brian, that was really interesting.  It was nice to know about that topic.  But how can it actually be used in my job?”

It’s an honor to be asked to present an area of expertise in front of a group.  And sometimes it’s a little too easy to be so passionate about a topic that I lose sight of the fact that not everyone enjoys geeking out over concepts like adult learning or racial equity.  Oddly enough, my participants often simply want to know how my topic can help them do their jobs better.

Here are a few ways that feedback from a rehearsal has led to a more concrete final draft of my training lesson plans:

Topic

Instead of just…

Add…

Learning Styles
  • Giving a learning style inventory
  • Pointing out examples in my lesson plan   catering to auditory, visual, kinesthetic learners
  • Pointing out that presenters often cater primarily to their own learning style
  • Activity in which participants brainstorm   specific activities they would actually use in their own presentations that cater to auditory, visual and kinesthetic learners
IT Training
  • Pointing out features of the system
  • Dummy examples to be entered based upon the ways the system will be used in real life
  • (If the system generates reports) Ways in which data from the system can be analyzed to improve individual and organizational performance
Project Planning
  • Defining various terms used in a project plan   (problem definition, risk mitigation, etc.)
  • Making a commitment to use project planning tools
  • Distributing blank project planning tools and having
    participants complete a project plan based upon an actual project they are/will
    be working on

How are you making sure that your next presentation goes beyond geeking out on theory and actually gets into concrete ways your learners will be able to apply your concepts to their jobs?

The Train Like A Champion Blog is published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  If you think someone else might find this interesting, please pass it along.  If you don’t want to miss a single, brilliant post, be sure to click “Follow” at the top of the page!

Table of Contents

Articles Similar to Want to Design Training that Sticks? Make it Concrete.

Facilitator Strategies for Engaging Challenging Training Participants
ILT & VILT
Brian Washburn

Facilitator Strategies for Engaging Challenging Training Participants

Instructor-led training success depends on how you handle the human dynamics, not just your content. Brian Washburn breaks down the four most common “personas”—from the dominating extrovert to the quiet observer—and shares practical, crowdsourced tactics to keep every session on track.

Subscribe to Get Updates from Endurance Learning

Brian Washburn, Author

Brian Washburn
CEO & Chief Ideas Guy

Enter your information below and we’ll send you the latest updates from our blog. Thanks for following!

Endurance Learning's Training Activity Cookbook (updated) - Best Free L&D books - filled with 86 free training activities

Download the Training Activity Cookbook (Expanded Edition)

The Endurance Learning Training Activity Cookbook is new and improved with 11 newly added icebreaking/energizing activities and a total of 75 instructional activities that you can incorporate into your training programs!

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the Endurance Learning Activity Cookbook.

Facilitator Evaluation Rubric - 2 page spread

Download the UPDATED Facilitator Evaluation Rubric

Enter your email below, and we’ll send you the PDF of the rubric to help you assess the skills of someone delivering training.

Download Debriefing Questions by Training Intent

Enter your email below, and we’ll send you the list of questions you can start using today.

debriefing questions by training intent

Download Putting Together a Train-the-Trainer Session!

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of Putting Together a Train-the-Trainer Program.

Putting Together a Train-the-Trainer Program

Free Elearning Consultation

Brian Washburn and the team at Endurance are eager to learn how we can help you create more effective and engaging elearning for your learners.

Get a Train-the-Trainer Quote

Brian Washburn and the team at Endurance are excited to customize the Endurance Learning Train-the-Trainer session for the needs of your trainers.

Find Your L&D Career Path

Explore the range of careers to understand what role might be a good fit for your L&D career.

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the What’s Possible in L&D Worksheet.

What's possible in L&D

Let's Talk Training!

Brian Washburn

Brian Washburn
CEO & Chief Ideas Guy

Enter your information below and we’ll get back to you soon.

Download the Feedback Lesson Plan

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the lesson plan as a PDF.

feedback lesson plan
MS Word Job Aid Template

Download the Microsoft Word Job Aid Template

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the Word version of this template.

Download the Free Lesson Plan Template!

Enter your email below and we’ll send you a Word document that you can start using today!

free lesson plan template
training materials checklist

Download the Training Materials Checklist

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the Training Materials Checklist.

Subscribe to Endurance Learning for updates

Get regular updates from the Endurance Learning team.