6 Ways To Deliver A Successful Training Session

As a professional in a training industry delivering impactful sessions by to sharing your knowledge and skills is a major part of the job. However, standing up in front of an audience to instruct can be daunting even for experienced professionals.

Where do you start when preparing for a training? There are so many moving pieces to consider like developing learning objectives, choosing content, selecting activities, creating visual aids, practising delivery, and more. It can feel overwhelming to juggle all these elements and ensure participants walk away with meaningful takeaways.

Whether you’re a new trainer or have years of experience under your belt, there’s always room for improvement.

By following some tried-and-true best practices, you can engage your audience and ensure positive learning outcomes. Here are six key ways to help your next training session be a success.

1. Know your audience.

Take the time before your session to understand the expectations of your audience.  Find out things like their experience levels, interests, job roles, and any particular learning needs or goals. Tailor your content and delivery style accordingly.

For example, if you know the group includes both entry-level and senior-level professionals, make sure to provide basics as well as more advanced content. Catering to your audience in this way shows them you value their time and priorities.

2. Organize your content logically.

Training should follow a coherent flow from start to finish. Use an outline or agenda to structure your content in a logical order. Break the material into clear sections with transitions between topics.

Consider starting with an overview and objectives, then diving into each main point in order. Wrap up by reviewing key takeaways and allowing time for questions.

Signpost where you are throughout to help participants follow along. Logical organization makes the content easy to understand and retain.

3. Engage your learners with interactive techniques.

Avoid relying  solely on PowerPoint. Keep people engaged with a mix of interactive activities like polls, think-pair-shares, role plays, discussion prompts, and simulations.

This makes the content come alive compared to just reading slides. Plus, interactive learning strengthens the retention of the material. Deepen understanding through discussion and use visual aids and real-world examples when possible. Variety in your teaching approach helps accommodate different learning styles.

4. Check for understanding along the way.

Never assume that everyone is following because they seem attentive. Check for understanding regularly throughout your training. Pose occasional discussion questions, do knowledge checks with quick polls or quizzes, and ask participants to summarize what they just learned in their own words.

These practices help you catch any gaps and ensure you’re moving at the right pace. Adjust explanations or re-teach sections as needed based on feedback. By checking in, you demonstrate your commitment to comprehension.

5. Practice, practice, practice.

No training session will go perfectly the first time through. Make sure to thoroughly practice your presentation, and activities, and flow well in advance.

Time how long each section takes and look for areas that need more clarity or brevity. Practice in front of colleagues, friends or family. Record yourself to observe delivery, nonverbal communication and timing.

Rehearsing thoroughly will help you deliver with confidence and smoothness on the big day. Practising also helps you continuously improve sections over multiple iterations.

6. Use supportive visual aids.

 Well-crafted visual aids enhance all training by bringing the content to life. Consider using slides, handouts, posters, video clips, diagrams, models, and other props to outline and explain complex concepts.

Visuals accommodate different learning styles and keep people engaged. Make sure any visuals you include are clear and readable, and help illustrate your verbal explanations rather than distracting or including too much text.

Test them out beforehand to ensure all technology works correctly. Visual aids done right strengthen retention and amplify the impact of your training.

In conclusion, following these best practices will help you deliver successful training sessions. This results-oriented, interactive approach maximizes participant learning and retention of the material.

Ongoing improvement through the Training of Trainers course will allow you to keep providing informative, enjoyable, high-impact learning experiences.