It's Not Just About The Content

By Norma Smith Davis, Senior partner
 

The primary mistake a new trainer makes is to believe that a training day is all about the content. When I first began training I devoted 90% of my time to getting the content right. I agonized over all those wonderful words of wisdom, that fantastic quote, the best research available only to discover that unless I wanted to be a" talking head" I couldn't possibly cover all the material with real people in real training situations. Why? Because the best learning comes from doing. That means practice, interaction and experiences. In addition there are logistical considerations that promote learning, proper room set up, excellent handouts, advance notices, sign up processes. And finally there is trainer style, manner, pacing, and credibility.

Now I focus on this question: "What three things do I want people to walk out of this room knowing and remembering?". Then I focus 80 % of my design time answering those questions and designing experiences and practice opportunities for the participants to learn those three things. I spend the other 20% on the logistics, training room set up and my own delivery and style so that nothing in the room or in me detracts from the learning. But most of all I remember that this training is not about me. It's not just about the subject…it's about the learner