Today I’ve got my Corporate Trainer hat— if you do too, I want to know: Do you use toys in your classroom session? I’ve been bringing what I call Fiddle Toys to my classroom learning sessions for nearly 20 years and they’re always a hit. I find that giving learners something active to do with…
Training Delivery
Managing Large Group Discussions
ENLIST YOUR AUDIENCE TO MAKE THE LOAD LIGHTER Ever go to a conference break out session and experience 90 minutes of lecture, paired with the never-ending Power Point slide deck? It’s not a very engaging experience, is it? Now, imagine attending a four-hour conference break out session, with 70 other people in the room with you….
Roles Plays Are OK
Over at the HR Bartender, Sharlyn Lauby has declared role plays in the training classroom passé, declaring Nobody Likes Role Plays. I agree with her assertion the traditional format in which the trainer announces, “Now, let’s put what we just learned into practice” and calling up two training participants to the front of the room…
Leadership by Design: Intersection of Art and Science
Yesterday I was talking “shop” with two colleagues. We’re all in the business of helping develop leaders and the talk turned to instructional design. One of us asked, “How do you go about finding an instructional designer who also has deep experience in creating leadership programs for senior-level staff?” We noodled this idea around…
Boo or Yay Manager?
One of my favorite experiential activities for management training is an oldie but goodie called the “Boo/Yay” exercise. In it, two volunteers separately try to guess a per-determined task such as walking to the front of the room and picking up a marker. The audience is instructed to give the volunteers feedback to help them…