Quite often, I talk about the importance of making training sessions hands-on and interactive to utilise the various learning styles of the student, whether they be visual, audio or kinaesthetic or a mix of same, especially if the session is a lengthy one, running longer than one hour.
Generally, after about an hour, participants tend to get fidgety in their seat (at least, I know I do, big time!) and once that happens, the mind starts to wander, too – and then they’re gone!
In this post, I’ve listed nine things that you can do as a trainer to help alleviate that fidgetiness and motivate your students so that they can get the most out of your sessions – no matter how long they go for!
1. Make your training fun! Use energisers, games, puzzles, celebrations, colour; convey an upbeat, positive attitude and interest in the subject.
2. Create an atmosphere in which everyone is comfortable; follow the guidelines for giving effective feedback.
3. Demonstrate that learning will be useful.
4. Be enthusiastic – if you’re not, why should they be?
5. Change something – your training method, tone of voice, pace of presentation, the way people are grouped.
6. MOVE! Work the room.
7. Stimulate curiosity through relevant questions.
8. Incorporate an element of surprise or suspense.
9. Help everyone feel successful; publicly track and draw attention to progress towards objectives; give positive feedback.
What other ways can you think of to motivate your students? What motivates you most in your own learning? I’ll start off by saying that what motivates me in the learning environment is a trainer that is really bright, bubbly and positive, because they are the types of people that I enjoy being around in general and really get me going, too! Now, it’s your turn...
To your training and learning success.
One Response
Motivating Learners?
I like most of these ideas and do use them, though I must admit there are two that I am not keen on; either using them or to have used against me!