At the next Brain Friendly Learning Group meeting we will be visiting the topic of "Trainercraft" and we will have the privilege of having Lucie Pearmain, senior trainer  from Leeds Building Society giving us her take on what it means to her.

Meanwhile, I thought it would be interesting to start a new series of blogs, with my take on "Trainercraft", as training has been my career for the past 25 years.

My research into learning practices that help the retention of learning whilst engaging the learners have led me to look at: NLP, accelerated learning(aka brain friendly learning), facilitation tools, coaching and creativity techniques. A blend of all of these as well as a focus on achieving organisational results led me to write my Training Journal article "Quick off the mark" in which I lay bare my "5 secrets of Accelerated Learning".

The biggest secret is in fact that there is no secret! The information is out there but needs time and patience to uncover. The reasons for writing the article were that in all of the literature I researched on accelerated learning, none had a definitive answer to "What do you have to do to accelerate learning?"

To this end, my "5 secrets" fall in line with most of the models out there as they all include something about working with how the brain works - that is to make the session "Brain Friendly" - working with the latest neuroscience to get the best possible learning out of a session with your participants. Many mention that that the learners, especially as they are adults, should lead their own learning 70% of the time and the facilitator only 30% of the time - those familiar with Knowles Andragogy will know that when adult learners have control over their learning, it improves its effectiveness greatly.

Some of you may have already read my TJ article, but for those of you short of time here they are:

• Business focussed and learner centred objectives
• Knowledge about the way to make learning "Brain friendly"
• Learning that appeals to a variety of different types of learners
• A facilitator who leads the learning 30% of the time, allowing the learners to lead 70% of the time
• An environment conducive to learning-  safe but stimulating

Over the next few weeks (and maybe months depending on how busy I am), I will be looking at each one of these and weaving it into this topic called "Trainercraft" - not only the art and science of how to engage the learners, but also how to achieve the organisational results that you want!