As a trainer you get to choose how you will deliver the content of your training to the participants. It’s important to remember we all learn differently and just as important sitting and listening to someone read content to you, causes you to lose interest, causes you to get sleepy, or causes your mind to wander to other things. It’s your responsibility as a trainer to create an environment for all participants to learn and participate in.

There are many ways you can add different techniques to your training that allow participants to be active participants. Of course, you may use lecture to get your content across but you don’t have to stop there. You can add a stopping point periodically to quiz participants to see if they are indeed gaining knowledge on the subject. You can have small group discussions. People are usually more comfortable with smaller groups and smaller groups allow everyone a time to contribute their ideas or opinions. You can introduce case studies and allow time for participants to analyze and come up with solutions or suggestions to make things better in that situation. Question and answer sessions are always a good way to make sure everyone understands the point (or points) you are trying to get across. If participants feel comfortable role playing, this can be a fun and sometimes entertaining way to allow participants to practice what they are learning. You could set up demonstrations that allow participants to actively show you what they have learned from your training. The use of videos is popular and gives the participants a chance to see what you are talking about. Hand outs are oldies but goodies, they give you something to look back on to refresh your memory and act as a resource for you in the future.

Training may be required but it does not have to be boring or stressful for the participants. Of course, the planning is required of the trainer to make the training meaningful. If participants do not take the knowledge with them and put it into practice, have you really done a training?