Course Outcomes

This introductory train-the-trainer course will:

  • Provide a variety of techniques for developing rapport and establishing comfort in the classroom.
  • Outline the essential knowledge and skills every good trainer must possess.
  • Prepare new trainers to deliver content with confidence.
  • Suggest several methods for engaging participants.

Course Overview

Facilitating a training session can be a scary endeavor for those who have never done it before. This basic train-the-trainer workshop addresses the fundamentals of facilitation and what it takes to effectively deliver a program.  From getting over stage fright to encouraging engagement, this hands-on program provides extensive opportunities to practice.  While this course suggests methods for stimulating interactions, the program’s primary focus is delivery techniques, not workshop design.

Program Objectives

At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

  • Describe the essential skills needed to facilitate well-run workshops.
  • Demonstrate how to be genuine and use their individual talents to connect with others.
  • Assertively manage a classroom.
  • Explain how to ask good questions.
  • Leverage personal energy to encourage interaction among participants.
  • Demonstrate active listening and its importance during a session.
  • Create short activities to increase engagement.

The following outline highlights some of the course’s key learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).

Workshop Outline

The Actors: What Makes a Good Trainer?

To start the program, we will talk about the skills good teachers and facilitators exhibit, and we will look at roles in a classroom and how new trainers can take the pressure off themselves by assigning jobs throughout a session.

Sincerity Shows: Projecting the Right Image

The workshop continues with a discussion about professionalism and what it takes to make a good first impression when leading a training workshop.  We will explore best practices for setting up, rapport building, making introductions, and treating adult learners with respect. During this segment, each participant will have an opportunity to practice introducing a session.

Classroom Management: Acting Assertively 

Our next topic is classroom management.  Assertive facilitators know how to effectively manage a group. They set up their sessions in such a way that participants feel engaged, listened to, and equal members in the learning process.  This course segment discusses facilitation styles and the value of adopting an assertive approach. Participants will assess their outlook toward the session participants and make plans to address any aggressive or passive tendencies – two sources of problems inexperienced trainers can unknowingly cause.

Nature’s Caffeine: Engaging with Energy

Practiced trainers know how to make time fly and learning fun.  They do it by leveraging their energy and encouraging purposeful interaction among participants. In this part of the workshop, we will talk about methods for building excitement in the classroom, planning interactions among participants, and moving skillfully through content in such a way that no one is watching the clock.

Asking the Right Questions: Getting the Right Answers

Good training is a dialogue, not a one-sided conversation.  In this part of the session, we will examine the use of questions in the classroom and how to leverage them throughout a program. To practice the concepts discussed, participants will work through several case studies and identify opportunities for encouraging interactions and the questions they can ask to start an exchange.

Can You Hear Me Now?: Listening

Questions are one piece of the facilitation puzzle, listening is the other.  In this portion of the course, we will look at the role active listening has in training and how to do it. During this part of the session, we will also talk about listening to the environment: managing difficult participants and handling challenges that can disrupt the learning process.

Takeaways: Dos and Don’ts for New Trainers

The last part of this course reviews the topics discussed throughout the day. To solidify their learning, participants will produce a checklist of dos and don’ts for use back on the job.

By the conclusion of this program, new trainers should have a basic level of comfort running a workshop on their own.