Developing learning material

One of the key skills any trainer needs to have is the ability to create an informative, fun and interactive learning session. But it is not only the content that you need to consider you have to think about people's learning styles....lets be honest do you want to sit through hundreds of powerpoint slides?  That really is 'death by powerpoint'.

Consider using group exercises based on real life case studies....make it real for people even though they are sitting in an unfamiliar room 'on a course'.  You can tailor the study to the industry that you are delivering to with little extra preparation.  Cost of materials and your time has to be taken into consideration and some of the best exercises I use are the simplest.  Take spaghetti and marshmallows for example...a fun interactive way to get a group of individuals to work as a team on a project and all for the cost of the materials. So group exercises don't have to cost the earth....the learning is in the discussion that you need to facilitate after the event.

When developing the material it is also really helpful if you are familiar with the venue so that you know you will have plenty of space in which to work, or not as the case may be.  So some exercises have to be table top, others need floor space and if you want to get adventurous you can think about outdoors as well!!  If you are going to do the latter please think about the health and safety of your delegates and your contingency plan for the good ol' British weather.

Until the next time...