Written by: Melissa It happens every four years in the United States; it’s time for the presidential election. A crucial part of any election campaign is the debate between the candidates. This is the candidate’s chance to persuade the voters, inspire trust, and ultimately get votes. A debate can be highly competitive, and when competition is fierce, projecting confidence can tip the scales in the speaker’s favor. As a speaker myself, I found myself critiquing the public speaking skills of the candidates rather than their policies. After watching (and critiquing) the first two debates during this recent presidential election cycle, I felt compelled to research public speaking (specifically, speaking with confidence), to see what the experts had to say. One such expert is Carole Hale Alter, author of The Credibility Code (one of my favorite books on public speaking). Her book outlines five simple steps for speaking with confidence. And while you may not be planning on running for President of the United States, chances are you’re a training professional and/or a public or motivational speaker who not only needs to be competent, but has to look competent. Below are Ms. Alter’s five essential tips for projecting confidence and competence: Keep your head level. This means no raising or dropping your chin, which can appear either aggressive or submissive. Speak with optimal volume. If you’re a Seinfeld fan, you’ll remember the "low-talker" episode. Even in business, people often speak too softly or drop their volume at the end of sentences. Recognize the difference between adequate and optimal volume. Use a microphone if you’re soft-spoken (like the Presidential candidates do). Hold eye contact for three to four seconds. Eye contact is a key indicator of confidence. Yet there is a difference between making eye contact and holding eye contact. Duration is critical! In the Western world, holding eye contact for three to four seconds is optimal. Keep your hands in the gesture box. In poker, a "tell" is a subtle signal revealing the strength or weakness of a player’s hand. Gestures can be telling to others. The most effective hand gestures happen inside the "gesture box," no higher than your sternum, no lower than your hips, and no wider than your shoulders. Avoid using speech fillers or uptalk. Fillers are superfluous sounds or words, such as "um" and "you know." Uptalk is misplaced upward vocal inflections that sound like question marks at the end of sentences. Today, both vocal patterns are widespread in our culture. Be vigilant in not picking up these habits, as both can erode your credibility. Experts agree that watching and critiquing other speakers (be it the Presidential candidates or others) can be helpful for your own growth and development. But when it comes right down to it, there’s nothing like actually doing. Practice, Practice, Practice! Consider attending our one-day workshop, "Polish Your Presentation Skills," for practical application and valuable feedback. I, uh, hope to, uh um, see you in a workshop like, uh, soon! How do you use instructional techniques or presentation skills to project confidence?

Written by: Linda We know, as trainers, how important it is to prepare. We must prepare and learn our content, we must prepare our classroom to make it inviting for our participants, and we must prepare ourselves and practice our delivery. And yet, how does all this preparation help us when unexpected events occur and rain down upon us? We are all familiar with Murphy’s Law, "If anything can go wrong, it will." I often like to reflect upon my experiences as an actress. I was once in a play when I had an unfortunate wardrobe malfunction during one of the performances. I could have panicked (inside I did). Instead, staying in character, I improvised and my fellow actors improvised with me. We had to be in the moment and go off script. The audience, of course, was clueless and just thought it was part of the scene. This was an unexpected event. I’m sure, as trainers, we all have stories to tell about the unexpected situations that occur in training. However it begs the question, how do we handle these situations effectively and with grace? Know your content - As an actor I knew my lines and the overall script so well I was able to improvise, be in the moment, and eventually get us back on script without the audience having a clue. We actually have more freedom as trainers because we are not "locked into" a script. However, the more we know our content, the better prepared we are to deal with any unexpected occurrences and get back on track with ease. It’s also important to know that if we do forget something, the participants don’t have our lesson plan. Know your classroom - Blocking is a term we use in theatre which identifies where everyone should be on the stage at any given time. We also need to know our props and where they should be. Knowing where everything and everyone was on the stage during my mishap allowed me to improvise with confidence. It is no different for us as trainers.  We should know where everything is in the classroom and we need to check that it is working, particularly when technology is involved. We should also know our "blocking" in the classroom. Walk around, sit, stand, and become so familiar with the room that it almost feels like home. This may be challenging if you are in different rooms or traveling to different spaces. In these situations, I always ask to see the room the night before, or arrive early to get familiar with the space. Practice your delivery - Actors rehearse extensively before actually getting on the stage to perform. This type of preparation allowed me to improvise and think quickly on my feet. In addition to knowing our content, it is important to practice our delivery. We must remember to smile, use inflections, project our voices, use gestures and eye contact. Plan for contingencies - We have all experienced a fire drill which prepares us in the event of a fire. We should also plan for the unexpected "what ifs" by accessing previous experiences. For example, after my wardrobe malfunction, I always had a second and third look before entering the stage. Identify what has happened to you in the past that caught you off guard and create a plan to prevent it from happening again or prepare ways of handling it if it should. If you anticipate issues with technology, having handouts to distribute as backup is an example of being prepared for the unexpected. It’s impossible to predict everything that can happen; life would be boring if we could.  However, if we prepare, remain present and in the moment, we will discover that there is always something to learn from the unexpected. What instructional techniques do you use to prepare for the unexpected?

Written By: Lynne Imagine this: You’re driving on a long car trip and you get lost repeatedly because you did not put your final destination address in your GPS! "That would never happen," you might be saying to yourself! "I would never forget to put the destination address in my GPS! How silly!" Well trainers, believe it or not, some of us can get lost when training others because we do not properly write and include training objectives in our design process! Perhaps you’ve heard the expression, "If you don’t know where you’re going you might end up someplace else!" See what I’m driving at? In our Instructional Design for New Designers workshop we teach you the three main components that make up a well-written objective. First, you need to explain to the learner what they will be doing in that lesson or class (task statement). Next, you need to explain under what conditions they will be performing the task (condition).  Lastly, you need to explain how well they are supposed to perform the task (standard). How you write these three parts is up to you, but here are three additional tips on writing objectives: Keep them short! My journalism teacher once said to me, "Why tell them the story in 100 words when you can do it in 50!" The same principle applies to objectives. Use as few words as possible. Avoid using words that end in the letters "ly" as these words tend to be subjective. For example, when you write objectives avoid words like "successfully" or "efficiently." These words can have different meanings for different people. Keep the SMART goals acronym in mind as the same principles apply to writing objectives. When you write objectives, keep them specific, measureable, attainable, relevant, and timely. It is important to spend some time writing objectives with all these things in mind, but do not get carried away. If you are designing instruction, trust me, you have bigger fish to fry! Some learners ask me how many objectives you should include in a course and where should you put them? The number of objectives should directly match up with the number of tasks you are teaching students to perform in the course. You can put the objectives on slides, on flipcharts, or in your learner guides. Typically you would include one primary course objective and then you would have groups of lesson objectives that explain what students will be doing in each individual task. So there you have it! If you follow these tips when writing your course objectives you will keep both yourself and your learners on the path to enlightenment without getting lost along the way! So, when going on a long car trip, don’t forget to type in your destination address, and when you are designing training, don’t forget to include well-written objectives! Do you have any other tips on writing good objectives to share?

Written by: Paul We’re always looking for icebreakers to get a workshop up and running. Here’s one that gets people interacting with each other, acknowledges participant experience, and provides the facilitator with a quick look at the background of the group. At the beginning of the class, hand out a sheet of paper with a bingo card on it like the one below. The card should be five squares by five with a free cell in the middle. Populate the squares with statements relating to the content of the workshop. For example, if I were using this icebreaker for a design workshop, I might fill each of the 24 available squares with statements like: I have conducted a task analysis I have attended Langevin’s Training Needs Analysis workshop I have been on an instructional design team I have participated in a virtual classroom session Tell the participants to go around the room, briefly introduce themselves to their classmates, and see which squares their colleagues can help them fill. Give the participants a maximum of five to ten minutes to write the names of the colleagues who meet the descriptive phrase. The first person to get five squares in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, shouts "bingo" and wins a "not so fabulous prize." If no one is able to fill five squares in a row in the allotted time, the winner could be the person who fills the most. When selecting statements, it is a good practice to have a row that will most likely be filled with the expected experience of people in the room. The activity debrief would be to have the winner validate the win by describing each square and mentioning the name of the participant who matched the statement. Meanwhile, the participants have gotten to know each other and the debrief gives the trainer an idea of the experience level of the group. Fun and effective! Any icebreakers you can share that you find to be fun and effective?

Written by: Ron Imagine you are the instructor in a classroom when one of your students falls asleep. Quick! What is your immediate reaction? "That student is so rude" or "OMG! Am I that boring?" The human mind is such a complex thing, that even with today’s scientific and medical advances, we still don’t have a complete understanding of how it works. We are always making immediate judgments or impressions about the situations we find ourselves in based upon our own histories. Those who claim they don’t do this are not being honest with themselves. Becoming aware of this human tendency to make first impressions or judgments when in the classroom is a difficult skill for instructors to master. We all know that when a group of people get together, some amazing human dynamics can occur. A good instructor will be aware of his or her surroundings and strive to be in tune with his or her judgments. Quickly and objectively evaluating a situation before reacting will allow us to respond appropriately rather than jumping to a conclusion. This is a skill that is rarely taught in instructional techniques courses. There have been many times when I have misinterpreted a person or situation, only to find out later how "off the mark" I was. Think about the last time you met someone you initially did not care for, but are close friends with today. It is critical that we stay open-minded to people and situations, trying to see things from their perspective. I am not saying that you must agree with everything that is surrounding you. However, if you are too preoccupied with your own thoughts and views, then you risk closing yourself off to new ideas. I learn so much when I stay focused on the events around me and do not allow myself to become consumed with my own feelings or prejudices about the event or situation. Listen and observe carefully and try to stay as objective as you can. That’s all you can ask for. Then you will be able to respond accordingly instead of making a snap judgment and reacting inappropriately. And by the way, regarding the student who falls asleep in class - maybe he or she had little or no sleep due to a new baby or other crisis at home and the sleeping has nothing to do with either you or the course. You will never really know unless you keep an open mind. Our Instructional Techniques for New Instructors course can help you develop this skill as well as many others.

Written by: Steve My wife and I recently had the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica. It was a memorable trip to a beautiful country. The volcanoes, the beaches, and rainforest are spectacular. After a few days of lounging by the pool we decided to take a tour of the rainforest. We left the resort in a vehicle that could drive through rivers and go up and down steep and bumpy dirt trails. Our tour group consisted of a few couples and a family with two inquisitive teenagers. Once the tour was under way, it didn’t take long before the teenagers started to ask our guide lots of questions. "What would happen if that monkey in the trees jumped into the truck?" one of them asked. "What would we do if one of us fell into the river near that crocodile?" asked the other. The "what if" questions continued for some time and seemed to annoy the guide. To put the teenagers at ease the guide told us how he was trained for the job. He was trained by his father when he was 17 years old and was only allowed to drive the vehicle on flat, dry roads at first. Once he was operating the vehicle comfortably, he was allowed to drive it on bumpy roads and dry river beds. He went on to explain that his father would challenge him by presenting different situations. These situations included wildlife approaching the vehicle, crossing fast-moving rivers, and challenging tourist situations. The guide assured everyone he was very prepared for any situation. Our guide’s on-the-job training made sense, probably because it’s the same three-step process that we use when training employees for more traditional jobs: Teach the basic skill first. Add real life conditions. Reinforce to ensure retention. Once the basic skill is mastered under ideal conditions in training, we must try to simulate as many real life conditions and "what-if" situations as possible. The learner may never face some of these situations on the job, but if they do, they have been prepared for them in training. I’ve heard it said that if we are training people properly, the training should be harder than the job. By following this three-step process, we can prepare our learners for just about anything, and build their confidence and ensure their success both in training and back on the job. What instructional techniques do you use to ensure your learners are prepared back on the job?

Written by: Melissa It’s been a while since the beginning of 2013. How are those New Year resolutions going? Do you even remember them? (Did you even make any?) Well, even if you didn’t set goals for yourself at the start of the year, it’s never too late to start. In fact, New Year resolutions might just be another form of procrastination when it comes to setting the goals that will last you a lifetime. ("I know, I’ll do it next year!") So, let’s get down to brass tacks…what will it take for you to accomplish the goals you’ve set for your life: starting a new job, a new hobby, getting that certification, or learning a new skill set? In other words, what will it take for you to be successful? As luck would have it, I recently came across an article in Investor’s Business Daily (one of my husband’s favorite publications) on what makes people successful. IBD spent years analyzing leaders and successful people in all walks of life and put together a list of the ten traits which, when combined, can turn dreams into reality: How you think is everything. Always be positive. Think success, not failure. Beware of a negative environment. Decide upon your true dreams and goals. Write down your specific goals and develop a plan to reach them. Take action. Goals are nothing without action. Don’t be afraid to get started. As Nike says, "Just do it." Never stop learning. Go back to school or read books. Get training and acquire skills. Be persistent and work hard. Success is a marathon, not a sprint. Never give up. Learn to analyze details. Get all the facts, all the input. Learn from your mistakes. Focus your time and money. Don’t let other people or things distract you. Don’t be afraid to innovate; be different. Following the herd leads to mediocrity. Deal and communicate with people effectively. No person is an island. Learn to understand and motivate others. Be honest and dependable. Take responsibility. If you don’t, numbers 1-9 won’t matter! Do you already possess some of these traits? Have you had success as a result of these traits? Finally, do you have any secrets to success you would like to share? I’d love to hear them!

Written by: Marsha People have been using stories to communicate information and teach since the beginning of time. So, if you’re a new trainer or you’re looking for new ways to deliver your message, stories are the way to go! They bring life to your training and more importantly, they actually stick in people’s minds. But did you also know that they appeal to the three different learning styles? In our How Adults Learn Workshop, we address and explain the different learning styles. You see, people process and learn using their senses and each of us tends to have one preferred sense. Of course, I’m referring to visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. Visual learners think in color, size, and shape. They create diagrams of what they hear and run movies in their minds. They use typical phrases like, "It’s not clear to me," or "I get the picture," or "I don’t see the point of this." Auditory learners prefer facts, details, clear vocal presentations, and audio recordings. They pay particular attention to the speaker’s voice - the tone, energy, pitch, enthusiasm, and modulation. They use phrases like, "sounds good to me," or "I hear what you’re saying," or "I like the sound of that." Kinesthetic learners prefer to put their hands on and touch something. They like participating in groups and moving about doing several different activities at the same time. They relive the sensation or the feeling they have experienced. They use phrases like, "it feels right to me," "I feel good about this," or "I’m really excited about the future." Eric Jensen, author of the book Superteaching, has found that in a typical learning group, you can expect 40% of your learners to be predominantly visual, 40% auditory, and 20% kinesthetic. Obviously, it’s difficult to cater to each person, and that’s why storytelling can be so powerful. It appeals to all three! Visual learners will remember your story if you create a picture in their minds. Auditory learners will gravitate to your voice and respond to a well-delivered story. And finally, kinesthetic learners will make associations between the content of the story and their own emotions and feelings. They will connect to the story if it touches them in some way. Over the years, I have shared many stories and will continue to do so. Amazingly, I’ve had repeat clients, who see me years later and are able to recall what I shared. Now, that’s pretty awesome! So, remember to continue using stories and keep building your arsenal of instructional techniques. They’re memorable, powerful, AND everyone likes them!

Written By: Steve As trainers we are continually looking for ways to make our participants’ learning experience better. We try to find the latest and greatest instructional techniques to connect with our learners. We are also often under time constraints to deliver the content and, as a result, we end up overlooking the simple things. Here are five tried-and-true, yet simple ways to connect with your learners: Be available Announce your availability before and after class. Make an effort to be available to your learners outside of class time to answer any questions they might have. Strive to meet individual needs. Use learners’ names Make a point of learning participants’ names. Address each participant at least once per day by name. Using names provides a strong connection with learners. Show an Interest Listen to your learners; they will often mention details about their family or hobbies. Show an interest in their personal lives. Share a little about your interests as well. Empathize Recognize that learners have busy lives and often work in stressful environments. Acknowledge that training is important but that there are still things happening outside of the classroom. Be sincere Always try to be genuine and sincere when dealing with learners. Ensure coaching and feedback are meaningful. By using these five simple tips you will make much more of a connection with your learners. This connection will enhance the learning experience for all and will add to your credibility as a training professional. Are there any tips you’d like to add to this list? I’d love to hear from you!

Written by: Melissa I love music! I love to dance to it, study to it, exercise to it, even clean house to it. As a kid, my mother would find me holed up in my bedroom doing nothing more than listening to one of my favorite albums. Yes, I said ALBUM and yes, I’m dating myself! My love of music continued into my college years where I made music a part of my academic agenda and joined my University’s top-rated, non-profit radio station as an on-air personality. I enjoyed that so much that, after I graduated, I got a job at a local top-forty radio station. I was actually paid to play and listen to music! Fast forward twenty years (this is not an article about what I did with my radio career) and I STILL get paid to play music as part of my job. I’m no longer an on-air personality, but a seasoned training professional who knows the impact music has on learning and retention. You see, music impacts us in powerful ways. It can evoke strong emotions, increase productivity, and even help with learning and memory. Studies have shown that music may positively impact learning and recall in a number of ways. Listening to music you’re familiar with stimulates the hippocampus, which manages long-term memory storage. Consequently, your recall is better when you listen to the same music during studying/learning and testing. While the research isn’t conclusive, some studies suggest that faster music may make you and your brain work faster! Similarly, other studies suggest that listening to music improves your mood when you are doing something boring, which can help fight fatigue. This occurs because listening to music triggers the release of dopamine. While most people study to any type of music that allows them to concentrate, some types of music may be more beneficial than others. As one who facilitates instructor-led training and plays music during workshops, I find this information insightful and hugely relevant. The message is clear—choose your music wisely! Below is a list of suggested music to play in an instructional setting. It’s not all-inclusive, but it is a good place to start: Classical/Baroque music activates the right and left sides of the brain, which can increase our participants’ learning capacity and information retention. Play during study/reading time, reflective activities, or any individual exercise (when there’s not a lot of small group discussion). Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven, and Handel all work well. Studies show that Mozart’s music can actually increase one’s IQ over time. Jazz is not only viewed as an alternative to classical, but one study revealed students were more productive while listening to jazz. Try the Branford Marsalis Quartet, John Coltrane, or Miles Davis. Repetitive music (3-4 rhythm repetitions) can cause the mind to shut down or enter a state of sub-conscious thinking. Beware of pop music, as it is largely repetitive. If you want to play upbeat pop music, use it for "welcoming" music as learners enter the classroom or on breaks. I play Michael Buble, Taylor Swift, and Bruno Mars on breaks and as clients enter the classroom in the mornings. When information is accompanied by music, there’s a greater likelihood that the brain will encode it into long term memory. With that said Trainers, how are you incorporating music into your training courses? What kind of music do you play and when do you play it? Finally, how do you use music in your technology-based training? I look forward to hearing from you!