As the end of the year gets ever nearer, many a Learning & Development professional finds themselves trying to establish the value of their efforts. Yes, they got feedback at the time (before anyone left the actual / virtual room if they were smart) but they know that was just the initial reaction. How to… Read more
First, please allow me to declare an interest: when professional development of any kind shows a return on investment, finance directors take a more benign view of that particular line on the spreadsheet when seeking ways to save money. This keeps providers like Zoomly in business. It shouldn’t be so hard to demonstrate ROI on… Read more
“What, presentation tips from my Gran?!” No. Not quite. Presentation tips from the ancient Greeks: specifically for this post, from Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.). The philosopher has some handy presentation tips for us that have survived remarkably well down the years. To influence and persuade an audience, he said, we need to achieve the… Read more
So let’s get the shameless plug out of the way first: I’m often asked to train and support trainers who run in-house training sessions. Phew, that’s better. Now, having been doing this for several years there are 4 traps I frequently see in-house trainers fall into. Here they are, with my advice on what to… Read more
‘Happy sheets’ are so named because, by the end of a training session (if it’s been done right), participants are feeling good about things. When people have been asked to comment on what they enjoyed about the event, just before they leave the room, it’s no surprise to see praise and enthusiastic comments. ‘Great!’ ‘I… Read more
Maybe it’s because I’ve been designing and leading learning workshops for a while now that people ask me to help their in-house trainers. Maybe it’s because the L&D budget has been cut and suddenly an in-house ‘faculty’ is needed. Or a bit of both. Whatever the reason, I think that sharing the expertise already on… Read more
Sometimes people ask me this question in the same way I’d imagine they ask their friends if they should get a tattoo. Just because your friend’s got one, just because you’ve read a bit about it, and just because they’re out there doesn’t mean you should get a mentor. Not until you can articulate two… Read more
1. Announce the end’s in sight At what point do you do this? I suggest allowing roughly 10% of the total time to draw proceedings to a close. So in Zoomly’s bite-sized workshops this can be as brief as 9 minutes. In a day-long bespoke event it could be 40 minutes. Whenever this is,… Read more
“How can I start my in-house training session (without silly stunts, bad jokes or cringe-making disclosures)?’ This question comes up early in (or even before) ‘Train the Trainer’ workshops that I run. We’ve all been there: “Let’s do a fun warm-up: please find a partner and tell them 3 things about yourself, 2 truths and… Read more
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