20 ways to liven up your training course

20 ways to liven up your meetings - an In-House Training Company half day 'impact!' programme Overview
Good trainers are always on the look-out for new ideas to help enthuse their audiences and 'part-time' trainers (ie, health and safety managers and others who have to run occasional training courses as part of their role) can generally use even more help in creating the right environment in which to get their message across. This is an opportunity to let an outstanding training professional give them the benefit of his experience, tips and techniques. It will be a morning well spent, with benefits not just for the participants but for their audiences too!
Training objectives
Participants will acquire a range of tools and techniques to help them:

• Structure their courses to maximise the opportunity for interaction, learning, enjoyment and involvement
• Design learning exercises and activities which really get the message across
• Use creative ice-breakers, energisers and summary exercises for stronger openings and endings
• Rejuvenate established courses with a new exciting 'make-over' using a unique seven-step approach

Format
A highly interactive half-day course involving practical exercises and case studies.
The expert trainer
Graham has been designing and delivering high-quality training programmes on sales, health and safety, customer service, management and personal development for many years. A top-performing sales professional, he was Managing Director of Sales Productivity and Development for Thomson Financial, helping develop a large European sales force, and now runs his own very successful training consultancy.
His work has taken him all over the world and involved him in working closely with hundreds of different organisations from all business sectors, his client list including such organisations as BT, Vodafone, AT&T, Orange, Pfizer, GSK, Boots, Unilever, American Express, Thomas Cook, Apple, Sony, Motorola, Cisco, MFI, Barclays Bank, LIFFE, Abbey National, Prison Service, Home Office, Law Society, BBC, Daimler-Chrysler, Citroen, Weetabix, Nikon, Shell and many, many others. In addition he has written over twenty books published in several different countries, including Companies don't succeed - people do!, 90 Brain Teasers for Trainers, Customer Service Games for Training, Sales Training Games, Health and Safety Games for Trainers and Working Smarter.
Known internationally as both a trainer and a popular motivational speaker, he believes that effective learning has to be interactive and challenging. All his learning events are built around practical exercises, role play and case studies. His training style focuses not on just explaining new ideas or developing new skills, but also on motivating people to use them and to develop themselves as individuals. This approach gets results, as the following comments from course participants show:
'Brilliant course, really interesting and very focused to my job role and day to day work.'

'Took away some very good ideas that I can use every day÷ good examples too.'

'Very confident in the subject, and amusing too. Made the course very interesting. A very clear sales model to use going forward.'

'Full of useful hints and tips which I will apply to my job.'

'Extremely well presented and structured'

'A very intensive course and a lot of concrete tools provided.'

'Useful data, tools and insights; engaging and interesting as always.'

'Very good÷ contained everything we do on a regular basis and problems we have come across÷ the exercises made it very interesting too.'
Course outline

1. Introduction
   • Objectives and timings
   • Personal learning aims
2. Structuring your course to maximise the opportunity for interaction, fun and involvement
   • Attention with retention; structuring and pacing your meeting using the latest findings in educational psychology
   • Methods for creating a meeting environment conducive to maximum participation
   • Discussion forum: What makes for a good event?; getting the right balance between process and personality; qualities of good trainers and presenters
   • Working smarter; engaging different parts of the brain; how the brain reacts to stimuli
   • 'How do you know that you don't know?'; the three Cs - Competence, Consciousness and Comfort zones; how new understandings of the human brain can help you create more effective skill and knowledge development in a meeting room
3. Creative short-cuts to generating ideas and designing / using exercises and activities
   • The Magnificent Seven - seven simple yet highly effective exercises that you can adapt easily and use instantly to liven up almost any course
   • Discussion forum: Learning styles - what works, when and for who; Dealing with resistant learners
   • Memory hooks and mnemonics - how to create them and how to use them effectively
   • Best practice and top tips in facilitating meeting exercises and activities
   • Question and answer session
4. Openings and endings - creative ice-breakers, energisers and summary exercises
   • Idea swap: favourite ways to start a meeting, event or presentation
   • Five proven session-starters and ice-breakers using humour, movement and activity
   • Discussion forum: Evaluating course effectiveness and results; designing an end of event evaluation form; encouraging transfer from your course to the workplace; ways to overcome the challenge of the 'graveyard' shift
   • End of course quizzes and summary activities
5. How to revive and revitalise your established courses with a new, exciting 'make-over' using a unique seven-step approach
   • Create a compelling meeting or course title
   • Create an 'event promise' and convert learning objectives into personal benefits for participants
   • Check your openings and timings
   • Change the course environment
   • Use new stories, examples and case studies
   • Introduce one new exercise or activity per 90 minute session
   • Case-study: A variety of examples will be used to apply the above principles to different types of course, eg, health and safety, induction, Data Protection Act briefing, etc
6. Summary and action plans
   • Question and answer session
   • Summary of learning points
   • Personal action plans