When you are composing training materials you need to have a road map and a destination. I specialize in what I call results based training. I always figure out my destination and fill in the blanks on how to get there. The seminar that never forgets what skills the class needs to make more money and be successful will always be a well received seminar.
I will always figure out my destination first for example; accessing the decision maker. Now I will analyze what the group is currently using and how I can fill in the blanks or totally change how they do things. I will give the group a great new way to access the decision maker and we will role play it until it is engrained into the attendees psyche and vocabulary.
I start my seminars by asking the class what they would like to know better at the end of the week and what are the biggest obstacles to success they are experiencing now. I write those obstacles on a flip chart and tape each page on the wall in the front of the room. We review what we have learned as the week progresses.
We cross off the obstacles as we conquer each one. I ask that the group individually list on a legal pad as the week progresses the things they would personally like some follow up with either phone calls or webinars. What this does is make sure that the follow up webinars or phone calls will have value to the attendees because the content is theirs as is the delivery preference.
Keep in mind good training shares new ideas. A good seminar also has a follow up system to help with your attendee’s success. The only way to measure success is to do a performance review before and after your seminar to see if there has been a lift in business.
I also recommend a seminar exit questionnaire to get the immediate feedback from the class while what they have learned and how much they have enjoyed learning from you is still clear in their minds. There should be a question that reads “Can we use your responses in our advertising”? Now you can use these attendee’s responses to get you more attendees in the future.
You must be the expert on the subject you are teaching and have an answer for any question the class might ask, how ever you should also solicit other people’s opinions to get a good mix of ideas and to keep everyone engaged. If the class asks you a question that is at the core of your materials and you obviously do not know the answer the class will not believe any thing else you tell them. Be the Expert!
When you are asking for other ideas and feed back during the seminar, you should never ask for a general opinion like “Who wants to tell us about…” this allows people to zone out because they figure if they do not volunteer they are safe. The way you should ask for feedback and solicited opinions is “Joe what do you think of ” or “Mary how do you do this and that”, This way no one knows who you are going to ask and everybody pays attention.
