Communication skills for trainers or presenters

Communication skills for trainers or presenters

As a trainer or presenter: You have three major goals.

To make your messages and material:
1. Informative
2. Enjoyable
3. Memorable

Let us look at each in turn:

Informative

Your delegate must find your material informative.
In order for that to happen, you must do the following:

1. Select the best material- picking out the most valuable material and giving them your best.
2. Organise it into sets-The material needs to be sorted into similar sets, like you would sort a hand of playing cards into suits.
3. Arrange it into the correct sequence- figure out what time sequence would make the best sense of your material.

Then, you must make that well-ordered material enjoyable.

To make it enjoyable, you must work out how you will present it.
You need a nice balance between:
1. Explanation - when you are telling people what your material is
2. Demonstration - when you are showing concrete examples or illustrating the principle with stories
3. Application - where you have figured out exercises that the delegates will do, in session. You will have them work with and apply the material in the lesson
4. Implication -Make explicit the specific action that the delegate should /could take after the training as a direct result of learning your material.

You need elements of all four styles

In addition, in relation to point 3 above (Application) you have options: you can have:
1. Delegate working with other delegates
2. Delegates working with the trainer
3. Delegates working introspectively; thinking and working within his/ her own mind, guided by an exercise made up by you in advance.

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Memorable

You want your delegates to understand all your material and enjoy the day:
But that is not enough: You want them to be able to be able recall the material, even weeks after the training.

You need to devise ways to make your material memorable

Part of aiding the memory is included in the list already done (Organised structure, vivid illustrations, enjoyable activities, interaction- they all help the memory)
But in addition you should work on your material and impose mnemonic devises and "mental hooks" that will help the memory to grip onto the material.
When you are presenting, make a show of the mnemonic devices that you have invented: and get the people to memorise your material as they go through the day.
Periodically repeat and check the memory as you progress through the material.
Rehearse and repeat the mnemonics with them, a few times, so that they have every chance to memorise your material effortlessly, as you go through the training.

In addition

You need to think of your own communication style
Your communication can be said to have four major elements:

1. Your use of words

The language you use should be pitched at the right height for the intended listeners.
If you pitch your message "to high": i.e. too technical, for a non-technical audience, then you will lose their interest.
But if you pitch your message too low; too simplistic for a technical audience, you will infuriate them, and they will give you a rough time.

2. Your Body language

Your body language should demonstrate sufficient energy and enthusiasm to engage the in interest of the audience.
You should not overdo the energy levels so as to appear over excited, or manic: nor should you fall short, so as to appear to be sluggish or bored with your own material.

You should dress in a manner which will fit in with the accepted norms of the audience type.
Your dress should not become an issue: it should not distract from your message.
Dress in a manner that is "functionally tidy "relative to your audience expectations.

3. Your Voice tones

Your voice tones should be
Pacey, deeper than your normal tones, and slightly louder than your normal voice.
You should make your voice variable i.e. NOT mono tone.

4. Your Attitud

Enjoy your audience and your own material. Do all you can to prove to your audience that you are doing all you can to help them achieve their goals.