Mary runs our popular Train the Trainer workshops in Brighton - ideal for anyone who wants to run successful courses as a freelancer or in-house. While real world experience is essential for a good trainer, you also need to know how to teach people - otherwise your delegates won't learn anything. In this post, Mary runs through some of her top tips for making a great first impression as a trainer.

Setting the right tone is crucial for keeping learners engaged and involved right from the start of a training course. Of course, it also helps to have good trainers - find out why trained trainers are better at training!

Pre-Course Information

Contact your learners before the course to introduce yourself and give them an idea of how the day/s will run, this should answer some common questions – Will it be casual dress? Do they need to prepare anything in advance? Do they have any questions? Do printouts need to be in larger type?

Give learners an idea of the atmosphere you are hoping to create – and what you hope they will get out of the training.

Training Room Preparation

Make the room as welcoming as you can – flowers/biscuits/sweets all create a relaxing and welcoming atmosphere, thus promoting learning.

Quotes on the wall related to what your training is about give people something to look at while they’re settling in and an idea of what's to come.

If practical, seat people in small groups – it's less intimidating to chat to 2/3 people than a large circle/table of new people.

As part of your preparation you should consider any barriers to learning that may affect the session.

Arrival

Welcome people in, offer them a drink, remember their names and introduce them to each other! Have some music playing in the background - this fills potentially awkward silences as well as creating a pleasant mood.

Consider getting people to work in pairs, e.g. 'spend 10 minutes thinking about 6 things that make bad training' – this gets people talking to each other, it breaks the ice, and allows for people arriving late without missing anything.

Start of the Course – Focus on the Learners

You want to get learners talking as soon as possible, so keep your input to a minimum. Just tell them your name and write it up on a flip with the title of the course.

Write up your group's names, roles, experience and spend some time on teasing information out, not only does it make people feel valued, it gets learners talking and involved right from the start.

Writing up people's names helps you remember and refer to them by name, and also gives other learners an idea of the experience and role of others (‘oh good, I'm not the only one that has never trained before...’).

Go through the timetable/topics briefly and then ask the learners what they hope to get out of the course. Write this up next to their details – it allows you to tailor the course to specific learner aims and makes the course relevant to their needs. Everyone prefers leaving a course with specific aims met, rather than thinking 'that wasn't for me'.

By making learners aware that you want to make the course relevant right from the start you are creating an atmosphere of trust, promoting rapport, building learner confidence and, above all, making the training focused.