Five Things Your Training Environment Needs
Remember your first grade class? If it was like mine, your teacher filled the room floor to ceiling with the alphabet, numbers, pictures of the seasons and more. Fast forward a few decades and here you are heading learning and development in your organization. You’ve come a long way since first grade, but does that mean that your training environment has to lose its effectiveness and charm?
Absolutely not.
Whether it’s a learning center, meeting room or any other training space, taking advantage of the entire environment can turn ‘just’ another training session into an experience.
Here are five ways you can get more out of your training space:
1. Create an amazing first impression
Your trainees should get to know you and what you represent, even before they actually meet you. This can be done by utilizing the first area they see when they enter your space.
If you are lucky to have a dedicated room, make use of the wall or screen directly across from the entrance. If this is a plain wall, brainstorm what motivation can be hung up or painted that will inspire your trainees. At Wix, our visitors are immediately greeted with our logo and our tagline in big, bold letters : The way the web was meant to be. It’s a statement that sends a clear message of inspiration as soon as visitors walk in.
But what if you don’t have a dedicated space? Perhaps you are visiting a new office, using a generic meeting room, or another type of modular space that is not solely yours.
Think of a feature that can be easily brought in and noticed as soon as your trainees arrive. Maybe it’s a roll up with a large graphic and influential one-liner to get them psyched, or a giveaway that is just waiting to be picked up. The more creative, the better. Personally, when I visit an overseas office, I make sure to bring enough snacks from abroad with me. International gifts with personal messages almost always perk guests’ interests. It’s also the perfect ice breaker. Whatever it is, your participants should be inspired and pumped to start listening to you.
2. Create a comfortable personal space for each participant to listen, chat and collaborate
Depending on what type of meeting or learning session it is, you control how comfortable people will be, how they interact with you and each other and how effectively they work while in the room.
Do you have a large class of 40 plus people with computers? A classroom setup in rows, with enough space for people to move easily in and out of is probably the optimal way to go. In contrast, if you have a smaller session in which group discussions are essential to your lesson plan, have everyone sit facing each other in a circle. Remember, as a moderator you still want to maintain your central role. To do so, make a semi-circle and leave enough ‘stage’ space so that everyone can comfortably see you.
Whatever the setup is, don’t forget to think of the small (yet influential) details that affect how participants use the setup. For example, where can they charge their phones? Do they have enough space for a laptop and a notepad? Can the tables be moved easily around the space to create breakout groups?
3. Tell your trainees how to prepare for the session
Any experienced trainer knows how annoying it is if participants start asking for the WiFi password, login details or anything similar once the session has begun. It throws the trainer and the participants off their flow and is disruptive for most people in the room who are already in the mindset to learn. Just like cooking, we can use our space to help our trainees with their “mise en place” (literally, putting things in place) before the learning actually begins. Placing important information and directions visually in front of your participants helps both them and you use their waiting time wisely before you begin the session.
Ask yourself what burdens you to begin sessions with, and how you can show your participants what to do for themselves before it starts. Is it their first time in the office? Show them the WiFi network name and password. Do they not have accounts to login to your company’s system? This is the time to help them open one. Do they not know where your restrooms are? Point them out or give clear directions.
Pro tip: To make it most efficient for your trainees to find this information, place it all in one place, directly in front of them. I put it on the main screen in the room instead of on an introductory slide. Then, I leave it up even while I start my introduction.
4. Make a waterhole
OK, not a real waterhole. Instead, a place that everyone can grab a bite to nosh, make some coffee, and most importantly, mingle. When looking at the space, ask yourself where your participants will hang out during breaks, and how they can interact with both each other and you while they are not in class.
During short breaks, participants might want to get to know each other, or catch up, over some coffee. Create a kitchen island or bar style area with food and drinks. People will naturally gravitate towards the caffeine, food and each other. This is also your time to engage with them in a less formal manner, and get to ask one-on-one or smaller group questions that can serve you in the next session.
During long breaks, perhaps lunch, participants usually need to disconnect and recharge. Think about what areas can be one step removed from the training environment, yet not too far away so that participants have to rush between ordering, eating and hurrying back.
And when they return from a long break, ask yourself what your space can offer participants to get back into the learning muse. A bar of chocolate for a small sugar rush? A pro tip for life presented on the screen? Maybe a funky or funny feature that has nothing to do with the subject at hand, but can grab their attention? Whatever it is, you and your space should work together to help trainees transition towards and away from formal classroom training and useful breaks.
5. Create a lasting impression
Nothing lasts forever, not even training sessions. Just as participants enter and should get an amazing first impression, when they leave they should be sent with a lasting one. Usually, the last object a trainee will see is the exit door from the area, the class, or the office. What message can you leave them with as they are opening the door? What giveaway awaits them as they walk out?
The most creative lasting impression I experienced was during a session on hiking safety. The instructor held a half day course that included first aid and survival 101. The final session wound down and everyone started to leave through the main door, on which the instructor placed a pop quiz of the three most important questions from his training. Almost everyone, including myself, stopped briefly to read them before continuing out of the room. If most people were like me, they answered the questions in their heads as they walked to their cars. This was a great example of how to add one more training opportunity, even after the session has ended.
No matter the content and no matter where your training session is taking place, subtle changes and additions to your space can make a world of difference in time, efficiency and effectiveness to both the trainer and to the crowd.
Do you have other ideas for how to use a training space wisely? Share them here or on The Learning Curve Blog.
