It is tempting, now even more than in the past, to fill a Virtual Training classroom to maximum capacity, to make it Standing Room Only (SRO). After all, if the platform system can handle 100 people (or 500 or 1000), why not take advantage of that? This should, however, be the last thing you do. […]
As a Duarte facilitator I have had the privilege of presenting workshops on how to develop great presentations for several years now. During these workshops I am frequently asked “How do I make virtual meetings better? How can I grab and hold my attendees attention? How do I get interaction from the attendees?” My answer […]
Many people do not have time for “dumb” questions but encouraging all questions will quickly bring greater transparency, trust and understanding to all forms of communication. As a corporate trainer for over 25 years, I cannot count the number of times that I have heard someone in class say “that was my question too”. Getting […]
The first question in a training class is the most important question of the day. It doesn’t matter what the question is. More importantly, how the trainer responds to the question will set the tone for the entire class – whether that is one hour or several days. Having participants feel comfortable asking the “dumb […]
Social distancing doesn’t have to mean total isolation. Working from Home doesn’t have to mean being completely alone. We are all social creatures who require a certain level of personal interaction to stay healthy, happy, and with a good outlook on life. Here are 12 small ways to help yourself and others in this time […]
As a freelance corporate trainer, I am always looking for help marketing my company, myself, my brand. This great article in the TD magazine boils it down to 4 “simple” steps: *understand your brand, *position your brand, *think about your clients and *execute your brand strategy. It evens includes a quick exercise for you to […]
The goal of networking is to meet people and form relationships. To share opportunities. To be known by a larger circle of people from a variety of backgrounds and places. This is as important for those people who have a full time job as for those of us independent agents/business owners. But how can you […]
Book Reports for Grown Ups – that is how I see the article reviews that I use for my LinkedIn posts. They are short and sweet and hopefully bring an article to the attention of someone who would otherwise not see it. But what does it do for me? It forces me to take the […]
Ignotum per ignotius is a phrase all trainers, facilitators and instructional designers should be familiar with – so we can avoid falling into this trap and making our training sessions frustrating, confusing and worst of all – a waste of time for everyone. Ignotum per ignotius is a Latin phrase that translates to “the unknown […]
Imagine, finally understanding why people behave the way they do! People see the world differently, listen for different information, and feel satisfied by different outcomes. True Colors® a simple model of personality identification for people of all ages that improves communication through recognition of a person’s true character. Utilizing the colors of orange, green, blue and gold […]
As a professional corporate trainer, I am always curious as to how my fellow trainers came to be in their role. I have found, by an arduous and completely scientific process of “asking a lot of them”, that an overwhelming majority got where they are simply because they were good at their job, whatever that […]