In this post, I will compare and contrast what I knew about brain-based instruction and effective training design and delivery before I attended “Training from the BACK of the Room” with what I now know. (I am also a Certified Trainer for this course).

What were some assumptions I made about effective instruction that has changed since I took the class? How will these changes affect the ways I instruct others now?

My dear readers ….

Yes, that’s correct! Sadly I have been a reason for many deaths, deaths by powerpoint slides.

Before

Here is how I used to design and deliver the training sessions.

• No warm-up, jump right into the topic to get started with the knowledge delivery
• Create rich text slides that say it all
• No need to use an image because then people won’t get a chance to read the text
• It is important to be an expert on the topic
• A teacher is to share information in one way traffic
• A teach runs slides show and participants just sit and absorb all the information, pretty cool, right?
• Less involvement of participants and participants ask fewer questions
• More slides mean more you know
• No consideration of effective learning and brain switching off
• No formal design, things are done at run time
• Training session less engaging

Nevertheless, I have also been helping people to sleep during the sessions when they lost track of what I was teaching. Horrible, right? But trust me there are still so many people force feeding the information…

BUT THEN!!!!

Back in 2013, I happened to attend a course and felt something different, the trainers stepped back hour by hour and involved the participants more. Started and closed the day with a reflection. They just shared the topic and then everybody just jumped in.

Same happened with other courses and I wondered and started taking notes about the way trainers are doing it. I noticed similarities.

One day, in an agile conference I heard about “Training from the Back of The Room” and happened to skip that talk (sorry Sharon). Later, out of curiosity, I googled this term and found that it was quite an interesting teaching concept and was able to connect the dots with previous courses that I really enjoyed participating.

I searched for the next TBR course, couldn’t manage to do it in Sweden so traveled to the UK and attended it at personal expense. Liked it so much that traveled to Austin, TX to become a Certified Trainer for the TBR course. Because I believed that I can help other fellow trainers to design effective learning sessions. Besides, Met Sharon and Nicole : ) with a bonus of 16 awesome people.

I am excited, happy and looking forward to making learning more fun activity.

After – with brain-based principles and 4Cs map

I see that TBR is one of many other frameworks to design and deliver a training session effectively. However, I believe all of those design and deliver training considering how the human brain works. I liked TBR and using the 4Cs map to design my training sessions or even meetings.

Here is how I have used and to continue using the TBR concepts.

• I have gained more confidence to design and deliver a training session
• Step aside and train from the back of the room, don’t be afraid to do so
• Design the training with a topic for 30-40 mins slot as brain switches off after 45 mins
• Design the training considering the start and end in mind
  • Use more images and less text
  • Involve the whole body, move people around
  • Use shorter than the longer topic sessions
  • Use different ways to teach the topic
  • Mix power point and flip charts
• Context change from Participants to Learners
• Involve learners by asking them first and then teach
• Sitting arrangement is an important factor for the success of a course
• Learning is a social event, where learners learn from each other during the activities.
• Create a safe learning environment by setting up expectations and working agreements
• Training session become more engaging due to active participation
• TBR provides techniques toolbox to experiment with
• I could retain and gain more energy when learners are involved in activities and see them laughing and smiling
• and many more.

If you need help with brain-based instruction and effective training design and delivery then let’s get in touch!

… and share your experience if you have already used TBR concepts somewhere.

 Stay tune for next posts on how to use these techniques to make your training greater again.

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