You are here: Home / 2010 / Archives for February 2010

Teaching the Teachers

February 26, 2010 By

As Paul pointed out, train the trainer programs are really useful but are not necessarily offered all that often. Since one of my most recent projects was one of these programs, I thought I’d kick off my posts on this blog with a discussion on that project.

The program? We called it Teaching Teaching. (I described it in detail on my blog the other day.) Instead of going into the specifics of planning and content, I’ll use this space to talk a little bit about the drive behind the program, what made it successful, and how we knew it had done its job.

DEFINING “TEACHING TEACHING”

Teaching Teaching was a program that I worked on with a colleague, Roz Tedford, to support teaching at our library. We’re a mid-sized academic library that teaches traditional library instruction, technology workshops, credit bearing classes, and workshops for faculty.

This program took the form of a one-credit “course.” The program took place over two semesters (and will likely be revived in future semesters as well). In each, we treated it like a one-credit course, without the assignments and testing. The goal was to make a very low barrier for participation… the only thing people had to do was save an hour in the morning to show up.

For the first semester, Roz and I led classes. We’d model good instructional practices, and stick to around 20 minutes of lecture and discussion followed by an active learning exercise. We’d try to vary the exercises so that after the class was completed, people had a toolkit of potential activities to use when teaching.

The second semester followed a different model. By the time we had the second semester course, we changed the model. I wanted people to realize that they didn’t need an “expert” at the front of the classroom telling them what to think about and that every teacher is a potential resource. I started the semester with a facilitated discussion about what people wanted to learn, and set up the semester’s schedule around that. Then, each week, I sat with everyone else in the classroom and facilitated discussion.

WHY IT TOOK OFF

People were asking for a program like this. Teaching Teaching wasn’t something that I decided everyone needed to do. It wasn’t something the administration felt the library needed, either. Teaching Teaching evolved from several discussions I had with different librarians in the building and was based on their needs and interests.

People had a drive to do more with their teaching. People were already good teachers. Some had been teaching for a very long time. But people were interested in learning more about the principles behind what they were doing, understanding the research that supported some of the techniques they were interested in trying, and improving the good teaching already taking place.

This course was an opportunity for instructors with no obligations. I firmly believe that Teaching Teaching went over well because it was presented as an opportunity that people could choose to participate in, with no expectations for preparation or outside work. Finding one hour for something you’re motivated to do is much easier than finding an hour plus extra work time. And since people chose to participate on their own, there was no resistance to the program.

WHAT MADE IT SUCCESSFUL

Classes contained useful information. People came to learn, so I made sure we were covering content that would be useful. I planned the curriculum for the first course, because I understood the issues people were interested in learning more about and I had the background to know how to structure the content. And the second course was even more student-driven, as the entire curriculum was based off the conversation from the first day of class. Since we were all using valuable time to participate, I wanted to be sure that every class had something for everyone.

Active learning was central to the design of the workshops. We knew people wanted to learn more about how to incorporate active learning techniques, and we knew it would help people learn the content more effectively. However, as most of the participants preferred learning in lecture-style settings, we were careful to construct exercises that would be non threatening, and would make good use of pair and group work. In the end, people enjoyed it and had new ideas about how to incorporate active learning into their own teaching.

The class became a community of learner/teachers. I heard over and over again that people got as much out of being part of the group as they did from the content of the courses. People said that having an hour a week to set aside for thinking about instruction helped them be more intentional and reflective of their work. Knowing that they’d have a session to share new ideas and ask questions every week meant they were able to adapt and change things more quickly. And, as we phased into the second semester, the transition to a learning community was truly illustrated as I shifted to a role where I tried to keep my mouth shut for much of the sessions.

HOW WE KNEW THE PROGRAM WAS A SUCCESS

People kept coming back. I originally had doubts about attendance for this program. An hour every week for two semesters meant people were devoting up to 30 hours of time to the program, or nearly a work week of the year. Everyone’s swamped (who isn’t these days), yet over half our teachers attended every session for the first class, and a smaller group of the same people attended every session of the second semester. Nothing says things are going well like repeat attendees!

People indicated they didn’t need a third semester. Towards the end of the second course, I started asking around about the need for another semester. I felt people had a pretty good grasp of the material, and wasn’t sure it was the best use of time at that point. And most people agreed. However, it was interesting that many asked we reserve the right to do something like this again, perhaps at a more advanced level, in future semesters.

Librarians started doing more instructional design. I noticed that librarians were doing more instructional design. Whether it was redesigning their credit course based on the Teaching Teaching information or working with faculty members to adapt their assignments based on library resources or technologies, more librarians were doing more instructional design work as part of their day-to-day jobs.

My role had changed. When I first became the Instructional Design Librarian I often worked with library staff to adapt their classes based on specific issues. By the end of the Teaching Teaching program I more often met with library staff to verify that they were on the right track and doing good work. My role as an instructional designer had shifted from a consultant role to a second set of eyes to double check the (good!!) work that had already been done.

So that’s the story of Teaching Teaching. Don’t worry, I didn’t teach myself out of a job. But as a train the trainer program, it was a successful one. With good planning, some work along the way, and constant feedback from participants, we were able to develop a program that supported the work of the library and is helping us better meet the needs of our users.

Have you done any train the trainer programs? What made them work for your community? How did you know they worked?

Image Credits:

pronouncing dictionary by Muffet
Shuttle Endeavour Blastoff by jurvetson
successful business woman on a laptop by Search Engine People Blog
New Years Eve 2006 by monkeyc.net

Lauren Pressley is the Instructional Design Librarian at Wake Forest University. She also blogs at Lauren’s Library Blogs and spends a fair amount of time at Twitter, too.

Lauren Pressley

Lauren Pressley is the Instructional Design Librarian at Wake Forest University. In this role she works with librarians and faculty to improve the design of their teaching and to share information about integrating appropriate educational technology. She also works with emerging technologies. Lauren’s passion is helping people learn about the changing information landscape and think about what that means for them as consumers and producers of information. Recently Lauren published So You Want To Be a Librarian and Wikis for Libraries. She was an ALA Emerging Leader in 2008 and was a recognized as a Library Journal Mover & Shaker in 2009. She frequently writes and presents on education, instruction, technology, and the future of libraries. Lauren also blogs at ALA Learning, tweets as @laurenpressley, and can be reached at lauren@laurenpressley.com.

Website - Twitter - More Posts

Filed Under: Social Learning Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

T is for Training 40 will be created tomorrow

February 25, 2010 By

Tomorrow marks the 40th episode taping of the Library Training Podcast, T is for Training which is sponsored by the ALA Learning blog.

Detailed notes about the podcast are visible here: Trainers Assemble! (Up next on tomorrow’s T is for Training)

You can listen to past episodes of the podcast by clicking on the widget on the top right side of this page.

Thanks for listening!

Maurice Coleman

Maurice Coleman, has been Technical Trainer at Harford County (MD) Public Library in North Eastern Maryland for the last 7 years. He has 20 years of experience training all ages how to sensibly use technology, computer hardware and software. He has also trained on effective technology planning and deployment, social media skills, nonprofit organizational development and fundraising, community organizing and presentation skills. He has presented at numerous conferences on topics such as digital personal branding, technology implementation, presentation and training skills, community development and effectively using social media. He hosts the library training podcast T is for Training and writes for the American Library Association’s LearnRT blog ALALearning. For his work he was named a 2010 Library Journal Mover and Shaker and received the Citizens for Maryland Libraries Davis McCarn Technology Award. You can find him on twitter @baldgeekinmd

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

Filed Under: LearnRT News, Professional Development, Resources for Trainers, The Training Life Tagged With: ,

On Sunshine, Smiles and Kittens

February 18, 2010 By

This post is not going to be about workplace violence, even though it’s recently been heavy on my mind. On February 17th,  an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at The University of Alabama in Huntsville opened fire in a staff meeting killing  three coworkers and injuring three more. Dr. Amy Bishop is now charged with those crimes. My library is in Huntsville, everyone who works here knows someone at UAH.

Nor is it going to be about conflict management, though I’ve got a fairly good presentation on that topic and can talk about it for hours.

While this post is about workplace etiquette, it’s not a broad guide. There are plenty of those available.  I’d like to step back even further and discuss one small thing we can do at work to reduce daily stress and create a better work environment for everyone.

I remember staying after school one day in elementary school to help a teacher pack up her room at year’s end. As I said goodbye, the teacher handed me an old poster with ragged corners. “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours” quoted the poster, complete with rays of sunshine on a kitten. She told me she wanted me to have it because she’d noticed how quick I was to smile at the other children, always cheerful and ready to help. She spoke of kindness and courtesy, manners and graciousness. It has a huge impact on me, I would even call it empowering.

In 2006 I attended a SirsiDynix Webinar with Pat Wagner called “Library Conflict Management for Consenting Adults Turning Enemies into Allies” in which she mentioned that libraries should have a “civility clause” for employees.  Soon after, I conducted a little experiment in the staff-only halls of the library. Moving through the building, I pulled up my the corners of my mouth and set a smile there. Every single person who passed said hello or wanted talk about something. The next day, I set a frown before I roamed the halls. A couple of people said I looked tired, one even asked what was wrong. It was as if the energy around me changed instead of just a few facial muscles, I was really struck with the results. Many times since I’ve heard someone make a nasty remark or slam a door in anger at work and wish we had a policy for Being Nice.

Call me Pollyanna, it’s been done before. I’m a firm believer in the power of positivity. When doing research on a class for managers on giving evaluations, I relied heavily on The Power of Positive Criticism by Hendrie Weisinger. He writes of emotional intelligence, being improvement-oriented and guarding self-esteem in those around you.  The book had a profound effect on the way I deal with people in every aspect of my life and I recommend it often to others.

Too often we forget simple courtesy in the workplace. Don’t wait until you have to bring in a conflict resolution arbitrator or consult the attorneys on harassment law. It’s too late when you’re forced to hire grief counselors.

You have the power to give someone a smile today.  It’s free and it feels good. Who knows? You might just get one back in return.

Funeral services for Dr. Adriel Johnson, Dr. Gopi Podila and Dr. Maria Ragland Davis begin today.


Image credit: The Huntsville Times

Information about UAH’s Department of Biological Sciences Memorial Scholarship Fund may be found here.

Marianne Lenox

As the Staff Training & Volunteer Coordinator for the Huntsville - Madison County Public Library in Alabama, Marianne is responsible for planning, directing, maintaining and implementing a comprehensive staff training and volunteer program for her library. She consistently strives to provide learning opportunities, professional information and technical training to ensure both better library service and the professional development of the Library’s staff and volunteers.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

Filed Under: The Training Life Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

10 Smart Phone Apps to Help You Be a Better Trainer

February 16, 2010 By

Many of us carry smart phones with us wherever we go.  Whether you have an iPhone, an Android phone, or a Blackberry, you likely have access to thousands of applications that can make your life easier.  As a new Droid owner, I found a number of apps that I thought could help me as a trainer in my face-to-face classes.

Below is a list of apps that can help you while you are training or teaching, making you seem super-smart, tech-savvy, and creative.  I mention specific apps for the Droid and iPhone, but similar applications exist for most smart phones.  The specific names are just my recommendations — but every phone, every app list, and every person is different.   See what you can find in each category that works for you!  All are free, unless otherwise marked.  So load up your phone, and get ready to impress your next class!

  1. Music player – I find that students always love it when I have music playing before the class starts, as well as during the breaks.  I recommend installing the Pandora app, which is available for most phones.  It’s amazingly easy to use, and lets you play music on the phone while you are doing other things. You can choose one of the other many music players, like iMusic, some of which come with quick downloads of legal or semi-legal MP3 tracks as well.  Incidentally, there are many small portable speakers to plug into your phone if the internal speaker won’t do the trick.  This would be particularly helpful when your classroom has no wi-fi, so there’s no way to access streaming music.  I usually do a search for something calming, like “Meditation” and have Pandora create a nice soothing music station around that term. 
  2. Stopwatch or Timer – It’s easy to lose track of time when training, and so many of us don’t wear watches any more…instead relying on our phones. Many apps offer fairly deluxe stopwatches or multi-phase timers that can help you pace yourself and make sure you don’t run out of time.  Some timers even have really nice self-selected alarms, including flashing lights and/or non-obnoxious noises.  I like just plain Timer. 
  3. Chimes – It’s a good idea to have some kind of nice sound to indicate to students that you’re ready to re-start the class after a break or group exercise.  Nice, soft sounds can get people’s attentions just as much as the loud teacher-yell: “We’re ready to start back up now!”  I’m now a fan of White Noise Lite, which offers a number of nice nature-y sounds like windchimes, rain, etc., along with simple visuals for each.  Just start the sound, hold up your phone, and watch the learners reassemble.
  4. Tether – Tech is unreliable, and I can remember a half dozen classes where I expected an internet connection and there wasn’t any.  Now with unlimited data plans on phones and tethering applications, you can connect your laptop to your phone, and use the phone’s connection to access the web.  Granted, it’s slower than a typical wired or wireless connection, but if you need to use live demos in your class it’s a lifesaver.  That being said, you should always bring back analog (read: print) back-ups for your class materials.  As to what app to use, there are a lot out there.  I’m using Android-Wifi-Tether.
  5. Presenter Pro – Presenter Pro costs money ($1.99), but is worth every penny.  This program is for presenters, teachers, and trainers.  The program provides presentation tips, including video and audio examples of great presentation ideas.  The program can review your specific presentations and give tips geared toward your needs. Nice!  It’s like having a training coach in your pocket.
  6. Quote Dictionary – Use one of the many quote-filled apps meant to give you something to think about, or to give you something smart to say to your class!  I recommend 501 Inspirational Quotes, as most of these are applicable in a classroom environment.  Provide a quote at the start of class, throw out a few more throughout to sound really smart, and your students will classify you as a bookish fountain of knowledge…just what you wanted!
  7. Voice Recorder – My favorite voice recorder is simply named Voice Recorder.  You can use it to record quick notes to yourself about things to bring up later in class, or even tasks you need to do once class is over.  You can also use it to record the whole class – as long as your SD card has enough capacity, you can record your class and then save it as an audio file that you can review later to review your class’s successes or places you could have done better.
  8. Yoga Program – Sitting at a desk or computer all day is really tiring on the shoulders, back, and arms.  Use a free yoga program like Yoga Trainer to walk you through a few simple exercises to get your body back in shape.  This is a great thing to do with the whole class during stretch breaks.  Every time I’ve done this, students have thanked me profusely and even said they learned a new exercise for their desks!
  9. Presentation Remote App – Apps like i-Clickr ($9.99) or Logitech Touch Mouse (free) turns your phone into a presentation remote, letting you click through your presentation slides using your phone screen.  Again, one less gadget for you to carry with you when you travel to train.
  10. Documents Program – Make sure you have a documents program on your phone that will read Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files (or their equivalents).  The app that many iPhone users seem to like the best, Documents to Go, costs $11.99, the most expensive app I’ve seen so far.  But the ability to sync up your documents from computer to phone is super nice, and for on-the-go presenters, it’s a huge benefit.  I’m using QuickOffice, which is free and works just fine for reading documents that I’ve manually transferred to the phone. Never again worry about transferring files over to your flash drive—just plug your phone into the presentation computer and you’re good to go.  One less device to carry!

So many other programs are out there that help too – time and expense trackers to keep track of what you need to bill to your clients, mobile blogging apps so you can post to the class blog/website on the fly, Twitter clients to help you create live classroom conversations, cameras and Flickr uploading tools so you can share class photos, mobile Skype to help you bring in a guest speaker for free through your phone, restaurant finding apps to help your students find good nearby dining for your lunch break, and even spy-cams (Sec-u-ret spy cam) to use the camera to auto-photograph you while you’re teaching.  Look around with an eye for your life as a trainer and you’re bound to find many more ways to make yourself look like the super-awesome trainer you are!

Sarah Houghton-Jan

Filed Under: LearnRT News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Webinars for Trainers and Training Managers

February 16, 2010 By

The Learning Round Table is happy to have two Emerging Leaders teams working on projects for our group. The message below is from one of the teams:

Our team has been tasked with the designing and planning of a series of webinars on topics of interest to trainers and managers/coordinators of training and staff development. The first step in this process is to determine topics for the webinar series, and we would like to hear what you have to say!

We would really appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to complete the following survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YK9YFV6

Thank you!
Jennifer and Team (Angela, Natalie, and Sonnet)
Jennifer Spriggs

If you have questions about the survey please direct them to Jennifer at jspriggs@allconet.org

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

Filed Under: LearnRT News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Learning Round Table February Meeting

February 15, 2010 By

Our next Learning Round Table meeting is this Wednesday 02/17/2010 from 2-3pm EST.

All Learning Round Table members (and any other interested people) are invited to attend our virtual monthly meetings. We use the meetings for updates and follow-ups to committee work, discussions, sharing and announcements. We use ALA’s OPAL web-conferencing platform for these meetings. Meetings are held at 2pm EST. The following is the current meeting schedule:

  • Wednesday, February 17
  • Thursday, March 11
  • Wednesday, April 21
  • Thursday, May 13
  • Wednesday, June 16

This is a great time to get involved as we have lots of new ideas and projects on the horizon. Registration not required. Just click this link to join in: http://www.conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs423c62c43df0

We look forward to seeing you there!

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

Filed Under: LearnRT News Tagged With: , ,

Engaging Learners with Poll Everywhere

February 11, 2010 By

One of the coolest tools I have discovered for engaging teen learners in my school library as well as adult participants in my presentations is the service Poll Everywhere. Poll Everywhere allows you to pose a question to your audience via an embedded widget on your website  or blog; you can also embed a poll directly into a PowerPoint!  Your audience members can then respond to your poll via SMS text, Twitter, or the web.  Your polls can be multiple choice based questions or you can create open-ended questions to create conversations with your participants.  If you choose to use the free service option, you can accept up to thirty responses per poll question.  Poll Everywhere also offers a range of pricing plans if you need the ability to accommodate more responses.

Poll Everywhere with Teen Learners

I first began using Poll Everywhere in August with ninth and tenth grade students as a way of creating interest in research topics  in my mini-lessons introducing research pathfinders that I had created as part of the collaborative process with classroom teachers.   During the first week of school, I decided to test drive Poll Everywhere with a group of 10th Literature/Composition students who were participating in my Media 21 project.     As part of our introduction for exploring wikis as a learning tool and social media as tools for learning, I integrated a Poll Everywhere multiple choice poll asking students to vote on the form of social media or social networking they used most often.  I created a tab for each class period (5th and 7th) for student voting using LibGuides and integrated widgets for the polls into each page.   I gave students the option of either texting their responses, using the mobile phone voting feature, or for those who did not have cell phones, a web-based voting option.  An undercurrent of excitement and surprise pulsed throughout the lab as students looked at me in disbelief and asked, “Can we really use our cell phones to vote?”   I smiled with great pride when one student looked at me and said, “What kind of teacher are you?”  Not only did this activity engage students in conversation and participation in the learning activity, but it also set the tone for the semester that we would be creating learning experiences different from the typical mainstream classroom.

Responding to a Poll Everywhere Poll via Text

Texting in the Library, Oh My!

5th Period Social Media Poll

You can also create open-ended poll questions with PollEverywhere to create more free-flowing responses.  This past November I used open-ended polls with our AP English seniors to brainstorm possible senior project topics.  I facilitated small and large group conversations about possible topics and resources for researching those topics using our research pathfinder. Running the live text/poll wall on a large projection screen is a very effective way to support these conversations and to generate excitement as students see their responses roll live on the text/poll wall.   You can easily go into this full screen mode from your embedded poll widget via your webpage or your PowerPoint slide.

Seniors Texting Responses to the Live Text/Poll Wall

Seniors Sharing Possible Senior Project Topics via Poll Everywhere

As you can see in the screenshot of my Poll Everywhere dashboard below, you also have the ability to publish your poll via Twitter or your blog.

An Open-Ended Poll Question

Poll Everywhere for Adult Learners and Presentations

You can also use Poll Everywhere for your workshops and presentations with adult learners.   I used Poll Everywhere to kick off my presentation on participatory librarianship this past fall at the AASL National Convention.  By embedding my conversation starter questions into my PowerPoint slidedeck, I could stream the live text/poll wall of responses to the audience and facilitate our sharing of ideas.

Poll Everywhere at AASL; photo via Diane Cordell under a CC license

The only caveat to this method is that a large screen will be needed if you should be presenting in a room that is long and narrow in depth as your audience members in the back may too far back to see the screen with the information for texting or Tweeting a response.  You can head off this particular challenge by preparing mini “tickets” with the text and Tweeting information ahead of time to pass out to participants prior to your presentation.  The screencast below simulates how responses look in real time as they come into the live text wall for your poll:

If you want to embed a Poll Everywhere slide into your PowerPoint with the live text wall effect, you can watch my tutorial below:

Other Possible Uses for Instruction and Presentations

Poll Everywhere also offers these suggestions for using polls:

  • Audience choice awards
  • Texting Q&A to expert panels
  • Replace expensive clickers
  • Green surveys at conferences
  • Moderated TXT-to-screen graffiti
  • Text feedback to a presenter
  • Interactive signage
  • Training comprehension checks

What ideas or suggestions do you have for using Poll Everywhere in an instructional setting or for a presentation?  Text,or Tweet to chime in or share your response via the blog comments!  To participate: Text 41273 and your message to 99503 or tweet @poll 41273 and your message.

Buffy Hamilton

Filed Under: Cool Tools Tagged With: , , , , ,

What would Seinfeld do?

February 9, 2010 By

I love the image of the fantasy eager student in Cathy Moore’s Dump the Drone. This learning nerd looks blissfully at his computer screen and exclaims, “I love to sit at my computer and read read read!”

If only training were that easy. Whether it’s online or on-ground, for most training sessions, the audience is a little lower down on the engagement scale. They may be skeptical that the session will be of any benefit to them; or they may feel obligated but not motivated to be there. I’ve been cogitating on just that kind of situation, fretting about an upcoming presentation. I want to prepare myself and my audience in advance to set the stage for success. I wondered what would Seinfeld do? Or what would any comedian with years of experience in front of tough audiences do? So, I googled for lessons from the world of comedy. Whether or not these comedians are memorable, their advice is:

1. Where’s the passion?

If passion is contagious, the converse—a passionless presentation—is deadly. If you’re not jazzed about delivering your material, how can you expect your audience to be? Simon Dunn says, if you’re dying on stage, “you’ve only got yourself to blame.” Vince Martin tells wannabe comics that you need to bring the energy to the audience yourself, “to give away as much energy as you can.”

How to surface your enthusiasm? Back in December, Peter Bromberg (who’s a bit of a comic himself)  blogged about Kevin Eikenberry’s post on Unlocking the Passion Paradox. Read it and then go look for your passion. “Passion is something we want, but we don’t always know how or where to find it.”

2. You talkin’ to me?

When asked by Larry King what makes a comedian really good, Seinfeld replied that it was a comedian who cared about his audience. Comedians will often sit at the back of a club before their act just so they can watch people enter and note their dress, demeanor, and demographic. The more you understand about your audience, the better prepared you are to play to their diversity, arouse their attention and respond to their tough questions. But Seinfeld didn’t say “understand,” he said “care” about the audience.

Trainers often have an advantage over stand-up comics in that they know ahead of time who is registered for the event; you can do your audience analysis before the moment when you’re standing in the spotlights. You can look for their commonalities, their differences, anticipate potential questions and formulate answers. But take it a step further and try to imagine their frame of mind when arriving at the training. What might they be expecting, what might disappoint, how will they have the opportunity to interact and make the material their own?

3. What’s the matter?

John Cleese says, “If you get too neurotic about making mistakes, you’re unlikely to make anything.” Anticipating a tough audience or a difficult training can be stifling. The fear of not connecting, not achieving learning objectives, and basically “bombing” makes it hard to prepare for a presentation. You need to let go of some control. Be prepared to be flexible in response to your audience and to change gears when it’s clear that something’s not working. Vinnie Favorito is known for extemporizing with his audiences. He’s also been known, when meeting with tepid response and weak laughs, to stop his routine and ask “Guys, what’s the matter? What’s going on?” It’s more important to admit that there’s a disconnect and enlist the audience to help fix it than it is to stick to a script.

Well, that’s three good pointers to calm my trepidation and help me prepare. There’s a whole other set of lessons on how to pull off the live performance. That will require a lot more study and practice.

Betha Gutsche

Betha Gutsche has been a virtual librarian ever since receiving her MLIS from the University of Washington Information School. Immersed in the online community of WebJunction, she has cultivated community connections through forums, live online events, and writing stories about the library community. She has delved into e-learning design, curriculum development, needs assessment, and all things connected to social learning in the online world. Betha is the editor-in-chief of the Competency Index for the Library Field. She is now the manager of Project Compass, a program working with public libraries to augment their service to communities impacted by tough times. Underneath it all, Betha is an artist and loves to raise awareness of visual literacy and introduce people to the power of image.

Website - Twitter - More Posts

Filed Under: The Training Life Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts