“Today, we are going to learn about …” How to Ace Your Teaching or Training Scenario
We may not all be teachers or trainers, but we are bound to face a teaching or training scenario, at least once in our communication journey. Be it that informative speech or a training assignment within your company, it may be daunting to put yourself in the role of an ‘expert’ and inspire your audience. You may have heard talk of the “imposter syndrome” or just outright stage anxiety; what if that happens to you during your teaching/training stint?
As we shared, you may encounter a teaching or training communication scenario where you are required (or ‘sabotaged’ even!) to share insights into a particular topic or area of expertise. Be proud! Such communication scenarios are often a recognition of your expertise or experience in a specific area – the audience will be anticipating the value that you would give to them in that session. The key challenge is to design that training/teaching session that enriches, entertains, and excites your audience!
Even if you are not a trainer/teacher by trade, there are some techniques you can use to try and ace such a communication scenario. Here are three such techniques you can try!
Role Reversal – What Would the Students Like to See?
If this is your first few training/teaching scenarios, you may be lured into the common trap that most ‘newbies’ fall into – designing the lesson plan from your perspective! In such a communication scenario, your most important stakeholder is your students. The materials prepared, the information shared, and the lessons learnt must be in line with your audience’s expectations. In short, you need to ensure that your teaching/training session is valuable from your audience’s perspective.
Start by asking the simple question: “If I were a student/audience member sitting in for this topic, what would I be interested to hear? What would excite me?” Place yourself in your audience’s shoes and plan your lesson plan around that. For example, suppose you are presenting a new virtual system for your colleagues to use. In that case, you may need to reduce the jargon (e.g., complicated, technical language) used and incorporate more practice-based activities for the information to take root. Remember to tailor your lesson plan to your audience!
Your Toolkit of Relevance
In both your lesson plan design and execution of the session, you should ensure that you have a steady supply of tools to use in maintaining relevance with the audience. They should feel the importance or relevance of the information you are sharing. The key question is: “How does this apply to them?” By setting out this relevance bridge early, you will encourage your audience members to take the content seriously, raising the impetus for them to remain engaged.
One method of achieving this early on in your presentation is by targeting a present pain or struggle point. For example, if you are introducing your team to a new online system, start by directing their attention to the current pain points they are going through (e.g., using an audience survey – “How many of you take hours just to record a new client’s details? Would it be better if you could simply save all these details with one click?”). Even in a teaching/training scenario, it may still be important to ‘sell’ your idea to your audience and ensure that they are on board before you venture into the finer details of the information you intend to share.
Determining Deliverables
In a persuasive scenario, we tend to speak about the “Call to Action” or the exhortation to your audience to take a specific action. Likewise, you should think about the eventual objective or goal your audience members should keep in mind throughout your session. You want to ensure that they remain focused and directed towards the long-term benefits or gains from sitting through the session and participating actively as well.
For a more informative/training scenario, a possible deliverable would be to highlight a progress check-in point sometime in the future. For example, if you are teaching your team about the finer details of a new proposal, provide them with the reassurance and promise of a follow-up check-in (e.g., email or townhall) or an open channel/feedback loop to ensure that the teaching/training process does not end with your session. Always aim to give value to your audience members in a teaching/training scenario!
Go Forth & Inspire!
If you are already a teacher or trainer, such communication scenarios are unlikely to be difficult to navigate. However, most of us may not be in the same field – the thought of having to guide a large audience through a complicated topic may be challenging. While the preparation and delivery may require a meticulous process, the payout (when your audience understands you) is priceless! We hope that the three tips above can help you to ace this communication scenario!
WATCH our YouTube video on: How Is Teaching Public Speaking To Kids Different From Adults?
By The Way…
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For more about our Public Speaking Courses for Adults :
https://publicspeakingacademy.com.sg/courses-and-programs/group-classes-for-adults/
If you’re also looking for Public Speaking Course for Kids / Children:
https://publicspeakingacademy.com.sg/group-classes-students-age-9-18/
If you are a human resources manager/ business owner in your company…
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