Currently, I work in a training position. I have been in this position for 9 years now. I started out doing some training – it is all technical and related to the type of work I had done in the past. The longer I have been in this position the more it has moved to a position of “coordination” vs actual training. In this position I have been able to view some things a bit different. I think I always knew these “truths” but just never “totalled them up” and put it down in documented comments.
I have given and attended hundreds of courses and been to many parts of the world to either give or receive them. Over time I have become less and less impressed with the overall delivery of many technical “self-professed” experts we pay for. In fact I have, in this position, found it better to use people who have a better “stage presence” and may know far less than someone who is extremely knowledgeable yet can not deliver in front of people. It is just a fact of the situation that someone who has the “gift of presence” can teach the subject better than those that know it beyond a doubt, but can not find a way to present it to others. To go even one step further, the most knowledgeable on a particular technical subject, have a much higher chance of not being a good presenter than those that have a reasonable knowledge and good presence.
In my time here it has become evident that poor training methods and presentation can be covered up with shiny, glossy printed material and a few gifts. This is how many of the “self-professed” are able to continue to get gigs doing this type of work. I myself have struggled on some topics I was forced to be the instructor for and was ill prepared but with some gifts and some shiny color printed material we are still able to get superior ratings for our work. I have even had the opportunity to see the outcome of other’s training and discuss learning with past students. When they left the course they all would seem impressed, if they had good “carry home” material and gifts. Asking the same students or maybe different members of the same sessions and allowing for a time of “soak” they usually come to realize that what they got was not that good (technically) but they sure liked the way it was given.
I do not know who is blowing the most smoke up whose pipes but it just works that way. I think it has for a long time, as I have been a party to the receiving end, and the better the “take-home” was we received the higher I rated the course. I looked at it as “I would have good reference material for later”. In reality the bulk of the reference material is seldom ever used and generally sets on shelves in some office collecting huge amounts of dust. You can also buy the same Hard material (in most cases) for far cheaper than attending the actual course. Keep in mind I am talking about short courses and limited amounts of forced study associated to the course, not those generally linked to a full course of study that requires some passing method to get credit.
If you want to get superior ratings and continue your work as a consulting expert in teaching – no matter what the focus, you really need to have good quality “hand out material” and some cheap gifts to go along with that material and the students will think your great, even if you are not the best at it. – I know this sounds a bit sarcastic or negative on the seminar circuit but it works and all the best do it. – WD0AJG