Today, the reality is that in parallel with your training, you see notifications pop up, and while listening to the trainer present something, you might also be placing an online shopping order. At the end of the day, you are exhausted and little of what you have learned will stick. What can you as a trainer or facilitator do to reduce screen fatigue, offer a break from ‘regular’ screen time and encourage that the learning sticks?
Make your training three-dimensional
Instead of using all the wonderful digital tools that are available these days, be selective and also incorporate off-screen activities, such as a walk outside, reading a handout on the sofa or creating a mood board out of newspaper snippets. Encourage participants to move away from the screen, draw on real paper, and use the space around them. Digital tools can be very useful and fun, but they also ask a lot (skills, speed, focus on screen) from your participants. Keep in mind the session’s learning objectives and leave out the digital tools if they are not truly necessary.
Less is more
Expectations are high, and often both clients and participants somehow expect or ambitiously hope that you can squeeze the same content of a 1-day face-to-face training into a 3-hour online session. They want to get the most out of the 3 hours they have with you and that is understandable. But in reality, there is only so much participants can process, and while it’s nothing new, remind yourself: less is more. Focus on 1-2 key messages instead of showering your participants with stuff. Keep it simple and it will be easier for your participants to remember.
Make it an experience like it used to be
You want to avoid your training becoming something your participants can join in between everything else they are doing. Avoid that your participants can listen to your webinar while writing a report. Design your trainings in such a way that it becomes the fun experience and special treat it used to be when it involved traveling somewhere nice. While the training needs to focus on the content and learning, incorporate moments of socialising and fun and make your participants feel special by posting some personalised treats or materials in advance.
If you want to expand your training toolbox, join our course Training & Facilitation Skills, a blended learning trajectory, we combine online and face-to-face learning.
You can also find more inspiration in this article, Making it stick and stay awake, or get in touch with one of our experts.
For more information about our Training & Facilitation Skills course, contact us at registration@mdf.nl.
