Have you ever had to present at a faculty meeting or school professional development? Here are five tips on how to ensure your training goes smoothly and your guest get the most bang for their buck.

I am a teacher and I truly enjoy professional development sessions that cater to my interest and allow me to grow professional. You never what to create a training to just fill time, however, you need to be prepared and ready for your trainees so that you can use the time given in the most meaningful way.

1. Materials are prepared and organized for participates-

You should have a folder or something to keep them neat for each person at the training. It is nice to have a label on the folder so that can easily assess it later. If you are tech savvy, or you think members in your session is, I strongly suggest that you house all of your training materials online. Having an online outlet to store your links, worksheets, presentation, and videos is a great way to stay up with the times and to allow your participates to re-visit the materials quickly. Google Sites is a free resource to make a webpage where you add a calendar, links, embed videos, and post discusses. Here is an example of my Google Site on Professional Learning.

When uploading documents, be aware that not all people have access to Word or Active Inspire. Remember to use a universal format like .pdf, jpeg and .mp3.

2. Create a welcoming space-

It is very important to make sure your training space is welcoming to all participates. You want to have your room set up for more of a discussion/group work then a lecture. You want to have an image in the front of the room to welcome the participants to the session and give any directions that will need to be completed before the session is started.

Playing music is a friendly way to welcome people in the room and allow them to greet each other and chat before you begin. To grab every ones attention, start with playing a video, it will be a nice way to ask people to put a bookmark in their conversations and watch the video quietly.

Having water, candy or some sort of snack is always nice, especially if it is at a time where someone might be missing a meal or if it is a long training. Another way to create a welcoming space is to let participants know where the facilities are and let them know that they can use them at anytime.

3. Know your audience-

It is important to know your audience well, if you are fortunate enough to know your participants beforehand, you have an advantage. If you haven’t ever met your participants that will be present, you will need to ask some questions of the people that know them best. You might have to talk with the principal or boss at the business. You could also send out a pre-survey to the participants to feel out the questions yourself.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What is the average age of your learner?
• Are the participates mostly men or woman?
• What are the cultural backgrounds of the learners?
• What is the educational level of the learner?
• What prior experience does the learner have?
• What is their motivation level?
• Why do they need to take this course or training?
• Do any of them have any specific training?
• What are the learning styles of learners?

Knowing the answers to these questions will help you better serve your learner. You will be able to adjust your training with the necessary tools you need to help each person.

4. How will you collect your data-

There is only one way to become better at presenting and it is collecting data on how you did. Have a quick survey ready for the end of the session for your participants to complete. Have it available online (with a URL that has been shorten). I like to use the site TinyURL.com to allow everyone to assess the survey easy without having to type in a 30 characters. If you want everyone to fill it out, make it an exit ticket and build in time during your training to let him or her get it done. You can also create paper copies for people that don’t feel comfortable using the technology. This also might be a nice time to spend with some of those people to help teach them how to fill out an online survey. The outlet I use is Google Forms. Linked is a quick video on how to create a google form.

I hope that these tips have helped you prepare for your training.