Introduction

In this chapter, geared to you, the trainer, you will find an overview about presentation and facilitation skills and in particular how these skills apply to this time management workshop, seminar, or course for IT professionals. If you are new to training, this will be a way to start gaining the skills that will help you to effectively lead a program on time management. If you are already a seasoned trainer, please see this material as a review; you might also pick up a few useful tips.

Getting ready to present this workshop

In this section, directed at you, the trainer and workshop leader, you will learn some basics that can be applied to this time management training.

Working on your training and facilitation skills

The first decision you have to make in preparing your time management training for IT professionals is: What will be your presentation style? Lecture? Audience participation? Facilitator?

Presentation skills basics

This training manual is not a substitute for learning how to be a better public speaker or trainer. That is a topic unto itself. Fortunately there are lots of available resources to help you to be a better speaker or trainer. The National Speakers Association (NSA) (http://www.nsaspeaker.org), through its annual conference and monthly events offered through various state chapters, is one place to start. Toastmasters International (http://www.toastmasters.org) is another well-regarded association dedicated to honing your public speaking skills. The Association for Talent Development (ATD), previously known as American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), is a premier association focused on trainers and training.

As I pointed out in my book, The Fast Track Guide to Speaking in Public, the two key concerns of anyone who speaks, or trains, is what you want to say or impart (teach, inspire, educate) and how you will deliver that information. The "how" refers to your speaking style or, in the case of conducting a workshop, your approach to training.

You have probably delivered a speech before, but have you previously conducted a workshop? There is, of course, a big difference between delivering a 20 minute or even a 45 minute speech versus running an all-day or two-half day trainings. Although the basic principle of engaging your audience, rather than just lecturing to them, will apply, whatever the length of your workshop, it's essential that you avoid straight lecturing if you have an all-day seminar for several reasons. First of all, you may just lose your voice after a certain number of hours. Second of all, you may find your audience tuning out or literally falling asleep if they fail to actively engage in the learning process. Recently I conducted an all-day time management training that lasted from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. When I broke up "straight lecture" with asking the attendees to contribute their own experiences to the discussion, it was clear that their interest level in the subject matter was enhanced.

Third of all, without audience engagement, the training will be less satisfying to those in the workshop, and even for you. If you involve your trainees, you will be a learner as well as a teacher. If you only lecture, it will be a one-way learning experience. By having a more interactive approach to conducting a workshop, not only do you learn from your attendees, and they learn from you, but they are more likely to learn from each other.

If you are used to educating adults, you are probably already aware that we have learned things about how adults learn that has impacted how to best present an adult workshop. You'll find some basic information about adult learning in a section that follows.

If you haven't presented to adults before, or recently, it is important to read through those points about how to structure your workshop so it will appeal to adults. This is not the place to provide you with an in-depth training skills program. But if you feel insecure or uncomfortable about your presentation or facilitation skills, you might want to consider getting a coach to work with you, reading books about training, or taking a one-day or longer course in training to hone your skills. If you have the time, in-person is best. But if you're pressed for time, there are online programs to consider taking. See the Resource section in the back of this chapter for a list of organizations that offer programs for becoming a better trainer or speaker.

The Association for Talent Development (ATD) (https://www.td.org), has extensive materials related to training that you can purchase. They also have an annual international conference with dozens of educational sessions related to training as well as targeted additional conferences throughout the year. You will find the details on their website. Although there is a discount if you buy material or attend any conferences if you are a member, materials and conferences are still open to non-members as well.

Here, however, are some general guidelines before you start offering the training to your staff or freelancers:

1. Read through the manual yourself at least once. You want to be familiar with the entire program before you present it.

2. Do all the required exercises and activities that you will be asking your trainees to do. In that way you will be confident about your own time management knowledge and skills.

3. Do the "Time Management Self-Assessment" provided below for you so you are aware of your own time management strengths and challenges.

Understanding how adults learn in a nutshell

Some of you are professional trainers, so what I will share now will be old hat to you. But others will be training for the first time. Or, if you've done training before, you may not have liked your approach to training. That is because so many of us were raised with the out-dated notion that you train by lecturing to your audience. You impart to them all the knowledge that you have and maybe you throw in a question and answer period so it seems like it's more interactive.

Research into adult learning, however, has resulted in a revised view of training especially when you are training adults. During the 5-day training certificate program I participated in, sponsored by ATD, I learned this about adult learning:

1. It's more participatory. It's not just lecturing about what you know.

2. The preferred presentation style is being relaxed and laid back.

3. Written materials that are used have fill ins so participants can be more involved in their learning. Filling in the written materials also makes it more like a self-study experience.

4. There are generous breaks. Every 7 to 20 minutes, there is a 10 minute break.

5. Learning styles and techniques are frequently switched, to keep the interest level high.

6. PowerPoint is used properly as an aid to the learning experience and to share materials that are not available otherwise, such as videos or photographs projected on the screen. It is not used as something that outlines what is being taught or that asks participants to have their eyes glued to the screen to the exclusion of interaction and individual or group participation.

7. If you are trying to help your attendees change behaviors that they are currently practicing, even if those behaviors are holding them back, you may need to first deal with the blocks that are keeping them from improving specific skills or ways of thinking.

Pre-training time management self-assessment

If you are able to take this self-assessment yourself now, as well as give out the pre-training self-assessment to your attendees in advance of the workshop, that would be ideal. This will enable you to get to know your own time management strength and weaknesses and also to offer the attendees a pre-training starting point for their time management skills. (But it's okay to keep what you find out about yourself to yourself.)

Pre-training time management self-assessment/self-quiz

To help you determine just how productive you really are, take this five question self-evaluation. On a piece of paper, or on your computer, answer each question with a yes, no, or sometimes:

1. Do you make a conscientious effort to separate important, strategic, or urgent matters from other demands?

2. Do you take the time to do enough background research so you can make the best possible decisions?

3. Do you allocate at least one hour each day for uninterrupted time for thinking, reading, planning, or creative work?

4. Do you spend sufficient time developing and maintaining business and personal relationships?

5. Do you work hard to do your best, rather than measuring yourself by a standard equated with unattainable perfection?

How many questions did you answer yes to? If you answered "yes" to those five issues, your time management skills are excellent. But if you answered "no" or "sometimes" to one or more questions, you will benefit by improving your time management skills.

You may already suspect that how you handle your time could be enhanced since you are probably more stressed than you would like to be, busier than usual though getting less done, or finding yourself saying, more and more often, I just don't have the time.

Do you have specific time management challenges that were not included in the five questions? If yes, write down those challenges now:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Make sure one or all of those challenges are addressed in the time management training ahead. If for any reason one or all of those concerns are not discussed by your trainer, pro-actively bring up those time management concerns so you can get the help with those issues that will positively impact on how you manage your time.

Note

Make a note

*Excerpted and adapted from Creative Time Management for the New Millennium by Jan Yager (Hannacroix Creek Books, 1999). (Edited from the version of this self-quiz that is posted at http://www.drjanyager.com.)

Introducing yourself to the attendees

Starting the training off on the right foot is pivotal whether you are offering a full-day, half-day, or one hour weekly course format for this training. A proven positive way to start off training or a course is by introducing yourself to your attendees and doing it in a way that your attendees feel welcomed by you as well as impressed with your background, and why you are the right person to be offering this training. You also want your attendees to be excited about what they will be learning during the hours or hours ahead.

What is your role? Manager? Trainer? Owner?

Be prepared is the motto of the Boy Scouts. It is also the name of a song from Disney's The Lion King, with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice. But to a trainer, those words, "be prepared," are pivotal to a positive training experience with a greater likelihood of an excellent outcome.

A big part of the training, fortunately for you, I have already done for you by creating three detailed sample agendas for your time management training. For anyone who has done training, you know that creating the detailed training agenda is a very important big first step.

You also have worksheets and additional content related to each of the chapters to help you to provide meaningful content in all the areas that this manual is covering.

But there are some areas where only you can create the content, and introducing yourself to your attendees is one of those areas.

Just how important is your introduction? As I point out in my book, The Fast Track Guide to Speaking in Public, how you are presented to your attendees, whether it's a workshop of 25 or an annual meeting of an association audience of 2,000, is pivotal. It should not be left to chance.

First of all, decide what role you will be playing in the training. Will you be the trainer? Will you be supervising someone else who is doing the training? If you are the trainer, but you are also the owner of the company, will you be conducting the workshop in both roles or only one?

Second, write down the key information about your background that is important for those in your training to know about you. Whether it's where you worked before, your educational background, or any of your known or lesser known accomplishments that should be highlighted, have it all written down.

If possible, get your introduction to someone who will be in the training, or another staff member who could be trusted to stop by at the beginning of the training, to give your introduction. If they have it in advance, they should be able to memorize it so they can deliver it in an engaging way. Whether you ask someone in advance who has time to read your prepared introduction or someone you ask right at the beginning of the training, try to have the key details you want shared written down.

Keep your introduction a short as possible and walk that fine line between sharing the important details and explaining why you're qualified to give this workshop versus bragging or boasting. Let the attendees know what it is in your background that gives you an appreciation of what they are going through. When I do a time management training, in addition to sharing about my credentials, I usually add that I was raised by a workaholic father who was a dentist and a workaholic mother who was a kindergarten teacher. When I left home at 16 to attend college, my parents were basically strangers to me. We had gone on three vacations as a family during my entire childhood. I vowed that when I became a parent that I would find a way to practice a better work-life balance. I let them know that the tools I learned through studying time management helped me to better combine family relationships, work, a strong marriage, and even friendship.

If you are not used to the trainer role, it's okay to say that, without creating too much anxiety in your audience. Tell them you look forward to their help with the training if you are doing anything that they think you need some help with, such as when to take a break.

Housekeeping/ground rules – brainstorming and sharing without judgment

Before you get to the ice breaker part of the initial training, you want to share with your attendees about housekeeping or ground rules. The housekeeping will relate to where the bathrooms are, the exit signs, as well as what is expected about cell phones—turn it off, put it on vibrate, and let calls go to voicemail unless you are expecting an important call or you see from caller ID it is an emergency call that you have to take. In that case, suggest your attendee goes into the hallway to answer it.

Remind attendees that, if possible, they should wait to go to the bathroom when there is a break but if it's an emergency, just go and be as unobtrusive as possible about leaving and returning. (You might point out that if someone is expecting an urgent call, or has bladder issues, they might want to sit on the end of the aisle or near the back.)

Also share the following brainstorming rules:

1. If you are asked to share/brainstorm, it is to be done without fear of judgment by other attendees.

2. Although everything that is shared during the workshop should be considered confidential, since you may all work for the same company, or in the same industry, remind your attendees to use their judgment about what they share. Always avoid using any complete names of individuals or companies, especially if someone's being critical, in any way that might have political, legal, or practical complications.

3. Try to let everyone speak at least once. Avoid hogging the brainstorming sessions.

If your style is to ask for questions to be "held" till the end of a "module" that you've being discussing, or till the end of the day, let everyone know that. Encourage them to write down the question they want to ask, on paper or in their computer or smartphone, so they don't forget their question. But if you're okay with questions being asked throughout the workshop, where and when someone has a question, or a pertinent comment, let everyone know that's your training style.

Using an ice breaker

Whenever you attend a workshop, you have probably found that your leader starts the training with some type of an ice breaker. Whether it's just having everyone say their names and introduce themselves to the leader and their fellow attendees, or it's an interactive activity as a way to get the group warmed up, using an ice breaker can help set a positive tone for your time together learning about time management.

Using an ice breaker to have the group become more comfortable working together

Here are four sample popular ice breakers:

1. Getting to know you

   This ice breaker gives each attendee a few moments to share with the group by providing their name —first name, last name (or just first name, if that's your style for the group) — what company he/she works for, and one piece of information about themselves that the group might not know and that they want to share and won't regret sharing tomorrow or the next day. (You don't have to add in that last caveat but I find it suits my sensibilities to head off any confessions that might prove embarrassing or worse.)

   The ice breaker would therefore go something like this:

   My name is Jan Yager and I am president of Timemasters.com, a time management training, research, and communications company. One thing you might not know about me is that when I was just five years old, I swam an entire mile when I was at sleep away camp.

   The goal is to share something about yourself that is not shared in typical biographies. You want your attendees to share something unique and memorable about themselves so they are more than just a name or department to each other. Providing one memorable piece of information about oneself is a way of breaking the ice for spending an entire day, two half-days, or being in a weekly session being trained in time management skills.

2. What do we have in common?

   For this second ice breaker, you have everyone in the training pair off with someone that they do not know. (Of course if the training is for a department that works together every day, this will be harder to achieve. In that case, ask each person to pick someone that they don't know as well as they know the others.)

   Give this ice breaker a five minute time limit. The instructions are that each person in the pair is to keep sharing about herself/himself until they find two things they have in common. It can be anything from their taste in music, to where they grew up, to their favorite food or movie. If you have a smartphone with a timer, set it for five minutes. It's quite convenient to have the time announced with the music or sound that goes off when the timer hits five minutes. If you do not have a built-in timer, use your watch or the clock on the wall to call out Time's up when five minutes have passed.

   You don't have to go around the entire room for this ice breaker. You can just call on volunteers and have a couple of the pairs share what two things they found in common with each other.

   In addition to being a popular ice breaker, this also reinforces the communication skills of listening, sharing, and showing an interest in others that will be discussed in Chapter 7, Enhancing Your Written and Verbal Communication Skills for Efficiency and Chapter 9, Improving Your Work and Personal Relationships.

3. What's your bag?

   This ice breaker was shared at the ASTD, now known as ATD, 5-day training certificate program that I completed. This icebreaker asks attendees to Draw a picture or create a motto that best introduces you. Attendees are provided with a handout that has a box/bag drawn on it in outline format, to be filled in by the workshop attendee. Ask a couple of attendees to hold up their picture or piece of paper with their motto so the entire workshop can see it and to share it with the others.

4. What's your #1 time management challenge?

   This ice breaker is tied to the subject matter of the training workshop: time management. It is a way to get to know everyone better who is in the workshop but it also allows the attendees, and you, the trainer, to find out more about the time management concerns of your attendees. This is especially useful if you didn't have time to survey each of the attendees in a pre-workshop survey or if it is a department or company-wide workshop so that there are attendees with whom you are not familiar.

   You can have a flip chart at the front of the room where you write the answers that you hear as you go around the room asking the questions, What is your name, where do you work (or what department do you work in), and what's your #1 time management challenge?

   You don't have to write the same challenge more than once. Once you get a list of the key challenges, put a 1 or check next to each one. As someone else agrees with that challenge, keeping adding a 1 or a check mark, crossing through four ones—1111—or check marks so that you can tell how many are offering that challenge, in groups of five.

   This is an excellent way to build trust in your workshop since you are showing that by sharing what someone's time management challenge is, everyone is taking a bit of a risk to admit that their time management skills aren't perfect. This ice breaker also helps attendees to see that there are other workshop participants who share their productivity challenge, promoting a sense of community around a common cause among attendees.

   You can also use this ice breaker skill when you hand out and discuss the agenda for the day to show during what part of the day/what topic those challenges will be covered. For example, if someone says My number one time management challenge is that I get interrupted practically every five minutes, when you discuss the day's agenda, you can mention that interruptions will be explored right after lunch in the section entitled, Dealing with Distractions, Interruptions, and Handling Change. If someone says, I wish I had more of a work-life balance, I'm working nights and weekends too much, you can say, We'll be exploring "Cultivating Work-life Balance," at the end of the day, right before the conclusion.

5. Creating your own ice breaker

   You might want to develop an ice breaker of your own, on your own or in discussion with your attendees. See what type of group you are training, and listen closely to comments or opinions that you hear in the time right before the training starts, if you have a registration and networking time. Or perhaps you might get a sense about what the group needs that the ice breaker might help with. For example, if this is a group that has been sitting in front of their computer screen for a couple of hours before the training starts, you might want to do an ice breaker that involves some kind of physical activity. You can use a beach ball and have everyone stand up, in a large circle, and you can ask them to throw the ball to the person next to them, or across from them, and ask them a particular question, or answer a question that you ask them.

   Here are some possibilities, but you can make up your own: What's your favorite movie? What's the last book you read? Fill this in as you toss (and catch) the ball: My name is ____________ and my favorite movie is _________.

Explain how the training will proceed

You may have given out the agenda for the day (2 half-days, 10-week course, or 90 minute) before now, sending it electronically or getting a printed version on to everyone's desk.

But even if you sent the agenda in advance, you should distribute another copy and, if possible, if you're using PowerPoint or some kind of projection system, project the agenda onto the screen, or write it on the chalkboard at the front of room.

Take a few minutes to go over the agenda with your group. If you like, call on various attendees to read one or more parts of the agenda, as a way of keeping the training interactive and lively. Then explain that each topic on the agenda will have basic content that will be covered and, if this is your plan, that you will also be providing worksheets from this training manual that you will be photocopying and providing to each attendee to fill out.

Let attendees know that there will also be other activities or exercises throughout the training that you will expect everyone to do, individually or as one large group, or that you may possibly divide them into several smaller groups. Advise them that each topic will have a minimum of three activities or exercises associated with it. Those activities will be organized as a beginner (first), intermediate (second), and advanced (third) activity but everyone is invited to complete all three activities (levels) if they wish.

Bibliography

• Bowman, Sharon L.Training from the Back of the Room! Wiley, 2009.

• Carnegie, Dale. The Quick and Easy Way to Effectively Speak. Pocket Books, 1990.

• DiResta, Diane. Knockout Presentations. Chandler House Press, 2009 (1998).

• Stolovitch, Harold D. and Erica J. Keeps. Telling Ain't Training. Second edition. ASTD (American Society for Training and Development), 2011.

• West, Edie. The Big Book of Icebreakers. McGraw-Hill, 1999.

• Yager, Jan. The Fast Track Guide to Speaking in Public. Hannacroix Creek Books, Inc., 2013.

Resources

• Association for Talent Development (ATD) (previously known as American Society for Training and Development, ASTD)

  https://td.org

  This international membership association, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, dedicated to the advancement of training skills, sponsors an annual conference, creates related educational materials, as well as offering training workshops throughout the year at its headquarters and various locations and online.

• Dalecarnegie.com

  Headquartered in Hauppauge, New York, this international company, founded in 1912 by speaker Dale Carnegie, is one of the leaders in presentation skills training.

• National Speakers Association (NSA)

  Nsaspeaker.org

  This membership association is focused on speaking, including an annual conference in the summer months as well as several smaller, targeted training programs organized around one theme. There are chapters throughout the United States with those chapters offering regular programming on speaking to its members; guests, who are usually aspiring speakers, are also welcome to attend meetings, which are usually held monthly from September through June.

• Toastmasters International

  www.toastmasters.com

  Founded in 1924, this international membership organization has more than 200,000 members in more than 14,000 clubs in 122 countries. Members meet regularly and present to each other, honing their presentation skills by giving each other feedback.

Summary

Here are the key ideas that we covered in this chapter:

• The main concerns as a trainer are with what you say and how you say it. Being prepared by knowing the information that you are conveying to your attendees, and working on your presentation skills will help you to offer an effective time management training experience.

• Adults learn better when the information is presented in an interactive way, rather than through an exclusive lecture approach. You will keep your audience engaged and involved by varying the way that you present the information including breaking the workshop into smaller groups, having activities that the attendees can work on together, as well as giving out handouts that require responses or sharing audiovisual materials that you can show about various topics that you are discussing to reinforce the information that attendees are learning.

• Share a list of basic brainstorming guidelines so your attendees know that they will be able to participate in the workshop in a non-judgmental environment.

• Use at least one ice breaker to start the training so your group will be more comfortable working and learning together. Depending on the size of the group, you can have each attendee introduce himself or herself to the group and say something that will help the group get to know them. Various activities will be shared at the end of each chapter or training module throughout the training that you can use as a way to continue to break the ice as the workshop proceeds.