Training from the BACK of the Room! (TBR)

You’ve just attended a train-the-trainer class with lots of great information to use and new instructional strategies to experiment with. So how do you keep from falling back into traditional, lecture-based methods of instruction?

In this post there are a number of links to free give-aways with content and strategies from the “Training from the BACK of the Room” (TBR) book and classes by the same name. Regardless of whether you’ve attended a class or read the book, you can find lots of practical information here that you can put to immediate use.  

Most of the time, learners’ questions are easy enough to answer on-the-spot during a class or training. Once in awhile, though, the questions might post a bit of a challenge. So it’s often helpful to have a few other options “in your back pocket,” so to speak, to address difficult questions.

A number of webinar participants from the two free webinars I presented in March 2019 asked interesting questions that are relevant to our jobs as trainers, teachers, instructors, and learning facilitators. I’ve posted the questions (with some slight editing) in this blog, along with my responses.

Here is the “Pop Quiz Homework” for my March 20th 2019 webinar, “Brain-Based Presenting: Getting the Brain to Pay Attention,” sponsored by HRDQ, a globally-recognized developer of research-based instructional materials.  

My deepest thanks to those of you who attended my March 19th 2019 webinar “Six Brain-Science Principles that Trump Traditional Training, Teaching, and Presenting.” Here, I’m reposting the free infographics that I referred to during the webinar, as well as other free resources to explore, download, and share.

To My Dear Readers: Many of you have sent me emails inquiring about how to become a Certified Trainer for “Training from the BACK of the Room” (TBR) because you want to be able to present the official 2-day TBR class. I’m excited to announce that a 1-day “Trainer Certification Course” (TCC) will take place in Europe in 2019!

Because this topic has been one of the most popular blog posts on my website, I’ve created a free infographic that you can download and print. The infographic describes five 60-second activities that help learners move information into long-term memory.

If you’re one of my regular blog readers, or if you’ve attended a “Training from the BACK of the Room” class, then you’re already familiar with the six brain-science principles that trump traditional training, teaching, and presenting. On March 19th 2019, sponsoring company InSyncTraining invites you to a free webinar where you’ll experience these principles in action.

Back by popular demand, my free “Brain-Based Presenting” webinar will be offered again by HRDQ on March 20th 2019. Consider joining me and an enthusiastic group of global trainers for an hour of exciting, brain-based learning.

As trainers and teachers, it’s always a good thing to remind ourselves now and then about the power of images to help the human brain learn and remember important information. Here are some excellent resources to explore that do just that.

Sometimes, as trainers and teachers, we get so caught up in covering our content that we forget that we need to have procedures in place for managing time, space, and the learners in our care. Group management, or the lack of it, can make or break a class or training. Fortunately, effective group management can be simple to do.

Here are six interesting and informative resources that I wrote a blog about last year. All contain concepts about the human brain and successful learning. You can read or just skim them and still find something to use in your own personal or professional life. Happy New Year!

As a New Year’s treat for my blog readers, I’ve compiled some great resources with helpful suggestions for learning anything better, faster, and with longer retention. Use these suggestions for your own learning, or pass them on to family members, friends, and the folks you teach, train, and instruct. Happy 2019!  

With holidays and the New Year just around the corner, I decided to repost this article which I paraphrased from “The Guardian“ with 10 tips that are delightfully easy to do. Add a bit of health to your daily holiday activities with these simple tips.

Dear Reader: These little Pocket Cards have been so popular every year that I’m reposting them again to give you a gift of health and well-being for the upcoming holidays and New Year. Enjoy! 🙂

Before you continue reading this blog post, let’s start off with a simple exercise. Grab a piece of paper and a pen and jot down the names or descriptions of a few interactive e-learning strategies you have used or have seen used in the past. I’ll pause here while you write 😉 When you’ve finished writing, download the 7 free tips

I receive many emails each month inquiring about the globally-acclaimed, 2-day “Training from the BACK of the Room” (TBR) Practitioner Class. If you’re thinking about attending a TBR Practitioner Class, or just want to know more about it, here is a summary of five great “take-aways” from the class.

If you’re one of my regular blog readers, you know that I’ve been creating a number of colorful “infographics” that you can download, use, and share with other interested colleagues. Here is my latest free infographic for you.

It doesn’t matter if you’re instructing small groups (under a dozen people), medium-size groups (1-3 dozen people), or large groups (three dozen or more). Nor does it matter if you’re presenting in a lecture hall or to an auditorium-size audience. And it really doesn’t matter what your topic is. You still need some quick, easy, and effective group management strategies.

Here is another free infographic with content from “The Ten-Minute Trainer” and from a previous blog post. Be sure to download the infographic and feel free to share it with interested colleagues. Enjoy the learning! 🙂

Do you need a new, high-energy opening activity to begin a class or training? “Postcard Partners” will connect learners-to-learners and learners-to-content in an interactive, fun, and memorable way.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re in a formal environment like a classroom or an informal one like your own home, whenever you explain something to someone else you hope that they’ll be able to remember what you’ve said. So here are four simple ways to make your message stick.  

First, many thanks to my blog readers for your patience in waiting for this newest post. I took a summer break from writing and now I’m back at the keyboard and creating like crazy! Here are two freebies for you to download, print, and use as you wish 🙂

“InSync Training” is the globally-acclaimed virtual learning organization that sponsored my webinar “Brain-Based Presenting: Getting the Brain to Pay Attention” two days ago. The company offers a complimentary collection of “Virtually There” webinars for the public, including a recording of “Brain-Based Presenting.”

This is the “Pop Quiz Homework” for my webinar, “Brain-Based Presenting: Getting the Brain to Pay Attention,” sponsored by “InSync Training,” a globally-recognized, virtual-learning organization.  

I’ve been asked many times about applying the concepts learned from the face-to-face class “Training from the BACK of the Room” to either synchronous (live, virtual learning) or asynchronous (independent, self-study learning) via webinars and any other form of online learning. Here are some resources to help you create more interactive, brain-based  elearning experiences.      

If you haven’t had the chance to participate in my free webinar titled “Brain-Based Presenting: Getting the Brain to Pay Attention,”  please join me on Tuesday, July 24th 2018, for an hour of practical  brain-based learning. The webinar is sponsored by InSync Training, one of the foremost leaders in the virtual training design and delivery world.

(Sharon’s note: My thanks to TBR Certified Trainer Jean-Paul Bayley for contributing this post.) Following my previous “Anti-Patterns of Training” post, here are more mistakes (“anti-patterns”) trainers often make. When viewed through the lens of “Training from the BACK of the Room” we see that these go against how brain science tells us we learn best.

If you haven’t yet attended one of the “Training from the BACK of the Room” (TBR) classes being offered globally for 2018, this blog post will list five benefits you’ll receive from doing so. Also, this post will introduce you to three outstanding TBR Certified Trainers who have contributed to my blog and who are offering TBR classes this August/September. 

Amir Peled is a Certified Trainer for “Training from the BACK of the Room.” In this post, he relates his discouragement with traditional methods of instruction and his enthusiastic embrace of brain-based, learner-centered teaching. “For years I hated learning. It always reminded me how the education system gladly ejected me from high school at the age of 16, after being

Dear Readers: For the past four years, the Braintrust Consulting Group has sponsored numerous public 2-day “Training from the BACK of the Room” (TBR) classes as well as the “Trainer Certification Course” (TCC) days that I’ve facilitated annually. For 2019, changes are in the air!

PowerPoint : noun 1. An overused lecture tool that is a teacher’s or trainer’s joy and a learner’s nightmare; 2. A slide creation program that is as good, or as bad, as its human user; 4. A computer application that can either aid – or destroy – learning.

You’ve just completed a train-the-trainer class with lots of great information to use and new instructional strategies to experiment with. So how do you keep from falling back into traditional, lecture-based methods of instruction?

For participants who have attended an in-person, 2-day “Training from the BACK of the Room” (TBR) Practitioner Class, the “real work” begins after the class is over – with “Follow-Ups,” of course!

This post was written  for the San Diego 2017 Scrum Alliance Gathering participants and I’m reposting it because it’s a useful refresher of some important brain science principles. This post introduces and reinforces concepts from my keynote titled: “Know Thy Brain!”

Kelly Pfeiffer is a Certified Trainer for “Training from the BACK of the Room.” As part of the required assignments to become a Certified Trainer for TBR, she created an excellent and useful slide presentation to share with trainers and teachers everywhere. Enjoy this image-rich learning experience!

On my website you have at your fingertips dozens of slide presentations that give you hundreds of ways to create awesome slide decks, without boring your audiences to death. Here is one of them that I thought was worthwhile enough to repost.  

Many blog readers already use “Warm-Ups” as a way of introducing learners to concepts that will be taught in an upcoming class or training. For those of you who plan to attend the official in-person, 2-day “Training from the BACK of the Room” (TBR) Practitioner Class in the near future, here are the class “Warm-Ups.”

Take a moment right now to roll your neck, stretch your arms above your head, lean back in your chair, and take a few deep breaths. I’ll pause writing this blog post and do this quick Body Break with you … There now, you probably feel a bit more alert, and perhaps curious, as well.

(NOTE: I posted this the day before the actual webinar on February 1st 2018 so that participants can access it immediately once the webinar ends). You attended my webinar “Brain-Based Presenting: Getting the Brain to Pay Attention” and now you’re ready to do some of the “Follow-Ups” – spaced practice activities that will help move what you learned into your long-term memory.

If you haven’t already participated in my free webinar titled “Brain-Based Presenting,”   consider joining me on Thursday, February 1st 2018, for an hour of exciting, brain-based learning. The webinar is sponsored by IACET, the International Association for Continuing Education and Training.

I’ve been asked many times about applying the concepts learned from the face-to-face class “Training from the BACK of the Room” to either synchronous (live, virtual learning) or asynchronous (independent, self-study learning) via webinars or teleconferences. Here are some resources to help you create more interactive, brain-based online learning experiences.      

You just finished a customer service training for a small group of your company’s employees. They listened attentively the whole time your were talking. Now you stop and ask, “Do you understand?” They nod their heads. You continue, “Do you have any questions?” They shake their heads. “Good,” you think. “They’ve got it.” Or do they?

  If you haven’t already participated in my free webinar titled “Brain-Based Presenting,”   consider joining me on Thursday, February 1st 2018, for an hour of exciting, brain-based learning. The webinar is sponsored by IACET, the International Association for Continuing Education and Training.

“The person doing the most talking – or moving or writing – in a class or training is doing the most learning.” And,if you observe a traditional face-to-face class, it’s immediately obvious who is doing the most talking, moving, and writing: the instructor or trainer, of course!

Many of us have a bookshelf filled with our New Year’s “to-be-read” books. Here are six of mine – interesting and informative resources to jump-start 2018. All contain concepts about the human brain and successful learning. You can read or just skim them and still find something to use in your own personal or professional life. Happy New Year!

Dear Reader: Because these little Pocket Cards were so popular when I first posted them on my website a year ago, I’m reposting them now to give you a gift of health and well-being for the upcoming holidays and New Year. Enjoy! 🙂

There are 6 “Training from the BACK of the Room” classes being held the rest of this month (December 2017) in the US and Europe. If you have just completed this class (or any other train-the-trainer program), how do you keep from falling back into traditional, lecture-based methods of instruction?

Perhaps you’re planning to attend a class, training, or webinar. Or maybe you’ve signed up for a conference. Or you might be going to a “meet-up,” where people who are interested in the same hobby as you meet and share information. And now you’re asking yourself … 

The question keeps popping up: “What is an effective training design/delivery model that is easy to use and that enhances learning and retention?” My answer is the 4Cs Map. So I’m reposting: “A Quick Guide to the 4Cs Map.”

Every now and then – and especially around the holidays – I take a break from posting training-related information and instead I focus on personal health and well-being. Here is my blog post from this time last November. Enjoy!

There are many ways to introduce learners to training concepts before the actual physical or virtual class begins. I’m reposting this blog because I think it’s a great reminder about how to do just that.    

Group management strategies (what works; what doesn’t) was a topic of conversation among Certified Trainers for “Training from the BACK of the Room” this week. So I’m reposting these five excellent strategies – find the one that works for you!  

About 14 months ago I created a webinar titled “Brain-Based Presenting: Getting the Brain to Pay Attention.” I’m reposting both the webinar and bonus presentation tools here – use this post to refresh your memory or to learn about brain-based presenting.

Lately, I have been receiving a number of emails from trainers inquiring about the 2-day “Training from the BACK of the Room” (TBR) class that I am facilitating on April 12th – 13th 2018 in Minneapolis, MN. Here is some information about the TBR class for anyone interested in learning more about it.

Because I’ve been asked about ways to ease lecture-based instructors into more brain-based ways of teaching/training others, I’m reposting this “Got a Minute?” blog entry here. It describes five ways to use 60-second activities to engage learners during the lecture segment of a class or training. 

In previous posts, I’ve shared a number of excellent ASAP Science videos having to do with how the human brain functions and learns. This is their newest video about the brain: “How to Learn Faster.”    

  In my Internet wanderings, I’ve gathered some interesting brain videos – refreshers of what you may already know about the human brain or some new facts that you weren’t aware of. If you have some spare time, treat yourself to one or more of the videos in this blog post. Enjoy! 🙂  

Sometimes it’s good to remind ourselves that we aren’t really totally rational beings, especially when it comes to learning new information or new ideas. And it’s good to remember this whenever we’re teaching or training others. THEY aren’t always rational, either!

I’m Jean-Paul Bayley, one of the Certified Trainers for “Training from the BACK of the Room!” Over the years, I have attended a lot of training courses. In recent times, I have been the trainer rather than the training participant, and I have noticed a repetitive number of “anti-patterns” of training delivery.

To benefit your brain: dust off your old guitar, tinker with the family piano, or better yet, buy a used anything – keyboard, ukulele, drum, banjo, tamborine – and play it (well or poorly, it doesn’t matter)!

I’m reposting this short slide presentation because, even though it’s primarily for parents of school-age children, I believe the 5 tips are great for us adults, as well. I would add a 6th tip to the list: get moving! 🙂

You may be a corporate trainer giving crucial information to a group of employees. You may be teacher lecturing a class full of students. You might be telling a co-worker or friend something you consider really important. Or you may be a parent, hoping that your children will remember and heed what you tell them.  

The Arizona “Training from the BACK of the Room” class held this month has been completed and now the “real work” begins – with “Follow-Ups,” of course!

I’ve been asked again about topic-related, learner-centered “Connections” (aka: openers) and “Conclusions” (aka: closers) for training programs. So I’m reposting four strategies that can be used with any topic and any group of learners. These activities will energize learners while actively engaging them in making connections and drawing conclusions.

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you already know about “Warm-Ups.” And you already know about TBR (“Training from the BACK of the Room!”). But if you’re not familiar with either, or if you’re a participant in the TBR class next week that will be held in Gilbert, Arizona, read on.

Want a five-minute training game that takes no preparation beforehand? Want a high-energy game that engages all learners and that reviews training content in a fun and memorable way? Introducing: “Grab That Spoon!”

You’ve got a long summer of class instruction ahead of you. You know how difficult it is for your learners (and for you!) to stay indoors while sunshine, blue sky, and fresh air beckon just a window or door away. So why not insert a “Walkabout” into your content-delivery?

Two years ago I posted a blog entry titled “How Technology Rewires the Brain.” Since then, I’ve been asked many times about the use of technology in formal learning environments, namely, face-to-face classrooms (as opposed to virtual classrooms where technology IS the delivery system). Love it or hate it, technology is here to stay.