Have you ever heard of “Training Tune Out”? It’s a real thing.  At least, we think it is.  We have all been there.  Sitting in a training meeting, the instructor is lecturing on some topic that could be vital to your career, but you’re not quite sure because the voice in your head is going over your important laundry list of life—and there you have it— Training Tune Out.

Or perhaps you are the instructor in the training scenario. You look out into the audience and discover blank stares, yawns and maybe even a brave soul napping in the very back.  Yup, these are all clear signs of Training Tune Out. And, yes, you may be the one to blame.  Don’t get discouraged.  If you want to keep your audience from tuning out, tune in to find out how to keep them engaged.

Engaging Your Tuned Out Audience

The key to any presentation, be it for learning and development or entertainment, is to engage your audience. By finding ways to keep your audience interested in what you’re doing, they’re more likely to absorb the information you’re saying. Here are a few of our tips for engaging your audience during your employee training program.

Get the Team Involved

The simplest ways to engage your audience and prevent them from missing your lesson is to involve your team in the training.  Ask them what challenges they are facing, and what expectations they have.  Tailor your training to answer their questions specifically and brainstorm with them on how the training they are receiving can facilitate their challenges and meet their expectations.  Show them how the training is relevant to their current situation.

Show Some Showmanship

Get creative.  Tell a joke, offer a funny scenario, break the ice and the tension with something creative and relevant.  Make a competition out of the training.  Nothing engages people more than a little friendly competition.  Plan activities that help facilitate team building.  Give them something to compete for, anything can be a prize from a company logo t-shirt to a day off with pay.

Engaging Different Learning Styles

Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic are different ways that people learn and feel more engaged.  Use or develop a variety of training tools that meet each of these needs and you will be able to reach the majority of your audience.  Here is where getting creative will benefit your training.  Have team members act out a scenario or even develop a cheer for an important point to remember. Your motto during the training should be: Keep them active in the learning process.  These simple tips may help avoid losing groups of your audience to training tune out and the enthusiasm and engagement created may carry over into their productivity.

Avoiding Training Tune Out Altogether

If you’re serious about your employee training program, you should look into the online training offered by KnowledgeCity. This state-of-the-art eLearning platform provides your employees with all the training content you could ever need and does so in a way that is more engaging and allows them to train at their own pace.