The Learnertainment (r) Pocket Tip Book | 101 Ways to Make Training, Teaching and Presentations Creative, Engaging, and Interactive

Sample Tips from The Learnertainment® Tip Book

Learnertainment® Tip 2:

Move your learners from panic to pleasure.

The human brain focuses on survival first, pleasure second. When entering a new environment for the first time, learners can be engulfed in fear, hesitancy, and negativity. The brain interprets these emotions as danger and it panics. Learning is extremely difficult when the brain is in this panic mode.

Make your learning environment welcoming, comforting, and enjoyable. This will move the brain from panic to pleasure. The result will be relaxed brains fully able to focus on learning.

Learnertainment® Tip 19:

Use yellow to draw attention to key words, phrases, and visuals.

A learner’s eyes are drawn to yellow before any other color. Use yellow to highlight important points, indicate key words the participants should write in their workbooks, and draw attention to visuals you want the learners to notice. Yellow also creates positive moods and encourages physical activity.

Yellow should not be overused. The resulting effect is like being shouted at visually. Be cautious also with yellow-blue combinations. The eyes have difficulty deciding which of the two colors to focus on.

Learnertainment® Tip 37:

Place your learners in charge of their own learning.

Create opportunities for your learners to be in control. Give them choices. Ask their opinions. Listen attentively and validate those opinions. Place them in teams, give them assignments, and get out of the way.

Talk less and structure learning so that the learners do more. The result will be higher learner satisfaction and more effective learning.

Learnertainment® Tip 53:

Use music to manipulate moods.

Music can change the dynamic of your learning environment. It encourages learners to move about, relax, calm down, or become motivated.

Use fast rock music to creates better moods and stimulate energy after focused, tiring learning segments. Use slow, minor key music to bring learner energy levels down after exciting, aggressive activity segments.

Learnertainment® Tip 67:

Add humor when unexpected problems occur.

An effective way to defuse a technology problem is to thank the competition. If you are, for instance, training Federal Express employees and your computer crashes, you can say, “I’d like to thank FedEx for providing this opportunity, all of you for attending, and UPS for the antiquated technology.”

Alternatively, if a crash sound comes from the next room and you are instructing UPS employees, you can say, “Oh, don’t worry. That is just FedEx trying to sort their packages.”

Learnertainment® Tip 85:

Instead of telling your learners, get them to tell you.

Learners rarely leave a program saying, “I wish that guy had talked some more.” When you say it, you own it. When they say it, they own it.

Start with what your learners already know about the subject. Present them with problems and challenges that build on their prior experiences. Ask them to figure out what the answers are. If someone doesn’t come up with the correct solution, ask others what their solution would be. Validate the learners for the information they provide. Then, fill in the blanks.

When you make your learners figure it out, you work less as they learn more.

The Learnertainment® Pocket Tip Book:

101 Tips to Make Learning Engaging & Effective

Learnertainment® tips and techniques in your pocket.

Now in its third printing, The Learnertainment® Pocket Tip Book is a quick reference interactivity tool for trainers, teachers, and briefers.

Written by Millbower, the Learnertainment® Trainer and former Disney training leader, The Learnertainment® Pocket Tip Book delivers a handy idea generator for all learning professionals. Use it to reinvigorate even the most tired program with energy, excitement, fun, and—most importantly—effective learning retention.

Lenn Millbower continues his tradition of adding the ‘Wow!’ to training. The result is a simple, direct, powerful compilation of strategies and techniques that workplace learning professionals and educators can immediately apply to enhance the learning experience.

Bob Lucas, President, Creative Presentation Resources and author of 19 books on workplace learning and skills