| sarbjit wrote
Hi,
I am through with my first users (business and finance persons) training. It was satisfactory only as audience started shooting their questions in between of training.Do I have to say specifically them to keep their questions with them until I am through my presentation before start user training?
I guess I was not able to represent to users ”what is there in that software for them "? I want some suggestions( like format) on this? Please.
User class: Sales team (Salesperson, Supervisor, Secretaries and Manager) and Finance team (Finance controller, Finance executive, Secretaries)
Regards,
Sarbjit |
Hi Sarbjit,
Teaching is an art and it takes time to get good at it. So, don't get discouraged - just keep at it. Students/your audience will and should always have questions. This is a good thing; it shows that they want to learn and that they are engaged. You need to balance the need to get through the material and answering questions.
Many instructors like to tell the students upfront to hold off on their questions until the end. Personally, I think this practice does not work very well for a training course as it gets the audience frustrated having to wait until the end. In addition, questions asked only at the end of the session are rarely addressed well because of many reasons: too disconnected from the original material, audience tired and impatient, running out of time.
What I like to do is break down the material into sections and then provide Q&A opportunity at the end of each section. I even put a Q&A graphic slide after each section in my Power Point presentations. You should tell your audience upfront that they will have the chance to ask questions at the end of each section.
You also have to read your audience (look at their body language) and determine if they get the material. If you see a bunch of puzzled faces you might want to ask them if what they learned so far makes sense and if they have any questions even if you are not at the end of one of your sections. You don't want to go too fast and lose your audience's interest.
You mentioned that your audience was satisfied only after they asked their own questions. You should ask yourself why is that the case. Did they ask questions on info which was not in the material presented? Did the training focus on the areas of the software that your audience cares about? Did you training address your audience needs, wants, and fears?
Yes - fears! Address what they fear and they will be happy and engaged. In the case of new software deployment, you audience could have lots of fears such as: What if I have a hard time learning the new software? Will my productivity and earnings go down because of the new software? Feel free to ask your audience if they have any concerns.
Hope this helps!
- Adrian