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The design phase is where you lay the foundation for successful training sessions, but the real moment of truth is the introduction. This is when you have the chance to spark interest, build trust and create likability – or entirely fail to do so – all in the span of a few minutes.
Trust, likability and interest are the three aspects that determine whether the introduction will serve to facilitate or undermine the rest of your training program, and they are all cornerstones of our educational architecture. In this article, we explore how you can master the balance between these three aspects and use clever rhetorical methods to create an introduction and a format that will captivate and guide your participants towards more engagement and better results.
In the past, trust had everything to do with titles, experience and competence. Nowadays it has more and more to do with being genuine.
However, the modern way of building trust comes with an interesting paradox:
If you brag, your trust and likability both take a hit. If you’re humble and honest about your mistakes you’re perceived as genuine, which causes people to trust you more.
These days, trust and likability are closely linked, so when you’re humble and openly share some of your own personal flaws, you’re rewarded with more likability and more trust. With that in mind, let’s dive into how you can build trust…
You can divide trust into two parts: knowledge trust and social trust
This has to do with where you’ve acquired the knowledge you’re sharing. Is it based on personal experience? Did the insights you’re presenting originate with you or are you basing them on some other source?
This has to do with whether you’re perceived as credible and trustworthy. Some people are virtually never questioned because they sound so convincing, while people who come off as nervous and insecure are more likely to be questioned even when they’re actually just as competent.
However, you don’t have to be a credible voice on every specific topic, because you can always borrow credibility from someone else.
If you’re nervous or inexperienced, you can always refer to another source:
=“According to the Federal Statistical System…”
- “According to Harvard researchers”
Now they don’t have to trust you in order to believe you, they just need to trust the source you’re referring to.
The title of your presentation and the heading of your first slide are both crucial to the success of your training program – with the right title and heading you spark interest before you’ve even started talking.
I’d also consider adding alliterations* and humor to this list, the latter being especially viable if it’s an internal presentation with an audience you know.
*Alliteration means using several words starting with the same sound in succession, for example “Big, Beefy, Bliss”, which McDonald’s used in an ad campaign for Big Mac.
Let’s take an example.
You probably wouldn’t be too enthusiastic about participating in a session called:
“Financial first quarter report for Product X”
…even if the title is both clear and easy to understand.
You might feel a bit more enthusiastic if you saw:
“Product X: The cow whose milk smells like success”
This second title uses a metaphor (cow/milk), sparks emotions (success) and is unexpected – maybe even a bit too unexpected, but sometimes that could be exactly what’s needed!
You can use this strategy for every new module/tool in order to continuously make your participants more interested and engaged.
What is learning? Well, that’s certainly a question with many possible answers, but here I’ll settle for providing my own definition:
Learning = same situation, new behavior.
This means that learning isn’t just transferring knowledge, but rather converting knowledge into competence. In order to do this we have to structure the training so that the participants get to use all four communicative senses.
We usually talk about how we have five senses (and sometimes a sixth sense, as referenced in the classic Hollywood movie). But when it comes to communication, we have four:
Many training programs don’t have enough (or any) of 3 and 4 on this list.
This means that they include lots of theoretical concepts but not that many exercises or opportunities to reflect, which leads to poorer results.
Knowledge can only be conveyed through 1 and 2, but learning – at least according to my definition – only takes place when you combine all four communicative senses and strike a good balance between each of them.
Let me explain how I do this.
I recommend a structure where every module/insight/tool covers the following four steps:
Create a scenario or problem that the participants can relate to. If the topic is how to make an interesting and engaging introduction, you might say:
“Have you ever looked out at the crowd as you’re introducing a new training program and been greeted with people whispering to one another, looking at their phones or staring into space?”
Explain what this phenomenon is, why it happens and why it’s a problem. Using the same example:
“We humans are able to focus thanks to a neurotransmitter called dopamine. Dopamine is created when we want something, for example when we want the solution to a problem or a tool that can make us better.”
Talk about the tool/method/course of action that can solve the problem you’ve presented:
“A good way of creating this in the introduction of your training program is to answer the question that the participants are asking themselves: ‘What’s in it for me?’ If you describe problems that they can relate to and tell them that the training will give them the methods they need to handle those problems, you will grab their attention and get them to focus.”
After you’ve described the tool and perhaps let the participants try using it in an exercise, you finish the module with a discussion and an opportunity to reflect. Have the participants discuss and then reflect individually on how they can start using the tool from now on.
By using these four steps you allow the participants to use all four communicative senses, which not only leads to more variety and stronger engagement but also much better results.
Lär dig handfasta verktyg som tar din retorik till nästa nivå och maximerar värdet av dina utbildningar.
To sum up the insights of this article, trust, likability and interest are powerful elements that can turn your typical introduction into a memorable and rewarding learning experience.
The key to creating an engaging training program is to to maintain a high level of interest from your participants while also being genuine and humble in your own role as an educator.
The training program can convert knowledge into competence when you create a cohesive learning environment that includes all four of our communicative senses.
Trust, likability, interest and our four communicative senses aren’t just crucial components of an engaging training program – they’re also critical to achieving actual behavioral shifts and clear results.
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Pontus F. Christoffersen has trained over 30 000 leaders in business communication and helps Swedish companies improve their profitability and performance every day through better training, presentations and meetings. Read more at Retorikkonsulten.com.
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