Training Tip: Attention Please!

By Margo Beecher, Training Program Manager, Education and Development

What is the message in the following word puzzle?

	YOURSELF
	YOURSELF
C	YOURSELF
	YOURSELF

You might not know the answer yet, but if you’re like most people, the puzzle quickly captured your attention.  Chances are that all other thoughts vanished as you focused on figuring out the answer.

benefits of attention getters

Just as the puzzle captured you, attention getters can “grab” the participants in your classes and quickly focus them on the training at hand.  Since people don’t learn unless they pay attention to the information being offered, effective attention getters perform a vital function in capturing and focusing participants’ attention so they are prepared to learn.  Furthermore, attention getters can provide additional benefits such as establishing a positive group atmosphere, helping individual learners feel comfortable in a new learning situation, and energizing and motivating class participants so they are ready to learn.

To be effective, attention getters need to relate to the content of the training so that participants are clearly focused and initially prepared for the subject matter to be learned.  In other words, an attention getter needs to be clearly linked to the topic of the training session, which may require a little creativity on your part as you fashion an attention getter that applies to what you’re going to teach.  Otherwise, the opening activity for training could turn out to be merely an ice breaker or session opener with no clear purpose.

forms of attention getters  

Attention getters can take a number of forms from very simple to more complex.  Thought provoking questions; interesting statements, quotations, or facts; fascinating stories or anecdotes; intriguing visual aids; or engaging games and activities can all work well as attention getters.  When planning your attention getter, you need to ensure that it is appropriate for the audience, the training space and equipment, the budget for training materials, the required preparation time, the time length relative to the total training time, and the subject matter to be trained.

Attention getters, then, are important to training success.  Include an effective attention getter in every class you teach and watch the positive results that occur.  You’ll certainly be able to see for yourself—which, by the way, is the message in the word puzzle at the beginning of this article.

Human Resources Training and Development Winter Schedule is Now Available

By Andrea Brown, Manager, Training and Development, Human Resources

Have New Year’s Resolutions?  The Training and Development Department at Human Resources can help you achieve them!  Learn about our new workshops, new professional series, and certificate programs in 2009 by visiting http://www.hr.utah.edu/training/.  Remember, these workshops are offered at no cost to U of Utah employees.  For additional questions or to reserve your spot by phone please call (801) 585-2300.

Management essentials

For example, Management Essentials is a new certificate program to help managers at the University of Utah understand their role as leaders, manage effectively, and be a critical part of the University’s vision.  Open enrollment classes for this program include:

• Introduction to Leadership
• Transition from Staff to Supervisor
• Ethical and Legal Issues
• Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining the Best
• Performance Management
• Addressing Poor Performance and Effective Discipline
• Delegation
• Organizational Skills and Time Management for the Supervisor
• Manager Essentials Online Training (8 online modules)

 

workshop series

Training and Development also offers old-time favorites and new workshops in a specially designed series.  Participants that attend all classes in a series will be given a certificate of participation and completion.  All classes are open enrollment.  The series are:

The Interpersonal Series:

• Navigating Communication Styles
• Giving and Receiving Feedback Among Co-Workers
• Listening Skills
• Personal Responsibility and Accountability
• Self Awareness – Assessments
• Creating Effective Relationships (includes having the difficult conversation)
• Communication that Influences

The Professional Development Series:

• Innovation and Creativity
• Time Management and Personal Productivity
• Goal Setting and Personal Motivation
• Decision Making
• Business Writing
• Professional Communication

The Customer Care Series:

• Creating a Positive Customer Experience
• Customer Care Challenges

 Register now by visiting http://www.hr.utah.edu/training or call (801) 585-2300.

Recommended Reading: Creating More Compelling PowerPoint Presentations

By Melanie Hawks, Learning & Development Coordinator, J. Willard Marriott Library

The lights go down. The slides come up. The audience groans.

PowerPoint has become such a misused, abused, and clichéd presentation tool that its mere mention can elicit learner resistance. Slides filled with dense text, bulleted lists, and cheesy clip art can undermine your message and distract your audience. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a professional designer to create presentations that strengthen your training and keep your audience engaged.

free electronic resources

Two recent books packed with user-friendly tips, tools, and templates can help you turn even the most dull, lackluster slides into powerful visual learning aids. Both are solidly grounded in principles of effective communication and adult learning. These books are available as free electronic resources to University of Utah faculty, staff, and students. Just visit the Marriott Library’s online catalog at http://www.lib.utah.edu and search for these practical, informative titles.

Nancy Duarte. Slideology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations (2008).

Duarte urges presenters to stop using PowerPoint slides as a teleprompter. “Audiences will either listen to what a presenter is saying or read the slides themselves. They won’t do both. Why? People tend to focus on one stream of verbal communication at a time—listening and reading are conflicting activities” (6). With chapters such as ”Creating Ideas, Not Slides” and “Thinking Like a Designer,” Duarte explains how to use images to convey concepts, blending substance and style. She uses diagrams, photographs, and illustrations throughout the book to show how complex ideas can translate into simple visual designs. Though she simplifies some theories and methods to make them more accessible, Duarte never seems to be talking down to readers, making her book a valuable resource for beginners and experienced designers/presenters alike.

Cliff Atkinson. Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 to Create Presentations that Inform, Motivate, and Inspire (2007).

Atkinson applies the principles of Hollywood screenwriting to create radically innovative presentations that keep audiences engaged through effective storytelling. He explains how his process works step-by-step, starting with creating a story structure that will guide the audience’s attention. Atkinson describes general design techniques (such as storyboarding) as well as PowerPoint-specific techniques (such as using the “Slide Sorter” view to plan presentations). While he makes a persuasive case for following his method, the intense level of detail and planning involved can seem overwhelming. This book is probably best suited to experienced designers/presenters who want to challenge themselves. However, every trainer can benefit from adopting some of Atkinson’s tools for teaching through visual storytelling.