Sticky Knowledge: Training tips for learning that lasts
So you've created your course, built your workshop, and hosted your webinar. It all goes brilliantly, people love it! But how do you make sure they truly understand the information and retain it long after the event?
In this talk at LearnWorld 2021 our Founder Sue Keogh shared practical tips drawn from training thousands of people in areas like social media, writing for the web and email marketing. Not just through our Sookio School online courses in digital marketing but through frequent webinars throughout the pandemic period and face-to-face workshops with the University of Cambridge, Sony and Government Digital Services.
With 2500+ signups to Sticky Knowledge and livechat that was buzzing throughout, the talk was in the top four most popular during the 2-day LearnWorlds summit.
This blog post and session are perfect if you're a course creator, events organiser or a business owner who understand the value of continually upskilling your team.
Get Sue's tips on:
what to do before your session to get people in the right mindset to learn
practical activities to help it sink in during the workshop or webinar
follow-up tasks to keep people learning after the event.
Before the session
1. Get them engaged before it begins!
I like to set people a task before the session. One of my most popular courses is about writing for the web, so I ask people to bring along a page they struggle with which we can rewrite as an activity in the workshop.
Or if it’s about social media, I ask them to think about a brand they follow who does social media really well…and to note down all the things they like about their activity.
So this means people are thinking about the session even before they get there and turn up ready to engage. All warmed up!
2. Do your research and find a way to make a connection
Whatever I’m talking about I always like to pull out best practice examples to demonstrate what I’m talking about. So find out who’s coming to the session – what examples or activities can you create which will be particularly relevant? Find out who their competitors are – and use a good example created by someone you know will be in the room, and an example of a competitor doing a terrible job. It’s this extra research that means on the day you’ll be able to make a really strong connection with the people in the room.
3. Tell people exactly what they’re going to get
This counts for online courses as much as face to face. Circulating an outline before the session or making sure your online course has a great description and an outline of what’s in each section goes a long way in helping people mentally prepare for the knowledge that’s about to go in.
You can also create a worksheet to go with the course that people know they have to fill in as they go.
During the session
OK, this is a long section. We’ve looked at how to prepare, but what about the session itself?
1. Get a bloody move on
The number of times I’ve been to a workshop face to face where you turn up all enthused, but by the time the trainers have gone through what to do in case of a fire alarm… shared their whole life story…and then go on to ask 25 people to go round the room and introduce themselves one by one…well it makes me want to jump out of the window.
I was on a Zoom meeting like this the other day and after 20 minutes of it I just pretended I had a bad connection and left. Do not do this. Get cracking, or you’ll lose their attention.
2. Give people something to do, straight away
This is the best thing you can do if you want immediate, lasting engagement. Give people a really simple activity that doesn’t take much thought.
If I’m doing a workshop on creating content, I ask people to grab their smartphone and take a picture of something within arm’s reach. They’re not allowed to move. Then we edit the picture later. Everyone can do it, no one feels silly for getting it wrong.
Or in a webinar, right from the beginning I have a simple question that is ‘tell me in chat’. Or a poll that doesn’t take much thought. Get people involved and they’ll stay engaged, it’ll feel like a two-way event rather than a one-way broadcast.
3. Beak it up with activities
I’ve learned over time that breaking it up into shorter sections is much more effective in helping people understand the information. Ten 3-minute segments can be better than sitting through a whole half hour, which makes people fidgety.
A great way to do this is to include further activities. Giving it a structure is nice, so if you’ve started with a poll, why not do this at the start of every section?
You can also ask an open question that they have to think about and fill in on the worksheet. Like I say, don’t just do this once. Make sure this is a recurring theme, where they have to note down their thoughts each time.
If it involves something they can hold in their hands, all the better. Draw something. Take a picture of something.
If it’s face-to-face training and it’s the afternoon, this is a killer because they’ve all had their lunch and are getting drowsy. I like to get people out of their chairs and doing an activity that involves moving sticky notes around. Or moving their bodies around. Or clapping! That wakes them up a bit and keeps the attention span strong.
4. Show not tell
People process images so much more quickly than text or hearing the same voice droning on! I always like to show visual examples to demonstrate exactly what I mean.
So in a social media session, there’s no point me saying use a memorable hashtag. Or when talking about blogging, telling people to avoid using abstract titles. Until you actually show people what you’re talking about, it’s just not going to go in.
So I take screengrabs to show best practice examples – and you see the penny begin to drop. It really brings it to life.
Take it a step further by inviting people to comment or note down why THEY think it’s so good. Then you’re showing, and they’re telling you.
5. Keep the text light
Still thinking visually, a classic error people make that loses their audience, is putting way too information on the slides.
I was at a tech conference recently and I nearly stormed the stage and tore the projector screen down. By the time you had flowcharts and masses of tiny text all in different fonts… no one was listening to the guy on stage or taking anything in. You were just wondering what time lunch was going to be.
It’s much better to have one strong image or statement and have the confidence to talk around it. If you can’t explain your subject matter clearly and simply, PowerPoint is not going to save you.
6. Tell people what you’re going to say, tell them it…tell them what you’ve just told them
In the video recording of my session (see above), you’ll notice at the start that I explained what was coming up in this session.
I had a slide at the end of the first section with bullet points on so I could summarise, then another section slide, then more bullet points to summarise.
This helps anchor people. They know what they’re about to learn, they know where they are in the course, and they get a moment to pause and let it sink in before moving on.
It helps people structure their thought processes.
After the session
You may think it all ends here. Not so fast! You want people to keep thinking about what they’ve learned after the session, so it really sinks in.
1. Capture their commitments
Get people to write three things they will put into practice that day, that week, or that month. Get them to really think how and when. If it’s a live session, write them down too and email round the group. It helps people keep accountable.
Or you may run a forum around your courses. Can people post to say what they’ll do, following the course? If you set them a task that involves creating something – maybe you’re teaching them about illustration or it’s a fitness challenge – can they post to say what they’re intending to do?
2. Set homework!
This builds on the first one. You’re not just getting them to make good intentions, you’re asking them to actually do something!
Let’s say you’re doing a fitness course, can you set a simple seven-day challenge? When I’m training people on LinkedIn I get them to send me a connection request, and word it really nicely. I love getting these! Or going back to that activity I mentioned, where people have to take a picture of something within arm’s length…I set an editing task which means they have to do three things with it – maybe add a filter, crop it, then share on social media using the event hashtag.
If you can make it competitive in some way, even better! Offer a prize for the best one, or award certificates. All good fun, and it makes people to do it. Which achieves your end goal of helping the information stick.
3. Set a check-in date.
What about more technical sessions?
Let’s say you’re training people how to build a website or set up a social media channel. They’ll love your course, sit their nodding, and come to the end full of good intentions about what they’ll do next…then they come unstuck. Their login details don’t work. That bit about metadata which they thought was clear - suddenly isn’t when they come to do it in practice.
Ask people to make a list of notes as they go about any obstacles or challenges they faced, and set a date for a phone call or check-in so they can talk it through. If you’re running an online course, then the forum idea is really helpful too. A private Facebook group will be full of helpful souls who can help with problems like these, then you won’t need to get so involved yourself and can use that time for something else.
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