Book excerpt: What makes a training course successful? What is the secret to conducting an effective and memorable training course? What makes a great trainer? Why some training courses are useful, motivating and educational while others are boring and forgettable? This book provides you with a comprehensive set of guidelines on all aspects of training. The methodologies, scenarios and exercises presented in this book will ensure that you, as a trainer, are equipped with all the tools and skills needed to deliver a great training course. At Skills Converged, we specialise in supporting the training community with our state-of-the-art training materials. Over the years we have delivered numerous courses and have received extensive feedback from trainers who have used our products all over the world. We know what makes a training course successful and what makes one fail. In this book, we share our most treasured findings and experiences with you. We want to help you become the best trainer you can be and in turn, train as many people as possible around the world. Research shows that one of the fastest ways to learn is through examples. This book contains a large number of examples, case studies, and important research in the field of adult education for you to employ. Whether you are teaching soft skills, management, IT, technical courses or arts and crafts, you can benefit from this book as the lessons are applicable to teach any topic. This Second Edition has been extensively expanded with several chapters and now includes the entirety of our highly praised Train the Trainer Self-Study Course. In this book you will learn: - How to get the most from your training courses - How to avoid barriers to learning - How to take advantage of principles of Accelerated Learning - How to conduct a Training Needs Analysis - How to present confidentlyHow to avoid bad training delivery practices - How to plan your course - How to arrange the training environment optimally - How to keep the delegates constantly engaged - How to respond when you are being challenged - How to avoid poor statements that can hinder learning - How to take advantage of the power of story-telling - How to run training exercises to get the most from them