Triple Take #49: Running a Training Session: How to Make Learning Stick

Voice Confident's Triple Take - your fortnightly trio of tips!

Key Takeaways on Running a Training Session

Make the important information sound important

Clear articulation, deliberate emphasis and repetition help people notice new terminology, key instructions and the things they really need to remember.

Show people that the training matters

Your energy towards the session will influence theirs. If you appear engaged, interested and convinced of its value, you give other people a reason to engage too.

Don't just cover it; check it has landed

Getting through all your material isn't the same as training people successfully. Give them a reason to care, allow time to process and keep checking what needs clarifying.

Introduction

You've been asked to train your team on a new piece of software. Or perhaps there's a new process everyone needs to follow, a change in responsibilities, or a restructure that affects how people will work.

You know the material. You've prepared the slides. You've allowed an hour.

But training creates an interesting communication challenge: delivering the information is only the beginning.

People need to understand it, remember enough of it and, crucially, do something differently afterwards.

That means your job isn't simply to get through everything you've prepared. It's to make the learning as easy as possible to receive and use.

Voice: Make the Important Information Easy to Hear

Training often contains unfamiliar language: the name of a new system, a technical term, a new stage in a process or an acronym people haven't encountered before.

These are the moments to turn your vocal clarity up.

Articulate new words particularly clearly. Slow them down slightly if necessary and use emphasis to help people hear which words matter. You can also repeat an important term: introduce it, explain it and then use it again in context.

Think about vocal variety too. When we're explaining something, it's easy to settle into a slightly higher, repetitive 'explaining voice'. After ten minutes, even useful information can begin to sound monotonous.

Use changes in pitch, pace, emphasis and pauses to give the session shape. Your voice can tell people, this is new, this is important, this is an example and this is what I need you to remember.

You're not adding vocal variety to make yourself more entertaining. You're using it to guide attention.

👉 Try this: Choose one minute of your next training session and rehearse it aloud. Identify three words or phrases people particularly need to understand or remember. Make each one unmistakable through articulation, emphasis, a pause or repetition.

Presence: Let People See That This Matters

Imagine somebody beginning a training session with a sigh and saying, "Right, I know nobody really wants to be here, but we've got to go through this…"

They may think they're acknowledging what everyone else is feeling. In reality, they've just given the room permission to disengage.

If your body, face and voice suggest that the training is a necessary evil, people will pick that up very quickly.

You don't need relentless enthusiasm. But you do need to communicate that you value the session and appreciate people's time and attention. Look at people. Smile when appropriate. Use your face and hands expressively. Let them see that you believe what you're explaining is worth understanding.

I work on this with coaching clients who worry that bringing energy to familiar material will feel false. But remember: it may be familiar to you because you've been working on it for weeks. For the people in front of you, it may be completely new.

Your presence helps tell them how much attention something deserves.

👉 Try this: Practise the first 60 seconds of your training standing up. Don't concentrate on the words initially; notice what your face, posture and gestures are communicating. Do they say, "This is worth your attention"?

Confidence: Take Responsibility for What Lands

Training colleagues can feel surprisingly uncomfortable. You don't want to patronise intelligent people, and you're conscious of taking up their time. So there's a temptation to rush, minimise or assume understanding.

Resist it.

Start by giving people a clear why. Why does this change matter to the organisation? Why does it matter to them? And what is the human impact, on colleagues, customers, patients, clients or whoever ultimately experiences the result?

People are more likely to change how they work when they can connect the instruction to a meaningful outcome.

Then keep checking what has actually landed. Rather than repeatedly asking, "Does that make sense?", try: "Are we happy with that so far?" or "Is there anything you'd like me to clarify or go back over at this stage?"

That makes clarification part of the training rather than something people have to admit they need.

Confidence here isn't racing through your slides because you know the material. It's being comfortable enough to stop, invite questions, repeat something important and discover that somebody hasn't understood.

👉 Try this: Before your next training session, write down one sentence completing each of these: They need to understand… They need to remember… They need to do… Use those three answers to decide where you should slow down, repeat, demonstrate or check understanding.

Would you like to work with me on challenges like this?

Come and join us in the REAL Speaker Programme!

FAQs About Running a Training Session

How do I avoid sounding patronising when I'm training colleagues?

Treat people as capable adults while recognising that the information may be new to them. Explain clearly without apologising for explaining, and invite questions throughout. Clarity isn't patronising; assuming what somebody does or doesn't understand can be.

How often should I check for understanding?

Don't wait until the final slide. Check after a significant new idea, a complicated process or something people will need to act on. That gives you the chance to correct misunderstandings before you build more information on top of them.

What if nobody asks any questions?

Silence doesn't necessarily mean everybody understands. People may need time to think, or they may not want to be the first person to speak. Ask a more specific question, give people a few seconds to consider it, or invite them to identify the part they'd most like you to go over again.

How do I make dry training material more engaging?

Don't assume you need to make the subject itself exciting. Make its relevance clear. Show people why it matters, what will change as a result and how getting it right affects real people. Engagement often comes from understanding the point, not from making everything entertaining.