5 Interactive Exercises to Provide Rockstar Training

5 Interactive Exercises to Provide Rockstar Training

Traditional lectures and presentations are how many companies train employees, but just because the methods have long been used doesn’t mean they’re the best methods for success. Interactive involvement has been shown to be especially effective, and here are several ways to go about it.

Interactive Games During Training

Another way to strengthen learning is to engage the audience with interactive games during the training process.

Jeopardy

Recreate the popular game show with a focus on the information you’re presenting. Set up the board with five different categories, with each category containing five different answers in increasing dollar amounts. Divide the audience into two teams, awarding dollar amounts of points for the team that comes up with the correct questions to the answers. Calculate points at the end for your winner.

Overview, Benefits, and Dangers

Divide your audience into three teams, with each team tasked with creating a list. The first team lists key points they learned about the information presented. The second team makes a list of benefits of applying the information to real-life situations. The third team lists the dangers of not applying what they’ve learned.

Bingo

Create bingo cards that contain terms you’re discussing, with each board listing the terms in a different configuration. Each audience member gets a card, crossing off terms as they come up during the training. The winner is the first player to cross off an entire row and/or column in the configuration you determine before the game.

Two Truths and a Lie

Divvy up your audience into groups of three to seven members. Each group creates three statements about the material covered, two that are true and one that is false. Have each group present their statement to the others, with the other groups writing down which ones are true and false. Read and discuss all responses after all groups have read their statements.

Find the Question and Answer that Match

Write down questions related to the information covered, with each question on its own index card. Then write down the answers to the questions, with each answer on its own index card. Randomly distribute the cards throughout the group, asking participants to get up and find the person with the matching question or answer.

 

The Socratic Method vs. Lectures and Presentations

 

The Socratic method uses open-ended questions to get audience members to tap into their critical thinking, logic and reasoning skills. Due to audience involvement and engagement, the Socratic method consistently surpasses straightforward lectures and presentations for helping audience members retain and apply the information they’ve learned.

 

How Extra Effort During Training Can Result in Long-Term Success

 

The more you put into something, the more you get out of it, and that definitely applies when it comes to training. Engagement gets audience members heartily involved, with interactive games and the Socratic method making an ideal combination for involvement.

Audience involvement results in tangible rewards for your audience members and your company. Both are rewarded with a more interesting and valuable experience throughout the training, along with the rewards of retaining information, readily applying what’s been learned, and long-term success afterward.