How to Put Together an Effective Training Presentation

This is a guest article from Presentation Experts

Planning and executing a training presentation isn’t a simple feat. The best training sessions require experienced trainers, support from management, and impactful instruction methods.

Having put together coaching programs on presentation skills training, the Presentation Experts in London have several years of experience running training sessions. Whether you’re organizing a public speaking seminar or another form of skills training, here are our five top tips for putting together an impressive training presentation.

Clearly Articulate Your Training Goals

Before you even begin planning the training day, you should identify your goals. You’ll likely be working with another trainer and with management from the company you’re training at. Sit down with this team and go over what’s expected from your instruction. Aim to make your goals as specific and concrete as possible, too. If you’re running a public speaking course, then one of your goals could be having each person in the course give a two-minute presentation at the end.

Without a clear direction – and without all the planners on the same page – your training will fall flat. If attendees to your session don’t understand exactly what they’re supposed to get from this session, they will be significantly less engaged.

Make Your Training Memorable

When planning your training presentation, focus on making it memorable. At the Presentation Experts, we coach our trainees on making compelling business presentations. Your training session should be no different! Nobody who attends your session will learn anything if they forget about it within a few days.

Make the course fun for trainees by changing methods throughout the session. Will anyone retain anything if you speak behind a podium with a PowerPoint for 3 hours? Of course not. Break up the session into smaller chunks, focusing on different activities and learning styles. Not everyone absorbs information in the same way, so by switching up the format of the session, you’re likely to reach more people.

Help Trainees Build Self-Esteem

During the course, you should focus on building your participants’ self-esteem. They’re here to learn new skills, which means they’ve likely identified a weakness in themselves. As a result, they may not have much confidence to start off with.

Be encouraging throughout your training session, letting the trainees know that you’re there to support their learning. Ask people to participate in the activities you have lined up, the best way to build self-esteem.

Don’t force people to do something they really don’t want to, but gentle nudges outside their comfort zone will help your attendees recognize their own potential. When their self-confidence goes up, your trainees will want to implement the skills they learned outside of the training presentation.

Use the Perfect PowerPoint

A well-made PowerPoint can make or break your presentation. For a training session, use it to enhance your instructional activities. For optimal results, create an outline of your session before touching a single slide. You want your message to be clear before designing your PowerPoint template. You should also aim to keep it simple, with few or no animations, three to five bullets per slide, and one to two graphics per slide.

For an hour long presentation, about 20 to 30 slides are best. You can adjust the number based on the duration of your training session. To make your presentation stand out even more, you can consider using a Text-to-Image AI generator to create custom visuals for your slides. Always check your PowerPoint on your own computer first, looking for technical glitches. And don’t forget to rehearse your presentation with your slides, finding the best position for yourself to address your audience.

Give Handouts

Informational handouts can be a great way to help trainees retain the skills they’ve learned. Just like with PowerPoints, though, there’s a right way and a wrong way to do handouts. Firstly, make sure handouts are appropriate for your training topic. You don’t want to distribute materials that have no value for your trainees.

You should also make your handouts look as professional as possible, by printing on high-quality paper with full color (if you have the budget). Use headings and large type that’s easy to read, along with bullet points and graphics to illustrate. Leave enough white space on your handout so it doesn’t feel overstuffed with information. Ultimately, you want your handouts to be easy to read and quick to digest.

Final Thoughts on Putting Together an Effective Training Presentation

Keep these five top tips in mind for the next instructional session you plan. Whether it’s for your own company or you’re hired as a trainer for an external organization, these tips will be relevant for you. As a presentation agency in London, the Presentation Experts have been coaching organizations on presentation skills for several years.

We always incorporate these steps into each of our sessions, aiming to provide the best training experience possible. And if you stick to these tips, you can design a compelling training presentation too.