Powerful ways to end a training session that makes a lasting impact !

How do you end a training session

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( From Thiagi Nov 2014 issue )

How Do You Conclude Your Training Session?

Poll Question

In the November 2014 issue of TGL we asked our trainer-readers how they conclude their training sessions.

    5 of them (18%) said they debrief the session (1)

    8 of them (29%) review key learning points (2)

    5 of them (18%) conduct a question and answer period ( 3)

    2 of them (7%) plan application activities ( 4)

    4 of them (14%) celebrate the completion of the session ( 4)

    4 of them (14%) do something else ( 5)

Open Question

As a follow up to the poll, we asked the readers to briefly describe their favorite closing activity.

Here are some of your responses, as of November 25, 2014:

 (1)    For me, the “one word you got out of the day” is fresh and dynamic, and gives a high-energy end to the session.

    I ask people to spontaneously give me the word that pops up in their mind when they think of the day. The word can be about the content, the form, the emotions…. Then I go around, ask the word, repeat it loud, and move on with a fast rhythm.

    —Gauthier

 (2)    I like to use weather icons to help participants describe what the workshop was like. Was it sunny, cloudy, foggy, rainy …?

(3)    Bodhi tree.

Make a tree with three branches on a chart paper. Give each participant 3 Post-Its of different colors. They have to write about three things on the three Post-Its: One new thing they have learned, one thing they have un-learned, and one learning that got reinforced as a result of the training. Then stick the three Post-Its in the three respective branches of the Bodhi tree. After everyone has done this, I read out and discuss from the Bodhi tree.

(4)    After a Q & A, I usually provide a quote based on the topic.

It poses discussions that encompass the entire learning process.

(5)    A Speech from The Throne where participants fill in the blank spaces of a prepared speech with the key thing they learned in each activity they did throughout the day. Filling in the blanks consolidates the highlights of the learning on one page. They then read their speeches to the whole group if there is time, or to their table group if time is running short.

(6)    Each participant signs a contract with what they will do with the information they learned. They put in an envelope and give to someone who will hold them accountable.