Training today is very popular. They are held live and online, in small groups and expensive halls of Troy Hotels. Training topics are also very different, ranging from traditional business topics, including startups and various marketing promotions, to personal growth areas focused on the development of a specific applied skill, such as meeting girls or the skill of avoiding other people’s manipulation.
Asking why people go to training sessions, we have prepared a list of such reasons. When planning your training, it is important to understand that participants can follow the objectives and it would be useful to consider this in your program of activities.
What is obvious is that participants come for ready-made solutions, proven technologies, and working algorithms. People are looking for a definite way to solve their problems in less time and with minimum effort. In a sense, participants pay for the training, because this way they will save a lot of time and save themselves from mistakes.
Some participants like to learn so much that when one training session ends, they immediately go from signing up to another.
Sometimes these participants are called ‘training addicts’ in the worst sense of the word: they undergo a lot of training, but do not apply any of the knowledge and skills they have acquired.
For someone, it can be important to feel chosen, different from everyone else: “while everyone is watching TV, I am developing and moving forward.
Another reason why people go to training is because of the community. They’re the people that you can talk to during training and coffee breaks.
On the one hand, it’s important to maintain a sense of belonging to something useful and great. On the other hand, some people really need to communicate with each other at such events. This is a synthesis of the context of success and really applied knowledge.
In addition to information, good training also motivates you to apply it and to change your life. Almost everyone needs external motivation, they may lack their own, and in a team of like-minded people, when working together on the same tasks, it can be implemented much easier.
Usually, this is most typical for so-called “long” training, where participants not only receive new information but also gradually introduce it into their practice.
Recently I heard an interesting definition at the training: participants go to training sessions to feel alive.
Although this wording is more appropriate for psychological and personal training, one of the objectives of good training is to expand the participants’ life experience and help them find themselves in a new situation.
Another reason – training gives a sense of opportunity. It’s definitely more than what it is now. That is why many people come for such a feeling of opportunity and freedom.
There is a category of participants who come to the training to solve the problem. This is the motivation ‘from’ and people can look for a solution to their difficult situation. This may concern business, relationships, personal problems.
Another interesting motivation is the collection of diplomas and certificates, which certify that the participant has completed the training. They may be less interested in the training itself or the information, but they will appreciate the opportunity to boast “and I was at some training session with this trainer” and hang a new diploma on their “wall of achievement”.
Today, learning is a trend, and many people do it because learning is just fashionable. In this case, it is important that the topic of your training is current or there should be a clear justification for your training.
In conclusion, when you are planning your training it is worthwhile to focus on the very different needs of the audience and to consider all the motivations for learning.
Patti Jo Rosenthal chats about her role as Manager of K-12 STEM Education Programs at ASME where she drives nationally scaled STEM education initiatives, building pathways that foster equitable access to engineering education assets and fosters curiosity vital to “thinking like an engineer.”