How to Run Seminars and Workshops, 4th Edition

Chapter 4The Personality ParadeTraining All Different Types of People

Some people say that training must be a rather boring career. From the looks of it, without ever having been involved in a long-term training project, they appear to be right. Often presenters find themselves teaching the same curriculum, running the same role-play, monitoring the same labs over and over again. How can anyone teach the same materials week after week, in what is often an environment that does not change, without getting bored? It is an interesting question, and one I would probably have trouble answering if it were not for one obvious variable. Although the courses seldom change, the trainees do. With those changing groups of trainees come an assortment of personalities, making the job of a presenter anything but boring.

So much can be learned from working with various personality types that it is not unusual for companies to use training positions as stepping-stones to management. The reasoning is quite simple. Anyone who spends a year or two in the classroom, juggling a different assortment of personalities every week or two and finding ways to keep all those in attendance from killing each other, knows a few things about management. As a matter of fact, I would rate the people skills of most tenured presenters to be extremely acute. As with any team that needs to be managed, there is generally a hodgepodge of personalities to try to take care of. A presenter's ultimate dream is to repair ...