How to Run Seminars and Workshops, 4th Edition

Chapter 11Technology and Training

At first glance, when you look at corporate training, you would not think that the profession would be affected much by changes in technology. Let's face it: The most important tool a presenter owns is located in the human body. It's called the voice.

Since I first wrote this book, there have been few advances in vocal technology. However, that is not true of the other technologies that have filled the world of training.

In this chapter, I take a look at some of these new tools and measure the pros and cons of each. Please keep in mind that, like many of my other tips and techniques, what might be right for one presenter might be completely inappropriate for another.

The Technical Revolution

Oh, I know what you're thinking. “Where the heck has Jolles been? The technical revolution started years ago!” Well, that might be true, but its impact on the training world has been a much more recent development.

It's not that presenters didn't try to incorporate computers and other technology tools years ago; the tools just didn't work well and weren't very efficient. I can see a Xerox parallel to the emergence of technology in the world of training.

Few people actually know that Xerox credits itself as the real inventor of many items we depend on, such as the computer mouse, the windows operating system, email, and even the fax features you'll find in the most of the printers you buy to this day. Facsimile is a particularly interesting invention because ...