Telling Them is Not Training Them (The Top 5 Things That Make a Training Manual More Than a Book) Training manuals are not glorified books with detailed speaker notes and cool looking pictures. Training manuals serve a very specific purpose and there is a science to creating ones that have impact. They are intended to give the reader the capabilities and skills to perform a predetermined task and not just to hold up the end of the couch with the broken leg once the training is complete. For example, the training manual may be used to teach a set of software users how to make the most of the software. Or, perhaps the training manual is intended to teach something less tactical like, how to plan a wedding. (Less tactical maybe, but with bigger potential to crash than any Microsoft product!) Whichever the case may be, a good training manual focuses on teaching and not on telling. That is what differentiates them from a self-help book. Here is a list of the five things that make a training manual more than a book.Read More »
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The Five Types of Training Manuals and When to Use Them There are five distinct forms of training manuals. Each has a specific purpose. (No, not as a booster seat for a visiting toddler) Choosing the right document to accomplish your goal is helpful in ensuring you are successful in assisting your learners the most effective way.Read More »
3 Simple Tips on How to use the Power of Story Telling to Teach a New Idea Stories have been used since the beginning of time to teach new ideas and concepts. From early tribal legends, to fables and mythology stories have taught people how to accomplish tasks; from how to build an ark to how to escape your evil stepmother. Stories allow learners to enter a unique imaginary world and play with new ideas without the fear of making a mistake or appearing wrong. Stories provide context to complex ideas by framing them in situations and experiences that seem familiar to learners. Stories can provide an emotional connection to ideas and concepts, which is vital to turning on the memory receptors in the brain. And, finally stories entertain and challenge the mind to engage with information in ways simple explanations cannot. Take a lesson from your earliest ancestors and tell stories around the boardroom table like cave men around the fire to help everyone evolve to the next level of their training.Stories can be easily incorporated into most training documents. How you choose to include stories as a training technique is completely up to you and how you want to present your information. Be sure the stories you are using further your goals and are not stories that will simply distract. Here are some of the most common ways to incorporate the power of stories in training documents.Read More »
Stories can be easily incorporated into most training documents. How you choose to include stories as a training technique is completely up to you and how you want to present your information. Be sure the stories you are using further your goals and are not stories that will simply distract. Here are some of the most common ways to incorporate the power of stories in training documents.
4 Killer Tips to reduce Too Much Content into Highly Effective Training Manuals Do you have too much content and too little space or time to deliver it all? Welcome to the club! It is a more common problem then you might think. To begin with, let me point out that more often than not you have more content to deliver then your learner or reader will be able to digest, even if you don’t realize it. The average learner can grasp three new concepts every 90 minutes. The average training tries to teach three new concepts to the learner in two paragraphs or one presentation slide. It’s like trying to drink from a fire hose! So from the get go, the balance between what your learner can absorb and what you want to teach is almost always off kilter. Even if you have to feed them an elephant, remember to do it one bite at a time! Once you realize you have too much content how do you figure out what to include in your training document and what to leave out? Use these few simple rules of thumb to organize and prioritize your training content.Read More »
Top 5 Essential Training Book Design and Layout Tips You Should Know Why does graphic design matter in training documents? Because, while looks aren’t everything, they’re often what gets you the first date! Without a simple to follow layout and easy to navigate document, the reader will get either distracted or lost and the whole point of the training falls apart. Well-designed training documents have a few simple characteristics in common.Use Arial, Calibri or Helvetica fonts. They are the easiest for the learner to read.Overall, avoiding fonts that are too curvy or have extra flourishes is a good idea. Pick your font like you pick the person you bring home to your Mom, save the flashy for friends on the weekend, bring home the nice, conservative, solid one when you want to make a good impression! Contrary to popular belief Time Roman is not a good font to use in training materials. Its angles can be difficult for some readers to process and it is one of the fonts which studies show readers most often skip or ignore words when reading.1. Use simple, non-complex fonts. They minimize the use of dramatic typography, so that where they do include bolding or underlining it has impact.Read More »
Why does graphic design matter in training documents? Because, while looks aren’t everything, they’re often what gets you the first date! Without a simple to follow layout and easy to navigate document, the reader will get either distracted or lost and the whole point of the training falls apart. Well-designed training documents have a few simple characteristics in common.
Use Arial, Calibri or Helvetica fonts. They are the easiest for the learner to read.
Overall, avoiding fonts that are too curvy or have extra flourishes is a good idea. Pick your font like you pick the person you bring home to your Mom, save the flashy for friends on the weekend, bring home the nice, conservative, solid one when you want to make a good impression! Contrary to popular belief Time Roman is not a good font to use in training materials. Its angles can be difficult for some readers to process and it is one of the fonts which studies show readers most often skip or ignore words when reading.
1. Use simple, non-complex fonts. They minimize the use of dramatic typography, so that where they do include bolding or underlining it has impact.