Trainer Blog: Ask vs. Tell

I spend my days designing and delivering training to association volunteer leaders through the OREA Centre for Leadership Development. Developing the skills of people who donate their time and hearts to a worthwhile endeavour is a rewarding profession, yet I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that at times it’s a challenging task.

When people aren’t paid or mandated to participate, training must be engaging, valuable and fun. It must be relevant to the wide variety of volunteers who take on their positions with a range of skills and knowledge. It must satisfy the different motivations that bring people to the volunteer table. It must fit into their busy lives, and it must produce results. That’s no small feat!

Recently we launched a video blog for trainers where we share some of the things we’ve discovered over 30 years in adult learning and delve into common challenges. We’ll be sharing these posts with you on a once-a-month basis, looking at different  aspects of training design and delivery. We hope you’ll find them useful. 

Trainer Blog: Ask vs. Tell

Watch a short video blog post on how to Ask vs. Tell

In this blog we share a method that can turn any presentation or lecture into an interactive discussion. Whether you’re a trainer, manager or speaker, you’ll find this useful. The key is to ask questions to draw out the knowledge of participants rather than simply tell them something. This method is most powerful when you use questions to generate discussion on something as you present it.