Simply put, training is not effective when the participants are sleeping. We have all endured training presentations where we had to fight boredom or where our minds have wandered to completely unrelated topics. While much focus is given to the nuances of what contributes to an effective training seminar, a threshold requirement is the trainer’s engagement of the audience. There are several steps a trainer can take to increase the likelihood that participants will be engaged.

The majority of these steps take place well before the training starts. First, it is important to conduct an audience analysis. To whom are you presenting? What is the participants' knowledge base on the subject? What are their job responsibilities? What are their goals for the training? Why are they attending the training session? These are just a sampling of the questions that must be asked in preparing a training program. Failure to conduct an audience analysis results in training programs full of irrelevant and redundant information.

Second, you must learn as much as possible about the environment in which you'll be training. Where will the training be held? How large is the room? Will you have a microphone? Will you have access to multimedia (projectors, audio, etc.). A guaranteed way to lose your audience is for you not to be able to use the visual aids you prepared, or for the participants to not be able to easily see or hear those aids.

Third, once you know as much as possible about your training audience and the training environment, you can focus on developing a thorough knowledge of the subject matter. People listen to people who seem knowledgeable and credible, whether they actually are or not. Mere form without substance is a recipe for disaster. Knowing your subject matter, however, is not the only requirement for being an interesting presenter. During your seminar, you must keep the material interesting. Here are some simple tips for engaging your students:

• Make the class interactive. No one enjoys being talked "at" for any length of time.

• Use personal stories, case studies and examples to make the subject matter realistic, authentic, and pragmatic.

• Use media, including television clips, music and PowerPoint presentations whenever possible.

• Use humor.

• Use physical movement - even presidential candidates venture from behind their podiums these days.

• Build short breaks into your program.

A final, albeit extremely important tip is to continuously conduct audience analysis during the class. You should constantly scan your audience to assess how the class should proceed. Does your group seem bored or confused? If they seem bored and you are in the middle of a 30 minute lecture, perhaps you should ask a thought-provoking question on the topic and open it up to class discussion. If they look confused, perhaps you can use a different example or a case study to more clearly illustrate your point.

To make your training seminars interesting, know as much about your audience and environment as possible beforehand, thoroughly prepare for the training program, constantly assess participant interest as the training progresses and adjust your actions accordingly. In order to engage your audience, you must consistently consider your audience.