PLAYING TO A ‘BAD’ CROWD

When we sell public trainings we are pretty much assured that those attending actually want to be there. They are interested in your subject, keen to learn and curious. This is a great foundation for engagement and as trainers we are met with smiling, attentive faces. Lovely!

However, if you are a corporate trainer, the client is often a company —not the course attendees. And this makes for a whole different dynamic. Apart from in-house work for individual companies, I run trainings for the local Chamber of Commerce so often have a room full of participants from various different companies who don’t want to be there, don’t want to contribute and who want to remain in little cliques which creates a divided audience on many levels. Not good for a successful training. So how does one deal with a tough crowd?

First – love the challenge of it! Embrace it. It will test and stretch you as a trainer and make you better at your craft.