Getting the Most Out of Your Meeting and Training Dollars
~ Kathleen Gage

On any given day there are millions of meetings and trainings taking place in the United States. Think of all the in-house meetings, offsite meetings, teleseminars, and webinars that are happening right now as you read this article. It’s mind-boggling. Amazingly, a great deal of time and money is wasted on these meetings/trainings.

Think of the last few meetings or training sessions you attended. Did you optimize the time to the best of your ability or were you distracted with thinking about the next meeting you had to attend or the big project you are working on?

What about staff members? Do you have any idea if their time spent in meetings is productive? Chances are you may be wasting a lot of money if you don’t know what they are getting out of a meeting or training course.

As someone who has been in the training industry for nearly 15 years, it never ceases to amaze me that people are not more accountable for what they do. I suppose since I own my own business and invest my own money in any training I take, I do all I can to optimize my return on investment. Yet, I know plenty of people who own their business and waste, rather than invest, money in professional development.

Forget meetings for a minute. Let’s take a look at both in-person or online trainings. It’s likely you have talked to plenty of people who took some type of a course and complained because the course “just didn’t work.” Or maybe you took a class, but didn’t feel you got much out of it. Was it that the course was no good or maybe you had a part in why you got so little value out of the money and time invested?

I contend there are always two sides to the story. Primary reasons why training courses don’t work are varied. Having conducted thousands of training courses over the years, I assert the main reasons fall into three categories.

One, the trainer may not be skilled at material delivery. There are plenty of people who are “trainers” that neither have the experience or expertise to qualify them to teach others. Two, the material was not a good match for the participants. Three, participants put no effort into achieving an outcome beyond sitting in the training. They put their time in and when the session was over that’s where their effort ended.

Let’s assume the trainer is skilled, the material is a great match for the participants and delivery is stellar. Why is it that some participants get no results while others get incredible outcomes?

More times than not those who see no result have likely not applied themselves 100%. It amazes me how some people seem to think they can get results through osmosis. And when they don’t, one of the first things they do is blame the material or the trainer.

On the other hand, when someone gets a lot out of training and he or she feels it was a valuable experience it is likely they took responsibility for their experience.

The next time you take a training course do yourself and the trainer a favor; be 100% committed to the course material, the trainer, application of the information, and most of all, to yourself. If you send team members to training course, put some type of accountability measures in place.

Here are some simple recommendations that can make all the difference in the world on the outcome of the experience.

1. Write down specific goals you have for the training. Make them realistic and doable.

2. Take plenty of notes and refer to the information more than once.

3. Give 100% to the training. Don’t have any outside distractions. The more present you are the more you will get out of the training.

4. Have fun and be open-minded.

You can apply these recommendations to virtually any training you take. After all, if you are investing your time, money and effort, why not get as much of a return on your investment as possible?

Kathleen Gage is an Internet Marketing advisor works with speakers, coaches, authors and consultants who are ready to turn their expertise into money-making products and services. Visit her marketing blog at www.themarketingmindset.com