Creating a Relaxed Learning Environment

People attend training for a number of various reasons. Their own interests, management assigns them, it's good to get out of the operations for the day or in the ideal world, their involvement in the session is part of a development plan for their personal and professional growth within the organization. 

Whatever the reason may be, it's important for you as a facilitator to get your audience settled, relaxed and have an engaging experience in the precious time you have with your group.

Here are some simple practices and advice you can look into when looking to create that relaxed learning environment.

Start with yourself. 
You have to be relaxed in the first place to make your audience relaxed. Planning, preparation, knowledge on your subject matter and having everything ready to go for your program will allow you time to engage with people as they arrive to the session. Last minute edits, looking through your notes or fiddling with the AV prior to the session starting will not set you up for the best start to your course. 

Dress code is a simple, yet effective way to have your audience feel comfortable.
What is the dress code standard for your attendees? If you have set standards, perhaps it's time to change it up a bit. People being able to wear what they want to attend a course will immediately let them feel more comfortable, creative and relaxed. Wearing a suit or uniform will put them 'in the box' of thinking, acting and behaving like they are still at work. Break down that barrier. I used to wake up in the morning excited that I was attending training because I didn't have to wear my uniform on that day!

Creatively set-up your room.
Cabaret, u-shape and classroom style room set-ups for learning should be going the way of the dinosaur. It's time to evolve the way you set-up your locations for learning. Lounge style, bean bags, whatever you can do to make it more relaxed and informal, will change he dynamic and atmosphere in the room. Why not host a part of the session outside? Utilizing social spaces will give your session a distinctively different feel and the more memories you can create about your class, the better the retention!

Icebreakers aren't really enough.
A good icebreaker will really set the tone for your session. No doubt about that. But you have to ensure you get the conversations and engagement with the audience started from the outset. Sharing stories, experiences and getting to understand your audiences expectations for the session are a good way to further connect with your audience and make them feel at ease. Sharing your own personal story or example of how you have used or benefited from the topic you are presenting is another way to connect with the audience and make them feel at ease.

Ditch the PowerPoint. 
Contentious? Controversial perhaps? The less PowerPoint slides you can have, the better. Mix up your delivery methods in order to maintain attention and keep your audience involved. Your group can feel more energized, and as a result, more relaxed about the session if they are not dozing off waiting for slide number 55 out 87 to come up. 

If you can't Ditch the PowerPoint, Change it Up.
Change the way you create slides if you still need to use them. Full slide images the display a message you would like to deliver, word clouds, info graphics and eliminating those traditional bullet point lists are some suggestions. Use colors, use different fonts, create an engaging PowerPoint deck that will draw and keep your audiences attention.

With your relaxed learning environment created, you will start to reap the benefits...... Which will be covered in the next post. Stay tuned!