(Taken from our ebook “Facilitating Great Training“)

A good session isn’t simply closed, it’s SLAMMED shut!

Summary

Learning

Action Points

Motivate and Thank

It is very tempting (and very easy) to finish a workshop in a rush. However, our brain has a tendency to remember things that were covered at the start, finish and most often. So, it’s important to properly summarise what has been covered during the day and the key learning points.

Accelerated learning tells us that this summary is best done by the delegates. That said, it can be very helpful for the facilitator to revisit the objectives/agenda and personal objectives, to remind people of exactly what has been covered before a review activity.

The review activity should focus on what people have learned during the session. Review activities will be suggested in the Facilitator’s Guide, but you can replace them with alternatives if you feel a different approach will work better for whatever reason. A link to Review Activities are included in the last section of this Guide.

Learning is only the first step, delegates need to put their learning into action, so each session should result in at least one practical action point. Don’t expect people to commit to 10 things – they won’t. It is better that people select 1-3 things that they will put into practice. This is more realistic.

If actions are simple and within their direct control, ask delegates to complete a detailed action plan that is SMART that they can implement back in the workplace.

However, whilst this is ideal, the reality is that most will want a little time to reflect, or to discuss their learning with their manager or a colleague before committing to action.

Regardless of which approach is used, ask every person to publicly commit to at least one action. This increases the chance of it happening.

Finally, you need to end the workshop positively, highlighting everything that they’ve achieved and motivating them to put their actions into practice. Finally, thank delegates for their involvement in the session, issue any paperwork (e.g. evaluation forms), turn the music up and let them leave.