Trainer Bob Pike uses a magic formula in his trainings which is the 90/20/8 rule. He mentions that most adult audiences can listen with understanding for 90 minutes, listen with retention for 20 minutes and we need to involve them every 8 minutes.

My tried and tested rule for all the corporate trainings that I have done is a little different. I have modified it slightly because over time, people’s attention span has decreased.

My magic number for training is ridiculously simple but yet extremely effective. I call it the 20 minute rule. After speaking to adults for 20 minutes, we need to involve the audience and induce a ‘state change’.

Question: What does involvement and state change mean?

Actually its simple. Involvement will mean to get the participants to do something with you while state change means to change the current state of condition they are in. This means if they are sitting straight, they move around or move something in their bodies that will change the current state they are in. Here are the different ways I induce a state change in an audience:

1. Get participants to echo what I write on flipchart board.

2. Get the audience to turn to a partner and say a catch-phrase, eg. “Habits determine your success level” or “Success leave trails.”

3. Get participants to take part in activities, either in pairs or group level.

4. Allow them to discuss with their partners on their action steps.

5. Give time to process their thoughts by writing it down.

(This is not an exhaustive list and there are hundreds of ways to do it but these are the ones that I use a lot during my talks.)

Why 20 minutes? You might ask. Well, that’s a good question.

You see, the Hippocampus, part of the limbic brain is that part that pays attention. A person’s attention is calculated using the following formula:

Attention span = (Age/2) + 2 mins     [Note that the max attention span is 22 minutes]

Therefore, using 20 minutes is a pretty good gauge and is easy to monitor.

Hope this helps you when you speak to audiences or conduct your own training. Have fun!

PS: I will be launching my new DVD soon on “Stirring & Connecting with your audience, anywhere, anytime” which will launch in 5 December 2011. It is a DVD that teaches you how to engage and stir the emotions of your audience. Most people can just talk but how many can actually stir your heart? More information will be released soon about it.

If you are ready to find out what is the difference, do read on.

First of all, let’s define the terms.

Talent is the ability to quickly pick up a certain skill compared to the majority of the people. You have an ‘unfair’ advantage and can learn it faster. This means that you are naturally predisposed to learning a particular skill at a faster rate.

Strengths are basically what you can do really well. If you have strong vocals and can sing in front of people well, you can consider that singing is one of your strengths.

However, remember that having talent does not equate you to being strong at it. Let me explain further.

If you wish to be a professional athlete in running short distances, you will first need to have talent. Having talent means that you should be able to run fast naturally and qualify to be in the selection process. However, you will need to work on extremely hard on your talent and be willing to take the long grueling hours of training to make running your strength.

You will notice that professional athletes tend to work very hard and strive for excellence in their training. They keep wanting to beat their previous timing and will put in the time and effort to be the best of their field. They gradually be strong in their skill and people finally consider that particular skill to be their strength. I wish to highlight that nothing ever becomes your strength; if you do not put in the necessary hours of hard work.

The interesting thing about being strong in a particular skill is that it has some transferrable skills that will help you pick up other skills related to it. For example, if you know how to play the guitar well, you will tend to pick up other instruments quickly.

The good news is also if you are not naturally talented in doing something, you can compensate it with a lot of hard work to eventually make it your strength. However, this takes a lot of determination and constant practice.

Let me share with you my life example on this:

I knew from a very young age that I had a ‘little talent’ in speaking from the stage. Actually the truth was that I was extremely chatty. In primary school, I was considered to be an outstanding student and this meant that I was usually punished to stand outside the classroom because of my excessive chatting.

When I was around 17 years old, I was served as a volunteer in a youth organisation that constantly ran indoor and outdoor programs. Somehow I was always given the role of planning the program and also emceeing it. It took about nearly 10 over gigs before I started becoming a better emcee. It was only after 60 over programs then I started to be very good. I learnt that emceeing is not about speaking from the stage, but about entertaining people and creating high energy. I moved on from emceeing in front of small crowds to doing dinner and dances, events and beauty pageants to 700 over people.

Kenneth emceeing Paul Mitchell's beauty contest

Over the years, I did nothing much but to constantly grabbed whatever opportunity to speak in front of the public. It was then I realised that I was actually pretty good in speaking and entertaining.

People said that I was rather talented, but I beg to differ. I really worked hard on it. While people were staying at home or going out with their friends, I was working hard in ensuring that I will be really good in my skills. Inspirational speaking became my strength. When I finally understood what my strengths were, it really helped me to decide what I was going to do in my life. I knew that it had to be a role where I was in constant contact with people and somehow had to be in-line with educating people.

My Decision to be a Trainer

It was because of knowing what I was really strong in and then asking myself what I was really passionate about. It took me a long time to figure it out but finally I knew that I wanted to become a trainer. If you looked around, most trainers in the professional services were usually older, usually in their 40s. However, I decided that I had this unique talent and was willing to work hard on it. I gave it everything I had and I started at the age of 27. I was one of the youngest trainers around in this particular market.

I truly hold on to the view that we just need to be good in doing one thing well, in fact it must be pursued with so much excellence that people will actually pay you money for it. It was then I became extremely good in running team building programs. By constantly working on my strength, I was actually getting better and better at what I was doing. This further increased my fierce motivation to be even better at training. If you can recall from an earlier blog post, I wrote about my decision that changed my life.

After years of hard work, I became a platform speaker on the areas of motivation and building high performance teams. Even right now, I am paid a lot of money to give keynotes and educate professionals and executives on my speciality. I have travelled to six countries so far to provide trainings and talks. If you asked me if this was what I ever dreamed about, I honestly want to say that I have never dreamed that I could get so far.

Kenneth speaking to 60 HR professionals in a Learning & Development Conference

Its about you now

If you constantly work on yourself and ask what kind of role you could do to play on your strengths, I believe that you definitely become better and successful in what you do. Even in your job, you have to ask if what you are doing is helping you to stay in your strength zone and growing it?

Work on your strengths, not on your weaknesses.

Have you given up on things that matter?

I may have a reason why this is happening and after reading this, you will want to act on it.

If you have failed before, my question to you is this “Are you committed to it?”

Image by eschipul via Flickr

There are many times we want to do something, however, when times are difficult, our habits or weaknesses overcome our desire to do it. Wanting to do something may not be compelling enough to overcome our natural desires to be lazy. I have heard many times that people WANT to lose weight, WANT to lower their cholesterol, WANT to be more disciplined. But nothing sustainable happens.

If you belong to the majority of the population, most likely you will fail. Why? This is because we are simply NOT committed to getting results. What do I mean by commitment? Let me share with you more by asking some more questions:

Have you ever been absorbed by a task and were committed to finish a project by a deadline that you did not have your meals?

Have you ever seen a lady holding 2 jobs in the day and night simply because she is a widow and has 3 kids to feed?

In every one of the descriptions above, I have seen people really being committed to what they do. They are willing to give up short term gains, simply because they have committed themselves to achieve certain results. They know that there is a price to pay for everything. Hard work and discipline must follow through to get the results that they need. I’m not advocating that we should skip our meals, but I just want to highlight that there is a deep level of commitment to what we have set out minds to do.

Without commitment, you will fail. You will just WANT, but NEVER achieve. I’m sorry to be harsh, but this is the truth. I realised that most of my recent success in corporate training is because I was extremely committed while the first few years of my business was not eventful because I was not committed to myself, staff and my family.

If you are sick and tired of NOT getting the results you want, maybe its time to be committed? If so, what price will you pay for it?

Do leave your comments and your commitments down; I hope to hear from you.

Participants were taught techniques of how to generate training content (on any topic), create high energy in training, practice skills to speak to the crowd, how to get crowds to echo what they say and instantly get people to participate in group discussions.

If you are keen on taking up this program want to be a GREAT Trainer, do email us at

coach(a)deepimpactonline(dot)com or call us at +65 6274 5145.

Adrian receiving feeback on his Presentation

Three Minutes to Engage the Crowd

Brainstorming on why Trainers are not Effective

A Technique to Overcome Fear

Graduates of Dare To Train, Woo Hoo!

You MUST attend this FREE 2-Hour Workshop to Learn :
• Techniques To Overcome FEAR and Create Dynamic Stage Presence when you Train!
• How to Get Instant BUY-IN from your Audience
• How to Create a High Energy Environment for People to Learn
• How to Effectively Use ACCELERATED LEARNING TECHNIQUES to CRAFT Highly Charged Training Programs
• How to Avoid the 3 Costly Mistakes Most Trainers Make!
• How to use Stories And Metaphors That Will Grip Your Audience to MAKE your Trainings Fun and Inspiring
• How to be an Awesome and Dynamic Trainer, Command High Fees and Build a Training Business that will Inspire Others

Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009. (Call us at 6274 5145 to find out the latest date)

Time: 7:30pm – 9:30pm

Location: ERC Institute (City Campus) Fusion Polis Room

Street: 61 Robinson Rd, #17-01, Robinson Centre, S 068893

CALL or SMS 9189 0015 with your < name > , < contact number > , < email address > to book your seats NOW!

The Trainers : Kenneth Kwan / Jason Ng

Kenneth Kwan’s high impact training and unique ability to get entire groups of people to change their behaviours quickly have resulted in peak performance levels and achievements in a short period of time. He advocates that the mindset is the first place to start, rather than typical skills training. This translates into better alignment of organizational values, team spirit, higher revenues and trust within participants. He has personally trained over 3511 participants so far. In addition, He was recently featured as a speaker in Learning and Development Summit 2009 for HR professionals and also got his article published in the Straits Times.

He is also a Certified Behavioural and Career Consultant and uses DISC profiling to create Cohesive Team Synergy, Sales Techniques, Value Alignment and Talent Management with companies. Kenneth has also achieved tremendous success in conducting Public and Private sessions for HR managers, Directors and members of the public in understanding human dynamics in Personality Profiling.

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Jason Ng is a Family Life Educator / Trainer with Families For Tomorrow Services, a pro-family organisation conducting family education programmes at primary schools, secondary schools and junior colleges. His wealth of experience in parent child education has made him a well sought after speaker around the region in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Jason has conducted talks, trainings and workshops to thousands of parents, teachers and students on a wide range of topics including parent-child relationship management, character education, maximising of children’s potential, social and emotional learning for teenagers, multiple intelligences of children, anger management for children / teenagers, work-life balance and computer gaming addiction.

To share his passion in helping parents with the prevalent social concern of uncontrolled usage of the computers by children, Jason has been invited by Mediacorp Singapore to be the guest speaker for Singapore Parenting Congress 2009 recently on July 11th to 12th ( www.mediacorpradio.sg/spc09 ). He was also interviewed by “The Living Room” on 938LIVE to share his knowledge with concerned parents on this subject.

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***Here’s what others have to say about it:***

“Before the “Dare To Train” training, I am zero in terms of training knowledge and skills. What “Dare To Train” has done is that it has provided me actionable & easy steps to conduct a professional training routine that allows me to instantly connect with my audience. With these skills, I will be able to use it to complement my Real Estate business as well as make an additional revenue source. Kenneth and Jason have shared selflessly and they practise what they preach.”
- Kevin Yeo, ERA Agent

“Having worked as lecturer at a polytechnic, I have been involved in training for many years. Kenneth and Jason have nonetheless been able to introduce new elements that have enriched me as a trainer. Their sharing of the templates in use will surely enhance my training ability.”
- John Ooi, Director, Touching Lives Pte Ltd

“This Program uses a totally different methodology in terms of delivering content as compared to other training institutes that I attended. It has provided me with complete confidence to provide training and workshops immediately. Kenneth and Jason have provided us with high level energy, skills and techniques to be a great trainer.”
- Francis Toh, Free Lance Trainer

“My experience from public speaking was from observation of other speakers until I took action to enroll for the “Dare To Train” course. I am pleasantly surprised by how simple it is to present effectively just by following a template. My perception that presentation is all about content is also changed because there is so much others factors that matter. I have been blessed by the training and I wish to thank the trainers Jason and Kenneth for sharing with me all trade secrets of an effective trainer. I am confident that with the skills set acquired, I can emerge to be a dynamic speaker.”
- Elvin Leong, Free Lance Trainer

Limited Seats Only!
CALL or SMS 9189 0015 with your < name > , < contact number > , < email address > to book your seats NOW!

(This is not an MLM, Insurance or Property recruitment drive, “Feel Good” Event, nor is it a Forex, Options or Futures Trading Seminar. We just want to ADD VALUE to you by sharing training techniques and tips)

Great News! I just want to share that I am a Featured Speaker in this year’s Learning & Development Summit 2009. HR Professionals from different companies will be gathered to address key communication strategies for learning and development in the organization as they measure the performance of learning and development programmes.

There will be TOP level professionals from who will be sharing best practices in their field. Companies include:

Agilent Technologies
Deutsche Bank AG
Watson Wyatt
Mercer
TNS

I will be speaking on one of the Workshops: “SECRETS OF DYNAMIC TRAINERS REVEALED” on 24 Apr 2009.

Here is a description of it: What makes Training Powerful and Effective? Are there ways to teach so that participants will be involved, always learning and responding with high energy? You will learn the techniques on how top trainers use Accelerated Learning Techniques to teach with passion, stir their hearts and impact lives. If you want to deliver in a powerful manner, this session is a MUST.

Highlights:

• How to create a High Energy Environment for Learning
• How to ALWAYS get participants to participate and share their learning experiences
• Techniques to effectively increase memory retention to at least 80%
• How to get instant BUY-IN from the audience
• Get Hands-on experience in creating a training program and delivering it 

From what I have heard, the workshops have been filled and there are still tickets left for the main conference on 23 Apr 2009.

For Those in HR, I have SPECIAL DEAL FOR YOU. I managed to negotiate with the organisers and they will be giving FREE tickets to my clients in the HR Field!

Email James directly at       james(a)alleventsgroup.com      Please change the (a) or call him at +65 6506 0960

Tell him that you are a HR contact of Deep Impact and he will follow up with you.

Download your brochure here.

I had a short discussion with a client just a few days ago. She was describing that people like to upgrade many things in their lives, especially their mobile phones, houses, cars, computers and even their watches! Don’t forget ladies upgrading their diamond rings too (my wife wanted me to write this)!

However, how many of us actually spend enough time and resources to upgrade our mindset?

We tend to focus on things that will not last, shouldn’t we focus on things that will Add Value to the way we think? I mean, our mindset is the very thing that is constantly with us, right?

I previously shared with my clients that I used to start off as a small time trainer, working very hard for just $30/hr (way below market rate for trainers). This was pretty bad, knowing that there were many assignments that only engaged me for 2 hours only!

Things started to changed when I realised that my mindset was preventing me to earn more money. I started to work very hard on learning how to deliver well and even paid thousands of dollars to attend Seminars. I wanted to learn and was hungry to be among the best. After some time, I remembered earning $1250 dollars after a 4 hour training session! Wow, what a big change from the previous salary that I earned! This completely changed my mindset and expanded my belief systems. My boundaries started changing again when I made over $6500 after another 4 hour training session. This completely helped me realised that the only person who was giving me limiting belief systems was myself!

How we look at things really matter in life. Without a strong mindset and God’s guidance, I will not be where I was today. I encourage you to constantly invest in yourself to upgrade your mindset. It definitely pays dividends and will bring you to higher ground! Onwards and Upwards.

There is a very useful Personal Development Website that I found to be very useful in helping me grow. I hope it will add value to you as well.

If you like this article, please subscribe to our blog by getting the Free Report on “7 Transformational Secrets to creating a Dynamic and Cohesive Team”. If you have comments, I would love to hear them. Please post them below.

One of the secrets of conducting a good training is the ability to engage your audience through discussions. Constantly apply them and people will enjoy it! Kinestatic movements are always fun, so use them to create energy in your audience. I always believe that Great Training Sessions are all about engaging the audience in participating with you. Here are some photos to display what what was taught.

Kenneth looking on while the audience discuss

I need to see your hands!

Participants practicing what they have learnt!

Here are some testimonials I received:

The title was interesting and I know I will gain some knowledge and improve myself better. Body language and facial expression plays an important part in my both family life and working life. It will definitely benefit my whole family. Today’s seminar will be a role play to my only daughter who is still waiting for me to talk about the topic (at home). She has been SMS-ing me to come home faster and teach her. Well done and keep it up Kenneth.

Lalitha
DSTA

I will like to thank Kenneth when he taught me how to introduce myself to people to let people have a good impression of me and also know how to boost my confidence through my posture. I feel that after this lesson, I am able to introduce myself well and have confidence in myself during a conservation. The way he teach is very interesting especially the class activities during lesson to let me understand the topic better.

Ms Lim

I have learnt how to do the 60 seconds introduction interestingly. I like the way how Kenneth actually makes us remember his name. I will definitely try to use whatever he have taught us when I talk to my client. Thanks Kenneth.

Christina
NTUC Club

If you like this article, please subscribe to our blog by getting the Free Report on “7 Transformational Secrets to creating a Dynamic and Cohesive Team”. If you have comments, I would love to hear them. Please post them below.