No matter how well prepared you are as an expert: If your participants don't understand the purpose of the training, have different expectations of you, or simply lack basic knowledge, the success of your training is seriously at risk. With our four methods, you'll achieve perfect preparation. Each one takes a maximum of 30 minutes to invest for motivated participants and sustainable training success!
Why preparation is so important
As a trainer or coach, you've probably experienced this too: participants come to your seminar or coaching session and have no idea what to expect. Instead of getting straight into the content, you have to motivate skeptical participants, clarify basic questions, and make up for missing prior knowledge. Such a start throws your content and time plan off track.
It is especially dangerous if participants do not see any added value in the training at the beginning: They do not participate, absorb little new knowledge, or do not apply it in their day-to-day work. The sustainability of your training suffers even before you begin with the content.
This effect becomes even more apparent in digital or hybrid training: Without clear expectation-setting and preparation, a pure “consumption” of content quickly emerges instead of active engagement. A conscious preparation phase increases commitment and encourages active participation from the very first moment.
Prerequisites for the ideal start
A good start with motivated participants looks like this instead:
Your participants know why they are here and have individual clear goals.
You know the goals of your participants and can address them directly.
Your participants have prepared content-related questions or examples from their everyday work.
You know what level of knowledge your participants have.
If these four points are in place, a truly great seminar or coaching session is possible. Your participants are motivated, have a clear goal in sight, and focus on the important content. Ideally, they have already engaged with the topics beforehand and bring along interesting content-related questions that also help the other learners.
Do you also want motivated participants and seminar time used effectively? Good preparation makes this possible! We show you four very simple methods for great training preparation and how you can use them without much effort. The best part: You can implement each method in 30 minutes!
4 methods to prepare your training
The following four methods have been tested by numerous trainers and are already in use often. All methods are so fundamental that they fit almost any training or coaching session. You can choose one of them or, ideally, use all of them.
1. Preparation method: “What matters to you?”
“What matters to you?” Asking participants about their expectations helps you clarify questions and respond specifically to their wishes during the training.
Why? Often your participants come to the training with different expectations at the start. If you get an overview of those expectations, you can address them specifically in your training.
How? Your participants receive a few questions from you before the first live session. The questions should be answered in keyword form. Open-ended questions are well suited, for example:
“What effect do you hope the seminar will have?”
“What change in behavior do you want?”
“In which situations do you want to be able to react differently/better?”
You evaluate the responses before the seminar or coaching session. That way, you can prepare for specific wishes and expectations.
2. Preparation method: “What level are you at?”
“What level are you at?” Questions about the current level of knowledge not only help you, but above all help the participants recognize knowledge gaps and prepare for the upcoming topics.
Why? Your participants check their own knowledge of the seminar topic before the training and can prepare better for the in-person session. If knowledge gaps are identified and closed before the in-person session, you can be sure that your content will also be understood.
How? Think about which topics will be covered in the in-person session and note down two good questions for each topic. The questions should encourage participants to reflect on themselves and should not yet ask for specific content. Good questions would be, for example:
“How would you rate your knowledge of (your topic)?”
“Which 3 terms do you associate with (your topic)?”
Participants should also have enough time with this method before the in-person event to answer the questions and prepare for your topics.
3. Preparation method: “Start well prepared!”
“Start well prepared”: With preparatory tasks, you can collect examples from your participants’ everyday work and at the same time sensitize them to your topic.
Why? Examples and observations from your participants in their day-to-day work are a good basis for your in-person session. In addition, participants familiarize themselves with the topic during the preparation phase and become sensitized to it.
How? Some time before the actual training, give your participants the task of paying attention to something specific at work. Give them some guidance, for example a checklist with important questions.
Such a task can take different forms and depends on the topic of your training. For a seminar on “communication,” it could look like this, for example:
Task: “Pay attention to when communication problems occur in your communication with colleagues.”
Checklist: 1. “What was it roughly about?” - 2. “How was communication carried out (in person, email, phone)?” - 3. “What was the problem?”
One or two weeks before the seminar is a good timeframe, depending on the scope of the assignment. Consider whether you want to evaluate the results before the in-person session or whether the participants should bring them directly to the seminar.
4. Preparation method: “Look forward to…”
“Look forward to…”: Clearly communicating the schedule and topics gives your participants confidence and builds positive expectations.
Why? Knowing exactly how your in-person session will unfold helps your participants prepare well for the topics. Clear communication creates positive expectations and encourages them to raise specific questions and wishes.
How? Briefly summarize the schedule and topics of your seminar. To do this, you should ask yourself a few questions to clarify participants’ questions.
For example:
“What happens on that day?”
“How can my participant prepare? What should he or she bring?”
“What is especially exciting about that day?”
Keep it brief! It is best to add a call to action asking them to share wishes, comments, or particularly important aspects. This preparation method works especially well with a personal video in which you explain the schedule and motivate participants to take action.
Practical tips for the 4 methods
1. “What matters to you?”
Added value: You learn about participants’ expectations through open questions and can tailor yourself to their wishes.
Practical tip: Casual formats with open response options are very well suited for this. An interactive online companion with a quiz or survey can be set up quickly and adds great value to your training. Bonus for you: You can easily collect and evaluate the responses.
2. “What level are you at?”
Added value: Your participants identify and close knowledge gaps before the in-person session. And you can prepare appropriately for their level of knowledge.
Practical tip: Asking participants for a personal assessment (“How well do you rate your knowledge of the topic?”) encourages self-reflection without putting pressure on them.
3. “Start well prepared”
Added value: Participants observe situations in their everyday work — you use these as examples in the training to enable good learning transfer.
Practical tip: If you use an online platform, offer helpful material directly and flexibly as a download. For example, a checklist as a PDF. This way, no printed handout can get lost, and participants are flexible in how they integrate the tasks into their daily routine: printed out, on the PC, or on the smartphone?
4. “Look forward to…”
Added value: You give participants precise information about the schedule and topics of the training, pique their curiosity, and ensure a relaxed start.
Practical tip: A video is best suited for this, in which you personally address the participants and highlight the most exciting topics. This way, you can start building a personal connection even before the first session. You make the video available online to all participants. You also only need a little equipment for high-quality self-produced videos!
Conclusion
Successful training does not happen in the seminar room, but in the phase before it: Whoever clarifies expectations, activates prior knowledge, and makes relevance visible lays the foundation for sustainable learning success.
Good preparation determines whether your training merely “takes place” or has a real impact. Participants who know their goals, reflect on their level of knowledge, and have already dealt with the topic start more motivated and use the shared time more intensively.
Whether in-person, online, or blended learning: the quality of preparation has a major influence on the sustainability of the training. With clear structures and small, targeted preparation impulses, you create the best conditions for real learning success.
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
Why is preparing a training so important for learning success?
Good preparation creates clear expectations, activates prior knowledge, and increases participant motivation. As a result, trainings start more focused and the shared time can be used more effectively.
How does an expectation survey before training help?
When participants formulate their goals and expectations in advance, there is greater commitment and clarity. Trainers can adapt content more precisely and better address specific wishes or challenges.
Why should participants reflect on their level of knowledge before a training session?
Self-reflection helps participants identify knowledge gaps early and prepare in a targeted way. At the same time, trainers gain a better understanding of what level the training should start at.
How does a preparation phase improve learning transfer in everyday work?
Preparatory tasks create a connection to the participants’ everyday work even before the actual training. This makes it easier to apply content later in practice and anchor it in professional life over the long term.
Updated on 05/08/2026
