Disruptive noises, a cramped seminar room – in classic training sessions and coaching, the environment plays an important role. A participant who feels uncomfortable and disturbed will leave the training with negative feelings. As a trainer, you can prevent negative influences with some tips.

Let yourself be briefly introduced to the following story: Tobias works as a sales specialist in a medium-sized company in Munich. His supervisor asks him if he would like to attend a one-day seminar on presentation techniques – in Stuttgart. The trainer is said to have been in the business for many years and to have a good reputation. Tobias agrees.

On the day of the training, Tobias enters the seminar building. He is somewhat nervous because he does not know what to expect and because he did not sleep well. Upon crossing the threshold, he notices a slightly musty smell that reminds him of his former neighbor, from whom he only has negative memories.

Finally, he sits with ten other participants in a tight room that is a maximum of 20 square meters. The walls are painted a dark gray, and only little light filters in through the only window. Tobias feels uncomfortable.

The seminar begins, and the trainer does a good job. Tobias learns some new techniques but can hardly concentrate. Late in the morning, Tobias is supposed to present himself. Usually, he has no difficulties speaking in front of people, but today it is harder for him than usual. He does not know where to stand in the small room so that everyone can see him from the front.

The persistent smell and the sleepless night soon give Tobias a headache. Above all, he is annoyed that he is delivering what feels like a poor presentation to the other participants and the trainer. He knows he can do better and feels that today just isn't going to work out.

Two fundamental influencing factors in the training environment

What went wrong on this seminar day? The trainer himself did a good job, and the content was well prepared. Perhaps Tobias could not give a concrete answer to that question himself. Often, we are unconsciously influenced by our immediate surroundings.

In principle, there are two factors that can influence the atmosphere and thus largely affect the success of the training:

Personal Connotations

Description: A connotation is something that has a conscious or unconscious resonance. It is often a very personal feeling (individual connotation). For instance, Tobias was reminded of his unsympathetic neighbor by the smell in the seminar building. Since the smell lingered throughout the day, the “resonating” negative feeling persisted as well.

Options for Action: Do you think that your hands are tied as a trainer with such individual connotations? That is only partially true. Of course, you cannot sense and eliminate every unconscious feeling of your participants. But you can incorporate short time blocks into your training where you discuss supportive and disruptive factors together. This creates a general awareness of influences from the immediate environment, and the participants can better address blockages.

General Environmental Conditions

Description: By “general environmental conditions,” I refer to all factors that typically have positive or negative effects for all participants. In Tobias’s case, the room was simply too cramped and too dark for him to feel comfortable.

Options for Action: As a trainer, you can try to find out about the room conditions in advance and possibly bring along aids (such as daylight lamps) or even find a new location for your training in time. Additionally, you can inform your participants about the rather uncomfortable framework conditions in a relaxed manner.

Solution: Comprehensive clarification about framework conditions

Tobias not only had the problem of being unconsciously reminded of negative feelings or that the room was unsuitable. He also did not know in advance what to expect. A foreign place, unfamiliar people, unknown content. He had also slept poorly that day and actually had no headspace for personal development and even less for unfamiliar situations.

What could the trainer have done here? It would have been helpful for Tobias to receive information about the framework conditions some time in advance. Tip: In addition to information about the time and place, the trainer could have sent pictures of the seminar room and prepared the participants in a humorous way about the conditions on site, for example: “Dress in light colors and bring a good mood; the room will shine even without a second window.”

Another Solution: Blended Learning

As a trainer, you can easily send this preliminary information via email – or incorporate it into your online follow-up. By linking your face-to-face training with online units, you utilize the successful training method of blended learning. The term is derived from the English to blend = “mix” and refers to the mixture of different learning forms.

For the sole purpose of informing about the framework conditions, an online follow-up may not be worthwhile. However, with this option, you can leverage numerous additional benefits to make your training successful:

• Online exchange between all participants, e.g., as a comment function

• Transfer tasks after the training

• Surveying training success through surveys or examinations

... and many more! With an online follow-up, you can also transfer content from the face-to-face time into the self-directed online learning phase. For example, Tobias could:

• receive online information about the framework conditions in advance,

• get to know the other participants via chat and the trainer through a video message beforehand,

• spend less time in the cramped room listening on the actual seminar day and use the gained time for discussions about the current framework conditions,

• review everything discussed after the face-to-face training online in the form of photo protocols and short exercises.

Getting to know methods in Blended Learning

If you already have our card game for blended learning, the rocket pack, you can take a closer look at card #24 – “The environment plays along” on this topic and follow the link on the back to gain further tips. There, you will also learn, in a specific example, how to make your participants aware of positive influencing factors as well.