"Will it be the same without the presenter?"

I sat in an external training today. One of my motivation was to learn from more trainers on delivery skills. Not exactly impressive. One, she was not familiar with the content - which is most detrimental to the delivery. No matter it is for a general presentation or trainer, the message will get across only if the speaker has reasonably good creditability. It is human nature - people trust the speaker first, before they believe in the content. Well, if you do not know the content, it is the easiest way to lose you creditability. Not knowing the content shows when you always have to refer to note or even worse the slides, and more obviously when you are not able to answer straightforward questions. Knowing the content is not magic like having charisma. If you are serious about the delivery, you will prepare and you will know the content. So, in some sense, it is kind of a dis-respect if you do not know the content. How can people trust you then?

Two, which is also about how serious she is - she arrived at the training room at 0830, the exact time when the class was supposed to start. There was no greeting, and worse no proper equipment set up. More exactly, there was no projector, which unfortunately she had to rely on a lot!! Well, like energy level, your participants will not care more about the class than you.

Three, being an external trainer who earn her living by mainly delivering class, her delivery skills is less than satisfactory. Unclear instruction for small group discussion. Tell instead of ask. Poor control of timing. Un-readable slides.

When her session ended before lunch, a question actually came to my mind - 'Would the learning (if any) be the same if without the trainer there?' Unfortunately, my answer is yes (almost yes). She was reading slides. (In fact, it may save more time if she was not there since we all could read more quickly.) She could not answer questions. Frankly, this is sad.

From a learning perspective, we should always ask ourselves this question 'Will it be the same if without me?'..... Am I making a difference?