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SHARON BOWMAN Q&A ON "TRAINING FROM THE BACK OF THE ROOM"
What is the “secret sauce” to this course?
Sharon replied: I love that question! I think that "secret sauce" is a wonderful metaphor for the Training from the BACK of the Room learning experience. if I had one word to describe the secret sauce, the word would be "energy." By that I mean the energy and enthusiasm of the group participating in the training. This is a highly interactive workshop. It is totally hands-on. There is minimal lecture and maximum learning, participation, and discovery on the part of the participants. There is always an incredible group energy that builds in the two-day training, and it carries over to the third (optional) day. That is very exciting for the participants and myself to experience. The result is a very strong learning community where everybody feels connected and comfortable enough to teach each other and learn from one another.
When did you first start developing the class and your method?
My sixth book Training from the BACK of the Room was published by John Wiley & Sons in 2009. Prior to that I had been doing three-day Accelerated Learning workshops for years, but in 2009, when my book came out, I changed the three-day workshop to a two-day train-the-trainer, “Training from the BACK of the Room.” This two-day workshop gives participants the best of three worlds: the best of Accelerated Learning, the best of brain science, and the best of my own forty-plus years of accumulated brain-based, strategies and ideas.
As an attendee, what should I expect to walk away with?
I am going to answer that two ways because Santeon is an Agile consulting company.
First, Agile coaches and trainers will get to see how Agile goes hand-in--hand with Accelerated Learning. The Agile Manifesto and principles are very much like how the human brain really learns, not how we were traditionally taught to learn. For example, the Agile focus on individuals and interactions, collaboration, and responding to change is also the focus of Accelerated Learning. Participants in the two-day workshop will see Agile in action as they explore current brain science, about human learning and how to apply this brain-based instruction to their own Agile and Scrum training programs. It will be a very exciting learning experience for all Agile coaches and trainers.
Second, for participants who are not Agile trainers, they will explore the application of Accelerated Learning to broader and more general content and topics. These learning strategies are what I call "content independent," which means that the strategies work regardless of the content being taught. Accelerated Learning is really a universal way of teaching that works because it is based on how the brain learns, as opposed to a more traditional lecture style.
Part of this course is a “first” in terms of it being offered. What part is that and what inspired you to include it this time?
The two-day train-the-trainer, "Training from the BACK of the Room," is the one that I have offered since 2009 in the United States as well as in Europe. Participants receive a certificate of attendance at the end which acknowledges that they attended twelve to fourteen hours of training. While they can use everything they learn, the program does not, however, allow them to turn around and teach the two-day workshop to others.
The one-day certification course is what is brand new. I created this course because many trainers from all around the world have been persistently requesting, “Sharon, please give us a way to teach the two-day training to our own clients and our own companies.” Upon completing the certification course, and all the prerequisites and requirements for it, participants will have everything they need to present "Training from the BACK of the Room" in their own companies and countries, and for their own clients and customers. The one-day certification course is the optional day in Santeon's line up of three days of train-the-trainer programs in December.
Finally, I want to end by saying that both the two-day and the one-day training events will be EPIC learning experiences for participants: Emotional (in exciting, positive ways), Participatory (totally!), Image-Rich (using all the ways the brain learns, not just auditory), and Connected (to the participant's professional and personal lives in unique and memorable ways). Please consider joining us for an unforgettable learning experience!