Customer Reviews

The Ten-Minute Trainer: 150 Ways to Teach it Quick and Make it Stick! (Pfeiffer Essential Resources for Training and HR Professionals)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you're wondering why your students have that glazed-over look, buy this book!

The book is chock full of ways to make training interactive, engaging, and appeal to all the senses and learning styles. There is just enough neuroscience sprinkled in to offer credibility, but ultimately it is a book about practice and not a dense theoretical tome.

True to its title, The Ten-Minute Trainer is broken into easily readable pieces, which is perfect for readers with a tight schedule or ADD tendencies.

I summarized the thesis of the book into a 30-minute class for my Training department (using 7 of Bowman's presentation techniques) and my colleagues are still talking about my presentation 6 weeks later. Usually, these types of presentations go in one ear and out the other. This time, I actually found a topic - and presentation method - and made it stick!

Dave Meier, the director of the Center for Creative Learning, and Sharon Bowman's mentor, must be very proud. The Ten-Minute Trainer is chock full of quick wonderfully imaginative ways to engage learners that work beautifully in all types of training sessions. Need to break up a lecture with limited time to spare? Sharon offers 1-minute, 5-minute, and 10-minute accelerated learning techniques that also address the needs of the kinesthetic learner, who is often the most difficult to satisfy in a classroom. I've used learner-centered experiential training techniques for over thirty years and cannot believe how easy it is to incorporate her techniques! My personal favorites include the time sponge, pop-up, grab the spoon, mark up, and the walkabout. I've already used them and my participants love them! Every lecturer and trainer should keep this book handy!

Regardless of your time in the training position, this book is a MUST HAVE. If you are new to the position, there are quick tips and tricks to get you started on the path to active learning for your audience. If you are an experienced trainer, soak in the chapters on the "why" behind the activities. Sharon's approach is not only easy for the facilitator, but, more importantly, rewarding for the learners. Pay close attention to the variations on each of the techniques, and you will never run out of material. As a corporate trainer with an education degree, this book showed me exactly what I didn't know, as well as what my learners were missing out on! Enjoy!

As owner of PICKS Training & Consulting, I'm always looking for effective materials to help me train - and to teach others to train. This book actually transformed the way I develop my training programs and gave me numerous new training concepts to improve the product I deliver to my clients. If you are a trainer, a teacher, a coach or a supervisor of people to whom you give instruction, get this book now.

Anyone lucky enough to participate in a Sharon Bowman training session has witnessed a gracious, high energy, interactive and highly effective discussion leader. She explains to you how she trains, and then demonstrates. Her new book, "The Ten Minute Trainer" is a deja vous experience, plus more. It also serves as a well organized reference book to provide new ideas each time you need a spark for your training. Her approach to training is at the other end of the "death by Power Point" spectrum. This book is highly recommended if you want to light a fire under your training classes.

I looked forward with anticipation to gathering some great tips to add to my training repetoire. Unfortunately, I found the book to be incredibly repetitious and elementary. How many different ways can one put ideas on a sticky note and share with the person beside them? A disappointment.

As a presenter and trainer for over 16 years, I know the value of keeping the learner engaged in the process. Sharon has been contributing ideas to keep energy and fun in any learning environment for a long time. With a bookcase full of resources, I've found this book to be among the best to apply review, retention and energy to my programs in a quick and easy way. Even the "Sage on the Stage" can transform the learner process by applying some simple principles and training tricks found in this informative and valuable resource. I wouldn't be without it. And my learners are the real benefactors.

I am writing this message for my Husband, D. Bowman. "I am a community college instructor of over 20 years for Business and Accounting.....I was greatly impressed how applying some of these very simple ideas made some less appealing subject matters interesting, greatly increased class participation, and as an accountant would say, improved the bottom line meaning student grades went up.

If I can use it effectively.....any one can".

Thanks for your time.
D. Bowman

Sharon's grasp of adult learning concepts is outstanding! This 10-Minute Trainer book is an absolute goldmine of quick learning activities to apply in the classroom. I have been a trainer and instructor for almost 30 years and have always sought to have my classes or my training be student-centered. Sharon's exercises blend so smoothly into my classes with little effort on my part. They are fun, exciting and innovative and the learners love 'em. They don't take away from time in the classroom - they enhance the experience for the learners. I also love the explanations (in layman's terms) of research done on the brain and on adult learning in general. Really helps you understand the critical need to tap into your learners. As Plutarch says, "A mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be ignited." Thank You Sharon Bowman!

In our organization, we believe that if we truly want our 5000 team members to have a "voice" so they will grow and develop, they need to be fully engaged in the learning process at every level. As a communicator of information, I find inspiration on every page of The Ten-Minute Trainer to craft meetings and workshops that are interactive, thought provoking, fun and that honor the learner's "voice". Whether you need to build a week-long session from scratch or you just need a series of quick, interactive activities to spice up a session, you will find many choices to lock in the learning. The pay off is increased confidence in your own ability to deliver any type of content in a dynamic, enlightening style. Even more important than that, you will discover that you have unleashed the potential of your learners to build upon their existing knowledge base to create desired results. If you want your learners to look forward with great anticipation to your next session, sprinkle some of the magic found between the pages of The Ten-Minute Trainer!

Laura Moriarty, SPHR
VP of Human Resources and Training, Booth Creek Resorts