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Good Morning I'm Your Facilitator
Deepak Kapoor, Trainer, The Business Workshop

Outline : This is an Honest Insight into A Public Speaker's Wonderful Experience with Facilitation.

Good Morning, I'm Your Facilitator. These were the First Words that I spoke when I stood before a Room Full of Bright, Young Employees of a Multinational Firm. Butterflies in the Stomach, Nervousness. Hell, No way. I've Faced this situation so many times before.Who could forget those Umpteen No.of Presentations & Case studies that U have to do, when u'r going through Your Management Education.Not that they finished after that.As any Management, Specially Sales & Marketing Professional will tell You that Presentations is something that they live with & can deliver it at the drop of a hat. So as a Seasoned Marketing guy myself, I too have done that.

But This , this was totally different .Here the Audience were Probably the Most Difficult Clients I have ever faced . They were PARTICIPANTS of a Group that were expecting to LEARN something from me. The Realization that I have an Amazing Sense of Responsibilitydawned pretty aggressively. Now, I've been a Public Speaker for long & have participated in Various Debates, Seminars, Discussions etc. In all those forums, The Concentration is on WHAT U HAVE TO SAY & HOW YOU SAY IT IN THE MOST IMPRESSIVE WAY.Statement are made more for the Effect .But here, In the Training rooms, ( That's what All Us would come to call those Rooms ) Your Audience is Not Just Your Judge , But Your Immediate Client. They r dependent on You for Information & Learning. This Feels Great, but Alongwith this Comes the Responsibility. They will Listen to Every Word U say, Every Move u Make . In no other situation is the Cliche' of U R WHAT U DELIVER /. WHAT IS DELIVERED IS AS IMPORTANT AS THE PERSON WHO DELIVERS IT , Is as true as here.

U r continuously being judged in terms of How much do u know about Your Subject . But the Important thing here is How U make them Understand the Contents of the Workshop & at the same time not sound like a TEACHER / TRAINER. Why have I used these words as Synonyms ?? Because this is what Exactly it is. Even In Webster's Dictionary, TRAINING Means TO TEACH ; TO GIVE INSTRUCTION IN. On the other hand FACILITATION Means TO MAKE THINGS EASIER / TO ASSIST IN THE PROGRESS OF. The Difference between the 2 is Pretty Basic , But Significant. Being a Trainer Means U Impart knowledge. On the other hand Being a Facilitator Means U Facilitate in the Learning Process of Knowledge for a group of People. When U look from the point of view of Participants / Students , Standing there Telling them things that they r supposed to learn is All very Nice , But Are they Actually paying Attention , is what that Matters. This is something that Most Trainers Seem to ignore.i.e., is how the Content is actually Delivered. Point is, U have to Make things easier, Interesting & Fun for the Participants.That is where a Facilitator scores over the Trainer.He does all of these Things & in the process Delivers the Workshop !! Some people would say Is this Done?? Doesn't it Bring the Trainer on the Same Platform as the participants ?? That's exactly the Idea.

When U r on the same Wavelength as the Participants, The Entire Training Room becomes One Big Learning Center.The Interaction is Also Two Way. Over the period of 3 Months that I Facilitated the Workshop on American Culture, I had a New Batch of 20 + Participants Every Week. Every Single Batch Gave Me & My Co-Facilitator A New Set of Experiences & Information. Frankly Speaking I believe this wouldn't have been Possible If We had gone in with the Mindset of a Trainer. After the Workshop, The Participants would Remember the Great Times that they had as well as the Content Details. The Results were for Us to see with the Difference in their Attitude, Learnings & the TEST MARKS too.

AS FOR ME, NEVER HAD SO MUCH FUN & GOT PAID FOR IT 2 !!

-Graphic done By Sophiya