DOMIE -- there are very specific skills and knowledge associated with being a good trainer of adults. There are excellent resources on the topic to be found in your library and bookstore. There are also many, many classes you can take on the subject. Plus you will want to practice and get constructive feedback from an experienced trainer. A good trainer knows how to connect learners with the new skill/knowledge in ways that help the lightbulbs go on.

KALIKO --- Anyone can be ANY of those roles but each of those roles require learning and practicing with the skills and knowledge of that role. Anybody CAN be any of those roles, but that doesn't mean everyone should. There are some people who have an innate talent for certain skills/knowledge -- and some who are good at learning/honing it if their interests are strong enough....and others who, no matter how they may try to learn, still should not be in their chosen role. Surely you have had training from someone who shouldn't have been a trainer. Sure - that person CAN be a trainer, doesn't mean he/she should be.

Just because my husband has a new digital SLR...doesn't make him Ansel Adams.

In addition to what LoveLearning says, I recommend finding a mentor. Get someone you trust to help guide you through the process, suggest books, review your presentations, analyze your courseware designs and so forth.

When you say you are considering becoming "a trainer", you need to study the field and decide what aspects of training interest you. I have friends who seldom if ever develop courseware. They present dozens of times a year, but seldom develop training from the ground up. Likewise I know designers who only rarely present their own material.

There are, of course, more aspects to the training business, generally called "workplace learning and performance". Some functions include mentoring, measuring and evaluating,
etc.

Echo the mentor route.

I became a stand up trainer when I had web skills and the criteria for filling a web training class was having a person who would speak to it up front (demand was insane, any instructor would do). Thought I was good, but decided to enroll in a local MEd program for Instructional Design (mostly because I had curriculum development responsibilities).

Enrolled in a facilitation class, fairly certain I'd pick up one or two things but waltz through with an easy "A". After seeing class one, masterfully facilitated, I learned that I had a lot to take away from the instructor if I changed my attitude.

The one thing I would say that he taught me is that being a great trainer isn't about what you bring to the class, but what the learners take away. Learning happens in them. Engage and check in on them. Seen plenty of great presenters who think they are trainers, but the truly great trainers provide info and build experiences for learners, and check progress and provide feedback. From the most simple "fist of five" tactics to knowing how to introduce a topic and let learners struggle to get to an answer instead of just info-dumping it on them.

The right mentor(s) would be an "apprenticeship" that would really hone your craft.

Training is a skills and as such can be learned by anyone. As many have mentioned in this thread, its all about putting the leaner at the centre of the activity. If they can take something with them when they leave the course, then you have achieved your objective.

Obviously you need to know your content and know more than the people you are trying to teach. After that its all a matter of knowing how to get the delegates view concepts from many angles and learn news things.

It is famous that a good course runs on its own and the solutions to problems are found by the delegates and not told by the trainer. In other words training is not presenting, it's the transfer of skill.

Hope this helps and best of luck on your training.

quote:

Obviously you need to know your content and know more than the people you are trying to teach.

Respectfully, the latter half of that sentence is a myth. Helping people learn isn't about knowing more than they do about the subject matter - it's about helping them make cognitive connections. There are many ways to accomplish that -- particularly with adults.