I always think of presenting as a provision of information to an audience, whereas training focuses on assisting a group to learn through activity, discussion and inclusion.

Of course the two elements can cross over and at points during training you will present and sometimes during presentations you might want to 'train' the audience through inclusion.

Good points all. With the possible exception awards, all presentations have (or should have) a goal. Some are focused on emotional changes but even things like sales presentations want the participant to take some action - buy. So, while there are differences in the approach, there is still much in common - good structure and clear objectives to the presentation designer. Presentations may not have as much audience (learner) involvement as training, but some keeps their interest up. Think about good presentations you have seen and bad ones.

GoGirl43,

Nouns or verbs?

The purpose of training is to build skills. The act of delivering training can include a variety of methods and media, including presentation. Presentation is a feed forward method intended to inform.

A person who is effective at giving a presentation may well not be an effective trainer...given the other methods and media that are often included (role plays, demonstrations, dialogue, Q&A, practical exercises...et al).

Delivering training requires an expanded skill set.

Academically, the difference between presenting and training is the way the information is channelled between the delegates and the tutor/instructor/lecturer. Effectively presentations are classified as one-way, while training is classified as a two-way method.

This article on effective teaching methods explains these concepts in more detail.

At the end of the day, more participation and interaction leads to "training" while more lecturing and "information dumping" leads to "presenting".

Hope this helps

Thank you all for your great responses. You have really helped me and I appreciate the links to the additional resources too.