Presenter, Facilitator, Trainer or Experiential Trainer?

In recent years I have come to notice that many businesses don’t know the difference between a presenter, a facilitator, a trainer or experiential trainer.

In fact, many still consider a training room to be an extension of a school classroom. 

This is the same as believing that a team-leader, a supervisor and a manager all do the same thing...

So to clarify: Who's who? 

Facilitator:
A facilitator is a person who makes the learning process easier. They often help a group of trainees to understand their common learning objectives and assist them to plan how to achieve these objectives. In doing so, the facilitator remains "neutral", meaning he/she does not take a particular position in the discussion. Facilitators don't necessarily need to have formal education in adult learning. 

Presenter:
A presenter is someone who performs a speech or presentation to a live audience, with less interaction with the learners. They are often subject experts and their (sometimes Power Point) presentation is deliberately structured with three general purposes: to inform, to persuade, to inspire and to entertain.

Trainer:
A trainer is able to design and provide training to fill gaps in knowledge that are identified and agreed on. Trainers focus on the foundations of adult education: establish existing knowledge, build on it and keep it relevant. The trainer focuses on learning for the group in face to face sessions and will use videos, group activities and binders with useful information to keep the trainees interested.

Trainers will have formal education in adult learning principles and know that Kirkpatrick and SWOT are not from Star Trek. ;)

Experiential Trainer:

An experiential trainer is a trainer who knows the material well enough to improvise during the session in order to include the participants in the learning. 

They will readily change the session in order to help the needs of the participants. An experiential trainer will use different, interactive methods when designing and delivering a learning event. These methods* are connected to helping learners achieve their learning goals.

*Methods are for example: Reflection exercises on critical incidents, presentations on what has been learned, Role play sessions, Simulation & Drama based Activities, A project that develops ideas further, Group discussions and Feedback sessions & Stories that involve thinking about learning in the placement.


Like to know more about our in-company Experiential Training Programs for 2018-2019? Check out http://www.interactwa.com.au/training-workshops.html