A training session should be closed just like a piece of music played by an orchestra: with a grande finale. The trainer here being like a talented maestro creating a lasting positive and pleasant effect in the hearts and minds of attendees.
Participants Clapping
The final words a trainer uses at the closing of the last training session of a course may also purposely evoke clapping by the audience. The idea is to evoke feelings of great satisfaction in the hearts and minds of trainees. Of course this cannot be achieved merely by a few words at the end of the final session in a training course if the course itself was not effective but such a positive feeling and final impression would be a result of continual build up as the training course progresses.
Satisfaction Buildup
For instance during the training course the trainer must have shown participants that they are competent, allowed for a lot of interactivity through interactive and highly engaging training activities including ice breakers, pair work, group work, role play and reflection on videos watched during the training. The satisfaction build up can then be topped at the end of the last training session of a course by a series of words that would evoke such heightened feelings of satisfaction and perhaps also evoke clapping by the trainees as an expression of their gratitude and deep feelings of satisfaction from the training they have just completed.
Closing Sequence
One example sequence of words to say at the end of the last training session is to quickly:
- Sum up the core elements and benefits of the course
- Praise the performance of the trainees
- Hope for them applying what they have learnt during the training at their work
- Thank them by closing your words with “thank you.”
This final “thank you” may evoke clapping on the part of participants. This sequence of words should be said in a rapid highly energetic manner to produce their desired effect.
The trainer would thus be like a talented maestro closing a moving concerto with a brilliant grand finale that has a lasting positive and pleasant effect in the hearts and minds of participants.
In what other ways do you think a trainer could be wrapping up and closing a training program?
Corporate Training Magic 