Old habits die hard, they say. Especially if we don’t want them to die at all. Because they are just ‘parked’ for a while, due to the unfavourable circumstances. This is how my face-to-face training delivery skills were – up until now.

Do you remember the spring of 2020, when the Covid hit the world?

It seems to be a very-very long time ago. On the one hand, sometimes it seems that the world has stopped moving since then (or at least for a good while after it). But on the other hand, so many things have happened to me in these past 2 years. For example, I have managed to start my very own training and coaching business, I work with my own clients, great companies and fantastic individuals as well.

However, during these past 2 years I delivered trainings only virtually.

Even though I did presentations in face-to-face setups, I was missing doing trainings as well. On the bright side, I could basically learn a new profession, which is mastering the virtual deliveries. I also believe, that no matter how many people will go back to work from the offices, this virtual training method will always stick with us from now on, just the extent of it might change in the future.

And I truly believe that virtual deliveries have their place in the world.

Very distant places can be reached easily, globally placed teams can be brought together, you can meet people with whom otherwise you wouldn’t be able to meet. I also had the chance to deliver sessions to global teams within my business. For example, to a whole global HR leadership team of a multinational pharmaceutical company from all over the world. I still feel the amazing energy, when I think about those more than 60 people, dialling in to the event from Asia, Africa, Europe and North-America as well. This is definitely something that couldn’t have happened easily those days, without virtuality.

And my own learning in this virtual environment became useful for other people as well.

Through my own experiences I have been able to train people in a credible way on virtual presentation skills techniques, remote team management and a lot more, in various companies. And despite all these advantages of the virtuality, I always felt that the ‘natural habitat’ for me as a trainer is the real-life setup. Something that I did with so much enthusiasm for many years before, and something that, by the circumstances, I was forced to stop doing.

But now, I went back to the basics. And by basics, I mean the long-time missed classroom deliveries – which I was craving for 2 entire years now.

 

How did it feel to go back to a real room again and deliver with people actually being there?

Truly fantastic! I was waiting for this occasion so much, that I was actually nervous, already days before… As if I had never done such a training before. Yes, I know, let’s say that I was excited, instead of saying being nervous. But well… This technique has never worked for me before and now it wasn’t even close to the truth either. So, I observed myself in this nervousness and had a good laugh at myself. I knew, that once I would set foot in the room, I would be able to lose all the negative feelings I had had before. But still, it was hard to sleep the night before… 🙂

And then it turned out, that I was right. Arrived to the office – still nervous and by that time excited as well.

I went into the room and looked around.

Oh, good old days… And by this time, all my nervousness was completely gone. Now this was just an empty room, with no one in it, only me. But soon, it was to be filled with people for an entire day. What a blast! I felt lucky and grateful to be back.

Soon, the attendees also started to arrive and eventually they filled all the chairs. When I introduced myself, I also shared with them, that this is my first classroom training since spring 2020. And I thanked them in advance for having me there 🙂 And magically, all my past experiences and practices came back – as if they had never been dormant.

Being in the flow of a face-to-face session, feeling the energy of a group of people during the training all day long is unique. It is something that is a lot harder to achieve in virtual environment – if possible, at all. I enjoyed every moment of the day and gladly saw that so did the participants.

 

And again, I felt grateful.

I felt grateful, that I can be there, in person. I felt grateful, that despite all the hardships of the past 2 years, I found my way to my own true path. I also felt grateful, that I have the chance to help people to get to know themselves better, to solve their issues in a more effective way and to just develop in general.

And I felt grateful, that when the next day is Monday, I do not have any bad feelings of having to do some work tomorrow.

So, I feel grateful for – instead of just having a job that I do for a living – having a real vocation, that I truly enjoy. Because it really makes a huge difference in life.

 

 

Related articles:

All-day training virtually, for 4 days for Middle-East? It is also possible!

A virtual training with India

My experiences of delivering virtual trainings

The future of the training business

Training in Eastern Europe

The beauty of trainings around the world

As a trainer in Singapore – an experience report from me, to you 

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