How to work with an audience during training?

Evgeniy Pecheritsa , creative director of the HAIRDESIGN Academy, international class master with 15 years of experience, creator of the HAIRDESIGN academy training system and the formation of a teaching structure for the teacher of the entire team, teaching experience - 9 years

What is important to consider when teaching?

It is imperative to identify and understand the audience you are teaching based on the types of perception. I consider it obligatory to take into account all three categories of listeners - visual, kinesthetic and auditory. As practice shows, one audience always has everything. And if you focus on one thing (on a demonstration, for example), you risk losing the rest of the audience. Among hairdressers, of course, the majority are those who like to work, who like to touch.

You need to consider what you say and how exactly. The information you present to your students should be understandable. In my work, I use such an approach that if a person does not understand, then I paraphrase. My mission is to convey information. I will explain and change the wording until the person accepts it.

You need to speak clearly and clearly so that the student understands everything.

Next is the sequence. You need to be careful about the presentation and the correct sequence so that one of your statements does not contradict another. Select the timbre and volume depending on the number of people in the room. If the audience is large and there are a lot of people, it is important to take care of amplifying the sound with microphones, speakers, or simply speak louder. If there are few people, try not to shout.

There should be humor in teaching. This liberates the audience and brings them into contact. You receive feedback, questions and begin to interact with the audience.

Is it difficult to work with a dead audience? How to deal with them?

Yes, definitely. I had this experience. I taught one of the blocks, in which the lecture and demonstration with explanations lasted all day. In this situation, the master must be prepared for the fact that the audience will not ask questions all the time. The entire seminar can be held in silence. This affects the atmosphere. People start to fall asleep. What can be done to improve this situation? Stories from working life.

A lot of students come to the seminar to share their experience with the teacher and colleagues. They constantly work in a routine with clients, without changing the picture, and they want to find like-minded people.

My teaching method is that I share what I do. I voice my actions. It turns out to be easy and clear. And in principle, a lot of information is heard during this, quite enough to fill the silence.

If you need to activate your audience, you can use the goal setting method to keep people active and involved in the process. These can be questions for the entire audience or for a specific student. The teacher should not stand in one place - he should move and change the focus of students' attention. But I focus on voicing my actions.

Do you somehow scan your audience?

I don’t scan, but I always make acquaintances. On the first day, we always get acquainted first of all in order to find out why the master came to the seminar, what he wants to know. This way, after the first day you already understand how to work with students.

What situations during teaching can unsettle you? Which ones are annoying?

I don’t like situations when there is a conflict between one student and another. This is a complete lack of focus for the audience. All students get negative results from studying.

I don’t like it when they start delving too much into personal situations, in their personal lives. If you come to study, you need to be focused on this.

I don't like it when a student is not interested in learning. He came either to show himself, or just to sit out, because that’s what he had to do. I don't understand people like this.

Does it make sense to “work through” such students?

I try to do everything to involve a person in learning. I believe that he can be interested. There are people who don't give in to this. When I realize that there is no improvement, I leave him alone and do not focus on this person.

It also happens that an uninvolved student came just to get acquainted with you and your teaching method. You can also let this go and give the student time.

Have you ever had conflict situations with students?

I remember one rather serious situation with a student. He had enough information, he received it, sat through the course, and at the end decided that he should get his money back, because he already knows all this. I call such people scammers. He didn't finish the training in the beginning, but he did the training and decided that we should pay him for it. Then the situation reached the brink of assault, security and the police had to be called, but the matter did not go further than a scandal.