Everyone talks about training engagement — but what does it really mean?
This article introduces our Craft of Training & Speaking Series — tools and techniques for anyone who teaches, facilitates, or speaks, to move people to think and act.
It also sits within our Life at Work Series — where we explore the practices, challenges, and lessons that shape our professional lives.
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. — Simone Weil
Everyone Talks About Engagement
Everyone in the training world talks about training engagement. Is the Trainer engaging? Was the course engaging?
The term sounds great — but what does it actually mean?
In my view, real training engagement means one thing:
Earned attention.
Specifically, attention directed toward doing better or becoming better at something — the kind of attention Trainers want to earn.
When you begin your course at 8:00AM, you haven’t earned that attention yet. By the first morning break you can already feel it.
And by the end of the day — even that first day — you’ve earned it.
Things We Can’t Control and Things We Can
As with most things in life, training involves factors you can’t control — and others you very much can.
As a Trainer, it’s true — you don’t have control over all aspects of the training you’re about to deliver.
For example, when I’m engaged to deliver training, I don’t control who is invited to attend, their backgrounds and experience levels, what kind of boss they work for, or the culture of the department or organization where they work.
But I do have control over key aspects of the training that help earn attention from the people in the room.
Whether that’s face-to-face or online.
Three Drivers of Training Engagement
In my experience, meaningful training engagement usually comes from three things working together:
- Content Design
- Trainer Credibility
- Human Connection
These are the areas where Trainers have the greatest ability to earn attention.
In the participant feedback we receive, I often see how these three aspects combine to create meaningful learning experiences.
1. Content Design
Don’t mistake activity for engagement.
Some Trainers rely heavily on “fun” activities. Others tell stories that make people laugh but have little to do with the focus of the training.
Fun has its place. But gimmicks and theatrics don’t create lasting change.
The goal is to help and inspire people to change in meaningful ways.
I’m often asked to deliver a “pilot” run for senior leadership so they can validate the training content and delivery for their people.
And that’s great — I love working with senior leaders and honor the time they take to do this.
I find that they usually end up enjoying the session and learning something.
But imagine if I went into that training room with content designed primarily around theatrics, fun activities, and getting laughs.
That’s not the kind of engagement — or earned attention — we should be aiming for.
You can bring warmth, stories, humor, and human connection to a training session — and still help your internal or external Client achieve their job to be done.
Engagement starts with Content Design that respects the intelligence and curiosity of the people in the room.
It comes from designing learning experiences that feel relevant, useful, and intellectually clear to participants.
Take our Live Chat course as an example. Live Chat is so much more than typing on a screen.
In our content design we explore operations, Customer impact, essential practices, metrics, guiding principles, and comparisons with other channels.
Then we weave in a conversational pattern and set of communication techniques to help people become more thoughtful and effective communicators.
People often tell us they learned more than they expected — and that outcome is directly attributable to Content Design.
One signal that we’ve earned attention is the shift:
From: “I’m not sure what I’ll learn in this course.”
To: “I learned more than I expected — and I can apply it.”
Activities Must Earn their Place
When Clients ask about the activities we use, I’m clear that activities must earn their place by supporting a specific learning point.
To go back to the Live Chat example, when we want to teach metrics, we ask people to analyze and discuss a sample Team Performance Report.
When we teach people how to say ‘no’ to a Customer or Client, they develop and practice Explanation Statements as part of our UNER(R) How to Say No framework.
When we want to give them a chance to review their know-how, we use Quizzes.
Of course, you may also include what I call “social” activities to help build connection, such as how people introduce themselves at the beginning or share what they’ve learned by the end.
But for me it’s important that all activities have their purpose and place.
Storytelling Plays a Critical Role
When I want to bring training content to life, I always tell a story.
And the stories I tell are always relevant to the learning point I want to highlight — and they are drawn from a deep well of real-life experience.
Real-life stories enrich Content Design, strengthen Trainer Credibility, and create genuine Human Connection.
In post-course feedback, participants often tell us that they loved all the stories we told.
And sometimes they even reference a certain story — such as the story of my former boss’s green Jaguar car — that I tell when I teach Contact Center metrics.
So look at your content and decide where to add your real-life examples from your own work or life experience.
Where would a story bring a point to life — and make it memorable?
Your real-life stories and examples will become some of your most valuable teaching tools.
2. Trainer Credibility
The Trainer needs to be credible at something.
Whether it’s Customer Service, Finance, Problem Solving, or Journey Mapping — the Trainer needs deep expertise in the topic.
Whatever topic you choose to train, work harder than anyone else to master that domain.
Participants size up the Trainer’s credibility very quickly. It’s fair that they ask themselves:
Does this person in front of me know what they’re talking about — or are they just giving us their opinions?
Not once in a 25-year professional training career has a Client ever said this:
Dan, we’re going to fly you into Brussels, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Tampa for 1-4 days so that you can stand up in a room full of our Employees and share your opinions.
In contrast it sounds more like this:
Dan, we want our people to get better at (X topic). We understand that you have credibility and experience in helping people get better at (X topic).
Everyone has opinions — just read a few LinkedIn posts.
But not everyone has a track record of helping others actually do better or become better.
Credibility earns trust — and trust helps earn attention.
3. Human Connection
Great Content Design and deep Trainer Credibility are vital — but they’re not enough.
Now comes Human Connection. This is the aspect that comes alive in the training room — whether face to face or online.
If I had to choose one observation about Human Connection, it would be this: people need to feel safe to learn.
Human connection is not about becoming an entertainer.
It’s about creating enough psychological safety and trust for people to participate honestly.
It may sound obvious. But in many environments psychological safety is not the norm.
People crave environments where they feel safe enough to talk about real challenges.
A place where they can ask hard and even (in their minds) embarrassing questions.
At the end of many sessions, Participants tell us something that I treasure:
I felt safe to speak up. I felt respected.
Take a moment and read that statement again, because it’s fundamental. And like the other aspects we’ve discussed, it’s something that you earn.
The Craft of Training & Speaking Articles
Practical lessons on designing learning, earning attention, and helping people think and act — drawn from real training and facilitation work.
Storytelling at Work: A Trainer’s Practical Playbook
- This article shows how Trainers use real stories—with clear intention and deliberate delivery—to make learning memorable and drive meaningful change at work.
What I Learned Running 60 CX Values & Culture Workshops
- This article shares practical lessons I learned from running 60 CX values and culture workshops for one client, including how to build shared understanding, invite honest concerns, and earn reflection and buy-in.
How to Write a Professional Training Brief
- This article explains how to prepare a clear, professional training brief that helps internal stakeholders align on needs and enables external training partners to give better recommendations and solutions.
What Makes a Trainer Engaging? It Starts With Who You Are
- Here’s what makes a Trainer engaging: how you show up, connect, and create psychological safety —beyond activities or presentation tricks.
The Customer Service Text I’d Give to a Customer Service Trainer
- A practical way to evaluate a Customer Service Trainer by testing how well they analyze real conversations.
Dear Trainers: Engagement Shouldn’t Be the Goal
- Engagement matters in training, but it isn’t the goal. Behavior change and measurable results should guide training design and delivery.
How to Plan a Better Training Workshop: 6 Practical Tips
- This article outlines six practical steps Trainers and organizers can use to plan workshops that align objectives, audience needs, logistics, leadership roles, and feedback to deliver real value.
Thank You for Reading
I regularly share stories, strategies, and insights from our work across Contact Centers, Customer Service, and Customer Experience. If this resonates, I’d love to stay connected.
You can drop me a line anytime, or subscribe on our site.
Daniel Ord
[email protected]
www.omnitouchinternational.com
