The training industry is breathing a sigh of relief. There is a cautious return to in-person training. This is no reason for euphoria yet, because it will still take a while until in-person training becomes normal again. But I, too, now have appointments in my calendar that include travel and a hotel.
However, anyone currently looking at the seminar room images being posted will also recognize a sad trend: namely, the return to a seminar setting from the 90s. We see images of U-shaped tables with thick binders on them. Even the venerable speaker’s table has returned. And in some cases, there are also images where individual tables are distributed like for class tests in the auditorium of my venerable high school. This is not good, and it shows a fundamental problem: in-person training with interaction, group exercises, and experiential learning is not possible or only extremely limited under Corona.
Are in-person trainings worthwhile?
In this respect, the question is whether this type of in-person training is actually a success. Is it worthwhile to resume in-person sessions for this? The last few months have shown that live online training is hardly inferior in terms of interaction and participant activation. Participant focus is often even higher. Trainers are forced to be concise. Lengthy input lectures have given way to short, crisp, and precise instructions. Blended learning is finally being truly implemented, and input is outsourced to self-study before the training.
All of this existed before, but now it is being practiced more seriously. And transfer support can be implemented much more easily through webinars and online coaching. In short: in-person training, just for the sake of presence, is not progress, especially not if they are not real trainings at all, but trainers are virtually forced to return to frontal teaching. In this respect, the joy about the return of in-person training may be premature. I look forward to a lively debate.
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