Wow, it was standing room only Thursday at the ASTD – Cascadia 2012 Conference at my session How To Influence Adult Learners Without Saying a Word. A great big round of applauds for the over 60 participants that dived right into playing with nonverbal communication! 

During this practical and intriguing presentation, we reviewed the questions we must know the answers to have a successful event. When we work with adult learners it is imperative to understand the roles of:

— Voluntary attendance. Do they want to be here?

— Subject knowledge level . How much do they know?

— Agreement and benefits. Do they know how they will benefit?

— Implementation needs, tools, skills and goals.  Do they have the skills and tools to implement?

—  ROI metrics. How will success be measured?

Attendees learned and practiced nonverbal communications skills to transform their trainings with principles and research-based techniques. The attendees walked out of the room with tips, techniques and tools that they could immediately use to comfortably influence the best in others and communicate with confidence in the classroom.

We only had 60 minutes together and time did fly!  We covered the essential nonverbal (and verbal) communication skills to:

• Know how and what to say when — feel comfortable and in control speaking to anyone about anything.

• Build permission, safety and trust without saying a word by using proven techniques of gesture, posture, and voice to increase your influence and rapport when leading or teaching adult learners.

• Systematically utilize the full range of non-verbal management skills to reinforce consistent and fair parameters while preserving your relationship with each student, and the whole group regardless of unique learning styles or cultural backgrounds.