The Ten-Minute Trainer

Regardless of your time in the training position, this book is a MUST HAVE. If you are new to the position, there are quick tips and tricks to get you started on the path to active learning for your audience. If you are an experienced trainer, soak in the chapters on the "why" behind the activities. Sharon's approach is not only easy for the facilitator, but, more importantly, rewarding for the learners. Pay close attention to the variations on each of the techniques, and you will never run out of material. As a corporate trainer with an education degree, this book showed me exactly what I didn't know, as well as what my learners were missing out on! Enjoy!

As owner of PICKS Training & Consulting, I'm always looking for effective materials to help me train - and to teach others to train. This book actually transformed the way I develop my training programs and gave me numerous new training concepts to improve the product I deliver to my clients. If you are a trainer, a teacher, a coach or a supervisor of people to whom you give instruction, get this book now.

If you're wondering why your students have that glazed-over look, buy this book! The book is chock full of ways to make training interactive, engaging, and appeal to all the senses and learning styles. There is just enough neuroscience sprinkled in to offer credibility, but ultimately it is a book about practice and not a dense theoretical tome. True to its title, The Ten-Minute Trainer is broken into easily readable pieces, which is perfect for readers with a tight schedule or ADD tendencies. I summarized the thesis of the book into a 30-minute class for my Training department (using 7 of Bowman's presentation techniques) and my colleagues are still talking about my presentation 6 weeks later. Usually, these types of presentations go in one ear and out the other. This time, I actually found a topic - and presentation method - and made it stick!

Anyone lucky enough to participate in a Sharon Bowman training session has witnessed a gracious, high energy, interactive and highly effective discussion leader. She explains to you how she trains, and then demonstrates. Her new book, "The Ten Minute Trainer" is a deja vous experience, plus more. It also serves as a well organized reference book to provide new ideas each time you need a spark for your training. Her approach to training is at the other end of the "death by Power Point" spectrum. This book is highly recommended if you want to light a fire under your training classes.

Dave Meier, the director of the Center for Creative Learning, and Sharon Bowman's mentor, must be very proud. The Ten-Minute Trainer is chock full of quick wonderfully imaginative ways to engage learners that work beautifully in all types of training sessions. Need to break up a lecture with limited time to spare? Sharon offers 1-minute, 5-minute, and 10-minute accelerated learning techniques that also address the needs of the kinesthetic learner, who is often the most difficult to satisfy in a classroom. I've used learner-centered experiential training techniques for over thirty years and cannot believe how easy it is to incorporate her techniques! My personal favorites include the time sponge, pop-up, grab the spoon, mark up, and the walkabout. I've already used them and my participants love them! Every lecturer and trainer should keep this book handy!