Magic and Corporate Training

Corporate training has been around long enough to establish its own format of presentation. Since then, several new styles of training have cropped up. Nevertheless, conventional trainers still deem it sacrilegious to challenge the tried and true format to corporate training.

MiniWorkshopSeries encourages all trainers to challenge convention and try something out of the box. Especially now with the increasingly young workforce, it is time to give lecture style training a facelift. Training is no different from a magic show, once you give it some thought.

Picture yourself all decked out, ready for a performance of a lifetime. The spotlight lowers, as all eyes fall on you. Everything you do, everything you say is closely monitored by your audience. You stand firmly, as you perform what can only be described as…eye opening. You take out your ‘wand’, your audience stops chatting and looks at you curiously. You tap your palm twice, your audience holds their breath with anticipation. Then you slowly open your palm, your audience leans closer. Finally, a POP and everyone’s chair breaks. You begin your workshop saying, “Welcome, today we’re going to learn about Sensory Acuity.” Alright, so maybe you shouldn’t vandalize company property. But you get the picture, right?

There are several types of magic, however in training, we’re going to focus only on the easiest one, called close up magic. It’s the type that requires the least skill and many can do it with a little practice. It usually involves the use of simple props such as a deck of cards, small balls, strings, chained loops or a coin. It entails making people believe in one thing but doing something else.

You may be thinking, why do I need tricks? There are a whole host of reasons why you should consider adding some into your repertoire. Even the most rigid of trainers can benefit from a little magic. What creates that instant bond between trainer and trainee is none other than laughter and dare I say, awe. In a short instance, once you’ve captured their attention, you’ll be in a better standing to create that bond from the very beginning.The best is when you are able to link the magic trick to your training. Even something as simple as pulling a coin from behind someone’s ear can be tied back to a key learning.

There’s a reason why magic exists till today. It is one form of entertainment that captures the interest of people from all walks of life. So try adding some magic into your training today. Just remember the old Magician’s rule – Never reveal your secrets.