How to Design Training That People Remember and Apply: Expert Insights by Renee Koster

Make Training Stick: Purposeful Engagement Tips with Learning Designer Renee KosterHost Mary Czarnecki welcomes learning designer and consultant Renee Koster to discuss how leaders can turn ideas into structured, engaging training—especially for nonprofits onboarding volunteers, interns, and seasonal workers. Renee explains a common pitfall: relying on a video or binder alone without reinforcement, which fails to help learning “stick.” Drawing on adult learning principles, she emphasizes that learning is active and improves when trainees take actions—physically moving, writing, role-playing, or practicing in the real environment—to support recall and application. Examples include walking through a workplace during safety training to identify accident spots, using scavenger hunts for orientation, and adding playful role plays to increase engagement. Renee’s key tip is to break training into smaller steps and tie a purposeful action to each step to avoid information overload. She shares that listeners can find her on LinkedIn or her podcast, Learning Experience Design for Change Makers.ABOUT RENEE:Renee Koster is a learning experience designer and strategist who helps museums and mission-driven organizations create thoughtful, audience-centered programs that engage children, families, and communities. Through Koster Creative Learning and Design, she brings together anthropology, education, and storytelling to create experiences that go beyond simply informing audiences. Her work focuses on creating meaningful connections, encouraging participation, and helping organizations advance both their mission and long-term sustainability.KEYPOINTS:Make learning active, not passive. 🧠 Simply providing a video or training manual isn't enough. Build in actions and touchpoints that help people remember, recall, and apply what they've learned.Make training engaging and fun. 🎯 Even dry topics like safety training can be more impactful through activities such as role-playing, scavenger hunts, or hands-on exercises. Engaging the body and creating memorable experiences can help information stick.Break training into smaller, actionable steps. 📝 Instead of overwhelming learners with an entire process at once, break the training into two or three smaller steps and connect a purposeful action to each one. This makes it easier to determine what information is needed and how learners can apply it.LINKS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-koster/Website: https://www.reneekoster.com/-------------------------------CONNECT WITH ME:WEBSITE: www.maryczarneckispeaks.comFACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/maryczaronlineINSTAGRAM: instagram.com/maryczarnecki_LINKEDIN: linkedin.com/in/mczarnecki/SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/43zwg2VNf8nMuqhrAn5L3BAPPLE PODCAST: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sticky-note-marketing-with-mary-czarnecki/id1484391371 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.