Avoid painful mistakes! Follow these "12 Tips" when you work with participants from around the world and you
will find yourself with an attentive, involved and harmonious learning group.

Tip #1:  Don't assume. Ask!

Tip #2:  Speak very clearly.

Don't assume everyone is the room is just like you, or

like anyone else! Acknowledge the diversity in the room.

Highlight the rich range of life and business experiences

this group can represent. 

Ask participants to share about themselves in small 

groups. Start out with easy questions: business experience,
educational background, and places they have lived or
worked. As conversation warms up, move to current 

business issues: ask their opinions on trends in the 
industry, entry of new competitors,  products, technologies

or government regulations. Then get right to the training

topic at hand: have participants discuss expectations

of the course, problems they need to solve, and solutions 

they intend to acquire.

Finally, when groups are well lubricated with dialogue

and rapport, ask participants to share a bit about their

personal lives – family, hobbies, vacation plans or other

special interests.

Your native tongue may not be the first language of all your audience members. Adjust your presentation style
so everyone can easily follow.

A friend of mine recently spoke for a large international audience in Australia. Eleven countries were represented with seven different languages. Simultaneous translation was provided for non-native English speakers. Energized by the crowd, he launched into a presentation of humorous stories, anecdotes, case studies and key learning points. Throughout the speech, he was pleased to hear the Japanese contingent laughing at all of his jokes.

Or so it seemed. After the presentation, one Japanese participant set him straight: he was speaking so quickly, the interpreter was unable to follow. Instead of translating his presentation, he gave up and spent most of the time talking in Japanese about how funny it was to see this American fellow rushing about in a big hurry on stage!
I laughed when I heard this report, but he certainly learned the lesson: with an international audience, slow down, and speak very clearly.

Tip #3:  Bridge the communication gap.

Tip #4:  Encourage all participation.

New-comers bring fresh perspective. Old-timers have
experience and wisdom. Locals understand "what's
happening on the ground". Expatriates have a "global"
point of view.

Be liberal with your compliments and praise. "That's 
a very good question!" let's everyone know it's safe 
to ask the next one. "Thank you for your answer!" tells
the whole room it's safe to venture a new reply.

Tip #5:  Assure talk time for all.

Tip #6:  Speak the local language.

Some nationalities are naturally more outspoken than
others. Be sure everyone gets a chance to speak up
by structuring the sequence of participation. Once 
everyone is in small groups, have the most senior

member of group speak first, or the most junior. Ask
the women to speak up first, or those who have traveled
from farthest away.

Acknowledge outspoken participants, but don't them
overwhelm the conversation. I often do this by having
small groups nominate a spokesperson, then having 
that person nominate someone else in the group.

If possible, use local language, customs and examples
in your presentation. This may require some preparation
on your part, but it can make a very big impact on 
your group.

Towards the end of the Cold War, comedian Billy Crystal 
began a stand-up routine in Moscow by conducting the 
first five minutes entirely in Russian. But Billy Crystal does
not speak Russian. He had memorized his entire opening
act! The Russian audience howled their approval, and 
continued laughing as he delivered the rest of his show

in English.

What is "clear as a bell" to you may be "thick as mud"
in every other language. Avoid phrases that do not
translate well. "Six to one, half dozen the other", "by
the skin of your teeth", "right as rain" and "chicken with
your head cut off" may translate nicely in your home

town, but can bring real confusion and frustration overseas. 
Do you "catch my drift"?

Exercise great caution with your comments on politics,
religion, sexuality, ethnic issues and humor. What is
funny to one group may be downright offensive to 
another. There are plenty of things to laugh about in
this world without poking fun at any one group. Make
one mistake here, and people may remember it forever.

If your presentation, workbook and handouts are translated 
to another language, check the choice of words and
phrases many times. Use a professional translator who 
is familiar with your field of word. Then check again 

with actual participants in your group.

At the Service Quality Centre in Singapore, we use the
phrase "Never Settle" to mean "strive for continuous 
improvement". But when we first took this phrase overseas, 
it was translated into Mandarin like this: "Never agree in 
a negotiation". And in Indonesia, the phrase became

"Don't sit down!"

Sharing experiences is one of the best aspects of 
international training. But don't count on participants
to do it by themselves. Give the process a boost by
mixing the group in various ways. Suppose you have 
32 participants. You can combine them at various times
into smaller teams of 2, 4, 6, 8 or even 16.

Do a random split by having them "count off" around
the room in numbers. Or have a bit more fun! I often
divide my groups by date of birth, number of siblings, 
seniority with the company, first letter of their family
name, length of hair, color of socks, you name it!

Tip #11:  Be experienced, not exceptional.

Trainers are often widely experienced and well-traveled. 
The can bring good value to the group, but don't 
highlight your differences too much. You want respect, 
not distance. When "connecting" with an international 
group, a little humility goes a long way.

Mixing everyone up is great for sharing new ideas.
But bring them "back together" at the end to prioritize 
key points and generate new action steps. Have real
work groups (by function, country, customer or project)
explain the relevance of their learning to the job and 
state their plans for improvement and implementation.