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SMT

Every trainer would have certainly encountered participants who are difficult to manage at some point or the other. There will be those special participants who will be remembered for these strange encounters. These encounters create not only an uncomfortable atmosphere in the class, but remain in our memory for a long time to come.
Participants in a training session come in all shapes, sizes and in all hues. There are the smart ones who are eager to learn and contribute, there are the shy, submissive ones, there are a majority of them who are attentive and want to get benefitted by the program inputs. While these do not pose a problem, there are the difficult ones who generally hijack the session and feel triumphant with their expedition. This variety of participants is a trainers nightmare! Lets see how these participants operate.
The Perpetual Late-Comer:
This person feels all too important to abide by any rule and shows all disdain for time. For him only his time is important. He makes a grand entry well after the class has started and does not unobtrusively slip into his seat, but hugely apologizes making his presence and late-coming very known, leaving the trainer and others helpless.
The Constant Questioner:
He is the all-knowing, all- knowledgeable person and forever ready with a set of questions to the trainer, to the participants and sometimes to nobody at all. He comes with tricky questions, complex questions, questions which are long-winded, questions which he also does not understand and questions which are not related to the issue under discussion. For him the pleasure lies more in formulating questions and throwing them at the trainer and whoever and watch with delight the consequences. The more discomfort the trainer feels, the more energized is this person and is spurred into action and is hugely acknowledged as the most questioning and questionable character by the hapless victims in the class.
The indifferent /submissive participant
Some participants seem to want to disappear into the background. Quiet, silent and invisible seems to be their motto. They go through the proceedings mechanically; do not seem to know why they are there and if the trainer or participants try to interact with them they almost recoil, reply minimally and are happy to get back into their shell once again.

The Dominating/Aggressive Participant/The Joker

These are people who are loud and brash. They frequently interrupt the session, coming up with their points of view, disagreeing either with the trainer or fellow participants. They always have a contrarian view and try to push the point. They bring in personal experiences needlessly and are unmindful of the fact that they are not being listened to or that the whole class is getting disturbed. And there is one who finds humor in everything that is said or happening around him and is constantly word smiting and literally cracking not so great jokes.

In the part -2 of this article we shall discuss how to deal with these issues by turning the nightmare into a dream.