Last Updated13 May 2025

Effective Presentation explores the building of relationships with your guests, using a variety of different styles to present information. We will also look at the more advanced presentation considerations such as body language, question-based learning and the matching principle.

The Matching Principle

One of the most important goals of a trainer is to understand their trainees as best possible, figuring out how they like to learn new skills and, in turn, decipher anything that may inhibit their development. However, a good trainer takes this one step further. They should also visibly demonstrate their efforts to trainees, helping to grow the connection and create trust.

Building a strong and healthy connection between trainee and trainer can be incredibly impactful, especially during longer-term training periods. One technique to help with this is “The Matching Principle”.

The Research

Studies show that roughly 80% of the time when we laugh, it is not in reaction to anything funny. Rather, we laugh in response to something banal to show that we want to connect with someone, e.g. “Are we finally going to get a sunny park riding day?”. When they laugh back—the most natural reaction—they are showing us they want to connect with us.

The same thing happens with other forms of non-linguistic communication. When someone frowns, or crosses their arms, we have an instinct to mimic them, to apply the Matching Principle of communication.

To begin developing the skill of matching, pay attention to the vocabulary used by trainees and try to use the same terms. Focusing on adjectives will help here.

Example

A trainee says; “That terrain is quite challenging for me” or “I feel more tension in my core muscles now”.

The trainer can utilise these terms within their subsequent descriptions or questions, for example; “Do you feel ready to raise the challenge level slightly?” or “Let’s see if we can pinpoint where in the trick our core tension is greatest."

To further develop the skill of matching, the following aspects should be considered…

Type of Conversation

Is this a practical conversation or an emotional conversation? Maybe it’s just an easy-going social conversation? If the trainer can establish what type of conversation is occurring at any given time, they can more easily meet the needs of the trainees.

In a training environment, these are likely to be very how-orientated and are often about movements in the body, the board’s performance, or teaching/analysis. They occur frequently when providing instruction or feedback and, when facilitated well, allow the trainee to develop their knowledge and understanding.

These are focused on how we feel and, in a training environment, they often address fears or frustrations. When recognised early on, the trainer can be more empathetic and ask questions that are specific to the trainee’s fear or frustration, instead of immediately trying to provide a solution. Simply by having the conversation, the trainee’s fear or frustration can often be decreased significantly. Emotional conversations can also be based around positive occurrences too, such as the stoke resulting from landing a new trick or scoring a fresh powder face.

These occur more on chairlifts and at the bottom of runs. They help to provide background information on each trainee, such as where they grew up or what they enjoy about their work life. If the trainer listens carefully, this type of conversation can help them to understand how trainees view themselves.

For instructors and trainers, recognising what kind of conversation is occurring, and then matching that, is actually easier than it sounds. If we listen for clues, and look for opportunities, the type of conversation becomes obvious. Once a trainer learns to recognise what kind of conversation is occurring, it becomes second nature.

Conversation type is explored in far more depth in the book “Supercommunicators” by Charles Duhig.

Deep Questions

An experienced trainer will likely ask five to ten times the number of questions than an instructor. However, many of those questions will go unnoticed. They are often very simple clarifying or probing questions designed to delve deeper into a conversation, such as “why is that?” or “did you notice what happened next?”.

These questions help to create a level of understanding that is crucial to a successful training environment. They also help to build connection and trust between the trainee and their trainer. One reason that deep questions are so powerful is because they offer an invitation—without overstepping into a demand—for someone to reveal something personal.

A deep question asks someone to describe their experience in ways that reveals something about themselves, beyond the simple facts of their snowboarding.

Example

It can be as light as “What’s your favourite run on the mountain when it’s a powder day?” or as heavy as “What scared you the most when you tried that rock drop?”

Some deep questions may not even seem deep at first; “Tell me about the last instructor exam you took” or “Why do you like teaching kids more than adults?”

To ensure that the answers are put to good use, it is imperative that the trainer truly listens to the trainee. Ask probing and clarifying questions to dig down and see what information is beneath the first answer.

Hot Tip

Think about it like Jurassic Park, where each question uncovers a new fossil. The trainer begins with the pickaxe, then changes to a shovel and finally progresses to the brush to reveal the full skeleton below the surface.

To help foster trust even further, the trainer can also share any related experiences they may have had themselves, for example; “I had a similar experience on my Level Two exam back in the day and I clearly remember what it felt like. The feedback I received didn’t make sense to me at the time either, but it did later on”. This deep sharing helps to create further connection between the trainee and trainer, and allows the trainer to show a more vulnerable side of themself.

Looping

Great trainers often engage in a process known as looping, which encourages everyone, including themselves, to listen more closely.

Looping has three steps: Ask a question; repeat back what you heard in your own words or just use some of their key phrases; and then ask if you got it right.

This is powerful because one of the strongest human impulses is social mimicry. If a trainer starts asking questions and looping their trainees, everyone in the group becomes more attentive. The trainees will, in turn, be more confident to speak up, potentially asking their own questions, and loop in return. Essentially, it allows people to feel heard and understood, which keeps conversation healthy.