The Flipchart (October 2018)
Join fellow listeners and facilitators on our Facebook group, The Flipchart
The Flipchart October
Hello fellow facilitators!Welcome to The Flipchart, your monthly First Time Facilitator highlights reel.This monthly (ish) email is includes a curated list of tools and resources to help you make a bigger impact at the next workshop you deliver.Join fellow listeners and facilitators on our Facebook group, The FlipchartThe reason I started this group is because, as a facilitator, I spend a lot of time scouring the internet and YouTube, trying to find a perfect activity, exercise, game, video, image to support my learning material. I’m sure there’s a few of you out there who are doing the same thing! Let’s make it easier for each otherThis is a global community for facilitators who want to get better at their craft, and also more efficient at developing their workshop content. In this group, we share awesome training tips, hacks and recommendations to help you with the next workshop you deliver. Jump on board!Recent First Time Facilitator podcast episodes
This week I talk about a facilitator packing checklist. Grab a copy of the Google Sheet checklist here - you can copy it to your own google docs drive and customise it for any upcoming workshops you have.
Storytelling is powerful, how good are you at capturing and weaving stories into your workshops? If you need some tips, listen to my conversation with Hadiya Nuriddin
"Life is too short for bad presentations"! One of the best statements, ever (in my opinion). This quote came from Toon Verlinden, a chemical engineer in Belgium. Listen to how Toon and his co-author, Hans Van De Water are helping academics present better.
Reading, watching and listening
Meeting Tips Radio was a podcast from 2014 with 16 episodes only, however I binge listened to every episode prior to facilitating a global Executive strategy session recently, where I discovered the ToP methodology and ORID. If those acronyms don't make any sense to you, listen to the podcast! I'll also be interviewing a few facilitators on the ToP methodology in future episodes.
I've also been watching Tom Bilyeu's Impact Theory on YouTube - the interviews are great, but I've been observing the way Tom introduces his guest. His introductions are some of the best I've seen. Watch him introduce Seth Goden.
The Do Lectures put together this list of the 100 must-read books of 2018. I have collected a ton of Audible credits over the last few months, I know what I'll be using them for! I think I'll start with Cal Newport's 'Digital Minimalism'.
Activity of the month: Space Team'Space Team' is an group player app I played at the 'We Are Podcast' speaker's retreat last week (my podcast hero, Pat Flynn told us about it). I think you could weave it into a team-based activity around delegating tasks and the importance of listening.You can see how the Space Team app works here.About the app: Basically up to 8 people with a randomly generated set of space ship controls on your screen that you have to operate on command before you blow up but your instructions are sent to another random player.After playing a few rounds, our group decided on strategies - which involved a focus on listening more, taking stock of your controls to start with, and being responsive when you actioned a task.SocialI'd love to chat with you on social media!
Instagram @firsttimefacilitator (or if you like photos of sausage dogs, running, behind the scenes stuff @leannehughes)
Happy facilitating!Leanne
The Flipchart (August 2018)
Hello friends, Welcome to The Flipchart, your monthly First Time Facilitator highlights reel. This monthly (ish) email is includes a curated list of tools and resources to help you make a bigger impact at the next workshop you deliver.
The Flipchart
A resource for First Time Facilitators
Hello friends, Welcome to The Flipchart, your monthly First Time Facilitator highlights reel. This monthly (ish) email is includes a curated list of tools and resources to help you make a bigger impact at the next workshop you deliver.
Recent First Time Facilitator podcast episodes
When facilitating a workshop, how do you balance being present, with forecasting ahead to drive an outcome? This is one of the topics I explore this week with Mark McKeon, who spent 16 years as the high performance coach for the Collingwood AFL club. He's also an accomplished author, speaker and facilitator. In Episode 25, we talk about about the parallels between creating high performance on the footy pitch; and high stake situations in a group workshop facilitation environment.
In Episode 24, I'm delighted to introduce listeners to my colleague, Sean Lavin. We both recently gained Team Management Profile (TMP) accreditation, so this was a great opportunity to reflect on that experience, how powerful the TMP can be and learn more about Sean’s journey leading workshops. I've started to profile tools like TMP as there was a great response from my conversation with Adam Mustoe in Episode 16 about the Gallup Strengths Finder tool.
In Episode 23 I talk to one of the masters of facilitation, Lynne Cazaly. This one is full of facilitation gold. We talk about the power of visuals, strategies to retain attention, and we share opinions on the type of icebreakers they should have thrown out in the early ‘90s.
Energiser of the month: Drawing Twins
Time: 20-30 minutes
Objective: This should illustrate how hard it is to give clear instructions as well as how hard it is to listen, and can also show how things are easily misunderstood and misinterpreted.
Equipment: Pen, paper and simple line drawn pictures (eg. house, face, spider, various shapes on a page, tent, car)
Instructions
Divide participants into pairs.
Round 1:
Give one member of the pair a picture which must not be shown to their partner.
The person with the picture must give instructions to their partner so that they can draw it, but must not say what it is, eg, ‘draw a circle, draw two more circles inside the circle about half way up’. The person with the picture cannot watch the person draw it.
Compare the drawing with the original.
Round 2:
Hand out more pictures and ask participants to swap roles.
The person with the picture can give instructions in a similar manner as in Round 1 but this time the person drawing can ask yes/no questions and the person with the picture can watch as they draw.
Half the group can begin by telling the person what the object is.
Debrief questions:
Round 1:
Why don't many of the pictures look like the original? (Interpretation: everyone has a different interpretation, directions were not clear, not able to give or get feedback).
What were your frustrations as the source of the message (giving instructions), as the receiver of the message.
Round 2
Did it help to be able to watch the person drawing?
Did it help to be able to ask questions?
Did it help to know what the object is …your clear goal?
Relate this process back to communicating with your employees. Is your message always clear? Is there a channel to give and receive feedback? What noise is present that affects the message?
Let me know if you use this in your next workshop and how it goes!
Reading and listening
Have you ever thought 'I'm not creative?' I believe everyone has the ability to channel their inner creative genius and this was confirmed when I listened to this podcast on the Jordan Harbinger show. Listen to his interview (and share it with someone you overhear saying 'I'm not creative': Allen Gannett | You Don’t Have to Be a Genius to Be Creative
First Time Facilitator was recently named in the Ultimate L&D Podcast list for 2018. Unreal! Thanks for all of your support. This is a list of all the active, English-language, Learning & Development podcasts that there are, all in one place for your own learning & development.
Speaking of podcasts, I'm co-MC at this year's 'We Are Podcast' conference on October 18-20 in Brisbane, Australia. If you've ever thought about starting your own podcast, or meeting your podcast heroes, check out the page - tickets went on sale this week.
One more productivity hack...
I am sticking with the iPhone 6 for the moment as it's the latest version with a headphone jack - yes I'm a traditionalist in some ways! I wanted to share this tool from one of my favourite authors/thought leaders, Jenny Blake:
With my iPhone 6 now losing it's charge within the day, this lipstick-sized (a slight exaggeration - let's call it a jumbo lip gloss) Anker PowerCore+ mini portable phone charger is a must-have. I also put my phone in "low battery mode" every morning by default (you can add this as a quick "button" in the iPhone's Settings —> Control Center so that it's quickly accessible when you swipe up from the bottom). By doing this, the charge lasts all day (faaaaaar longer than when in regular mode).
Til next month,Leanne
If you enjoyed this #FTFFlipchart I'd be grateful for you to forward it to a first time facilitator friend!