Episode 169: How to get your groups to spot (and share) their stories with David Pullan
Today, you’ll hear from a guest with tremendous presence (and a matching tremendous voice!).
We all know stories are important, but what’s the best way of eliciting those stories from our workshop participants?
My guest today is David Pullan, co-founder of The Story Spotters. In this conversation, David shares pragmatic details on questions and x-factor activities we can use in our next workshop, using the Story Spotter framework.
He also shares a reassuring phrase we can use as facilitators, to help us relax a little bit (I’m looking at myself here!!).
David is a fine example of someone who is excellent at building relationships, and he also shares his ideas on how facilitators make THE best facilitators. I never thought of it that way!
About our Guest: David Pullan
David Pullan is the founder of The Story Spotters where he helps leaders and teams use the power of story to build powerful connections one conversation at a time. We dive into the 4 elements of story spotting in this show.
He has extensive experience in helping clients sharpen their spoken communications. He specialises in business development communication and key internal presentations, helping clients to unlock the complexity of messages that need to stick with their target audiences.
David has been coaching senior leaders since 2005. Working in some of the world’s top organisations and SMEs, he helps clients adapt their communications for different settings from Board and Executive committee sessions, to town hall meetings and video conferences.
David was a professional actor for 20 years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre, BBC and Paramount Pictures. He continues to work both as a broadcast voice-over artist and conference host, both of which keep his own communications skills at the sharp end.
In this episode you will learn:
The stories that you need to spot, shape and share stories: Listen to David share his valuable story-spotting framework
How to make your workshops the best experience for all involved
Some refreshing advice for first time facilitators
How to connect people’s ideas to concepts and key messages
How to extend the life of your voice, using the UFO technique
What keeps David motivated as a business owner
Here are some questions I asked David during the Interview:
Tell us more about what spurred your rebrand?
Can you please share those 4 elements of story spotting?
How do you extract stories from people you work with?
How can you test the assumptions about the things you tell yourself )that maybe true or may not be true)?
What are your tips for facilitators in extending the life of their voices?
What keeps you going?
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Connect with David Pullan on LinkedIn
Story Spotters on LinkedIn
Tweet David on Twitter to let him know you’ve seen this episode!
Watch the video interview below:
About your host: Leanne Hughes
Leanne Hughes is an international facilitator, speaker and coach who loves creating unpredictable workshop experiences, that predictably work.
She combines her experience in Marketing, with her education in Human Resources and Psychology, to help leaders create engaging everyday experiences - that are so contagious they scale across teams, functions and regions.
Leanne has facilitated leadership, onboarding and team-development workshops across Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, and Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 14 years’ of experience across a range of industries including mining, government and tourism sectors.
She’s the host of the First Time Facilitator podcast and was a finalist in the 2018 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.