Episode 162: How to get people to show up to your workshops (without saying "It's mandatory")
“It’s mandatory” - I hear those words, and I involuntarily shudder. Is that what we want our participants feeling before they arrive to our workshops?
No!
We really can’t control whether someone decides to come along to our workshop, or not, however we can absolutely do our best to influence whether someone wants to come along, and how they feel about joining our session.
In this week’s episode, I share 15 tips and strategies you can use as preventative strategies to bolster your workshop attendance rate.
It’s problematic when people don’t show up. We know it affects group dynamics, the way you’ve structured your session. If you’ve booked an in-person event, you’re paying for facilities/catering that no longer applies. If you’re external, you might even have to reschedule your dates, which can delay other business for you.
I’ve also been the participant who hasn’t shown up. And while life happens, there are numerous other reasons I haven’t showed up to events in the past: I don’t have skin in the game, the session isn’t relevant for me right now, I’ll watch the recording later, I just don’t feel like it… The list goes on!
What can we do about it? Listen in. But my #1 tip is to have a Marketing mindset in the lead up to your workshops. It’s an event, treat it like one!
These strategies are applicable whether you work internally, you’re part of the Learning and Development team, or you’re an external consultant.
Resources
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, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 13 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.
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Grab my cheat sheet:
The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
Episode 159: How to win friends and influence your online colleagues with Leanne Hughes
Do you rely on your colleagues to provides input and decisions to move a project forward? Do you find that you're constantly chasing people to get things done, and finding it hard to build relationships because you can't catch up with people in person?
Then, this episode is for you.
You’ll find this helpful if you’re:
Having to get people’s time/attention and you’re struggling because they don’t respond to your emails / you don’t have direct authority (you’re influencing / in a dotted line relationship)
Partnering with an organisation to achieve goals, and you need to work with leaders/subject matter experts, but they’re too busy to give you the input you need to move forward.
Do you rely on your colleagues to provides input and decisions to move a project forward? Do you find that you're constantly chasing people to get things done, and finding it hard to build relationships because you can't catch up with people in person?
Then, this episode is for you.
When we used to do things face to face, and I had to chase a colleague for information, I'd head out for a coffee.
It was semi-strategic. I’d sit at the coffee shop outside of my company’s office. It was a fantastic way of saying hi to people when they were in a good mood (with caffeine, outside, day hadn’t really started), you could easily sneak in a quick question about your project, get an answer, and feel like you’d already won the day.
In a virtual world though, it’s hard to orchestrate these conversations… Or, is it?
In this episode, I share the tactics I’ve used to build relationships and influence people I’ve never met before.
You’ll find this helpful if you’re:
Having to get people’s time/attention and you’re struggling because they don’t respond to your emails / you don’t have direct authority (you’re influencing / in a dotted line relationship)
Partnering with an organisation to achieve goals, and you need to work with leaders/subject matter experts, but they’re too busy to give you the input you need to move forward.
Resources
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, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 13 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.
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Grab my cheat sheet:
The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
Episode 158: Facilitating digital change? Prioritise the people, not the tech with Mike Knapp
Mike Knapp believes there is a better way for business owners and leaders to build their businesses and achieve their big goals.
A better way that creates resilient, agile companies. An approach that ties people together through purpose, building amazing teams and excellent places to work. That creates a balance, so everyone has more fun on their journey.
Sometimes when I’m going about my day to day and having chats, I feel an inkling to hit the record button. That’s what happened with today’s guest. He shared so much gold in a regular catch-up, that I knew I had to get him back for a podcast conversation.
My guest today is Mike Knapp, from Incrementa. Mike believes there is a better way for business owners and leaders to build their businesses and achieve their big goals.
In this episode, Mike shares how he transitioned from the IT guy, to someone who led digital transformational projects using the super power of facilitation. With any digital change, we think it’s about getting the technology right, but he shares why taking a people first approach is vital.
“Mural Mike” also creates incredible templates using Mural, and how he structures these in a way to create stories and contrast in his sessions. He also shares the importance of energy and how his practice in meditation allows him to create a welcoming space for his groups.
This is a great conversation to listen into if you work in complex organisations implementing change, or you want to step into the world of change management.
About our Guest: Mike Knapp
Mike is passionate about helping people and businesses unlock their potential. He is a strategic planning and execution superhero with more than 20 years professional experience helping small and medium businesses achieve their goals.
A better way that creates resilient, agile companies. An approach that ties people together through purpose, building amazing teams and excellent places to work. That creates a balance, so everyone has more fun on their journey.
As a Gravitas Impact Business Coach, he leverages a proven process and framework to make complex concepts so clear they become part of a company’s foundation. His projects cover all stages of business growth and needs, including strategic planning, business transformations and major system implementations.
Ask Mike how he manages his chaos machines. Spoiler alert: he’s a meditation instructor.
His passion is to make you the hero of your own story. He is a guide, coach, and advisor, he uses best-practice frameworks to simplify the art of strategy and discipline of execution, so they become an integral part of your foundation.
Over the last 20 years, Mike has worked with more than 100 companies ranging from startups to 3rd generation family businesses in almost every sector, helping them achieve their goals.
In this episode you will learn:
How to overcome any apprehension you have before the workshop
How to drive digital transformation for complex companies
Creating engagement using tools such as Mural
How to lead with energy during your workshop facilitation
Here are some questions I asked Mike during the interview
What does it take for someone to move from being an introvert to someone who can step out and deliver a workshop?
How can facilitation skills drive transformation in complex companies?
How are you creating contrast in your workshops?
How do you get yourself into a state to lead a workshop?
What’s your favourite ice-breaker?
Resources
Quotes
“It’s all about the people, not the technology”
“The energy that you put out will determine your group’s ability to get to the place they need to be.”
“Be prepared while in advance, then don’t worry about it afterward.”
Watch the video!
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, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 13 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.
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Grab my cheat sheet:
The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)