Episode 192: Stop designing workshops. Start designing experiences with Tricia Conyers
Tricia Conyers from Island Inspiration shares her workshop experience design methods and facilitation tips on Leanne Hughes’ podcast.
This week, we’re spinning our focus back onto the craft of facilitation with a guest who I so resonate with in terms of her enthusiasm for the work we do, her passion for trying different things and of course, because she throws away those powerpoint slides!
Tricia Conyers from Island Inspirations is a change coach, learning experience designer, trainer, facilitator, meeting designer, remote work strategist and graphic recorder.
She’s passionate about navigating change, making learning experiences powerful, making conversations visual and helping others solve problems by unlocking their best thinking.
And she’s based on the island of Trinidad.
In this conversation, Tricia shares ideas around how meetings drive culture - I could not agree with this any more, how she got her start in facilitation, she share’s a facilitation fail - though in fairness, I think she was set up(!).
All her ideas and ways of working really centre around the idea that we are not in the business of designing a workshop, we are in the business of designing experiences, and our goal is to create active experiences, not passive, and you’ll get a ton of different ideas on how you can do that by tuning in.
About today’s guest: Tricia Conyers
Tricia is the founder of Island Inspirations Ltd., a visual thinking, creativity sparking, graphic facilitation company. She believes that leaders should personify showing Heart, being Human and inspiring Hope in their interactions with others.
Island Inspirations Ltd specializes in facilitation (visual, virtual and in person), graphic recording, meeting design, learning experience design and experiential workshop design. Combing the power of visuals and facilitation to create powerful learning experiences and to accelerate change.
Tricia has 25+ yrs experience in change. She designs and facilitates learning experiences (LE) based on the fundamental belief that the LE is the intervention to unleash the latent capacity and higher potential in others. For over a decade, Tricia has led and supported teams remotely.
Meetings serve different purposes from communication to collaboration, performance management to decision-making, learning to creating. Each requires different protocols, facilitation styles, engagement etc.. Tricia is a meeting designer who designs for intent. She brings to her sessions a wide range of techniques and skills. She is an INIFAC Certified Master Facilitator and Certified Virtual Facilitator, a Certified LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Facilitator, a Twenty One Toys Empathy Toy® Facilitator and in progress of certifying as a Time to Think facilitator.
Tricia holds a Masters of Engineering, Masters of Arts and Bachelor of Arts with Distinction from Cambridge University, England and she enjoys traveling, pilates and photography.
In this episode, you will learn
Why it’s important to get your meetings right, given their impact on team and company culture
What Tricia learnt when things didn’t work out in one of her sessions
Some of the powerful questions Tricia asks to create new, impactful experiences with her groups (such as, “What can we gain from having virtual sessions?”)
How Tricia weaves in various types of visuals into her facilitation work
How to get your participants shifting from passive -> active participation
Resources mentioned:
Watch the full episode here!
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 is a finalist in the 2021 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.
Social Media
Follow behind the scenes on Leanne Hughes’ Instagram account
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Thoughts on the episode? Share your comments below!
Episode 191: An economist’s perspective on growing your fierce facilitation business with Uyen Vo
Uyen Vo sharing an economist’s perspective about building a facilitation business on Leanne Hughes’ First Time Facilitator podcast.
I LOVE THE WAY my guest today sees the world, considers things, and ultimately - operates!
She thinks about things in a very analytical way, completely opposite to the way I interpret events, but it’s with deep contemplation. And not in a black and white analytical way, it’s a very playful way of looking at business and life.
I’m always keen to hear her thoughts on topics and find she asks brilliant questions, which no doubt serves her extremely well as a facilitator and coach, although she calls herself a trainer who facilitates.
You’ll hear that analytical prowess and some great phrases she uses in this one, I don’t want to spoil that for you - I love word play and new concepts, and she shares all of that with you, she also shares the power of relationships, and those key people in your life that can really shape the trajectory of your career, and your life.
Who am I talking to today? Her name is Uyen Vo from Fierce Consulting, based in the UK.
About today’s guest: Uyen Vo
Uyen Vo show people how to get more done, save resources, and reduce employee burnout. She do esthis through delivering engaging workshops on project management, personal effectiveness and leadership.
After graduating from the University of Cambridge with a BA Hons in Economics, Uyen Vo joined Lloyds Banking Group in the City of London.
There, she specialised in delivering technical initiatives across numerous areas including balance sheet management, business banking and capital management.
Needing a change from all those spreadsheets, she made a sideways move into people development and became responsible for a team of over 300 people. She ran all people-related activities including L&D, talent development and performance management.
Since then, she’s been blessed with a really varied career, including corporate social responsibility and technical consulting, and she’s a facilitator, consultant and entrepreneur as the founder of Fierce Consulting.
In this episode, you will learn
How Uyen deliberately planned her career transition, including weighing up the financial risks associated with going out on her own
How Uyen landed on her powerful value proposition
How she re-oriented her time marketing her business from a scattergun approach, to a relationship-centred approach
Some of the economic concepts she uses to weight up her decisions (including opportunity cost and utility)
Quotes of the episode:
“Your facilitation business (and busy-ness) is fully integrated with your life”
“It’s better for you to be a small part of someone’s budget, than a big part of their budget”
“What your client requests, isn’t usually the thing they need”
Resources mentioned:
Uyen Vo’s business: Fierce Consulting
Connect with Uyen Vo on LinkedIn
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 is a finalist in the 2021 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.