The Workshop Leader's Resource

Carla Cross, MA, CRB

Are you standing in front of your students to create better performance, or more knowledge? If you are want to train, it’s very important to clarify for yourself exactly what your role is. Why? Because it will determine the outcomes you get. I learned this the hard way.

After graduating in piano performance, I applied to and had been awarded a scholarship to UCLA as a graduate assistant in the music department. But, after I was at UCLA a few weeks, I became disillusioned, for I found out that the UCLA music department was all about ‘knowledge’, not performance. Professors earned tenure by publishing papers about sixteenth century Elizabethan madrigals–but they didn’t have to be able to play the madrigals…My interest and experience in music had been performance.

Are You After Better Performance or More Knowledge?

I’ve never forgotten that lesson about the difference in the knowledge about something–and the performance of it. Which is more important in what you’re teaching? What do you want your students to be able to do as a result of your presentation/training? Sure, just like musical performance, you must have some technique to perform. But, also like musical performance, lots of knowledge doesn’t make you a good performer.

If You Want Better Performers…..

Here are five areas to look at to assure you’re creating performers, not just know-it alls.

1. What percent of your program is instructor focused? That is, the instructor performs. If it’s more than 50%, you have a knowledge-heavy program. Model your program like the piano teacher teaches piano. He talks very little, demonstrates some, and listens to the student play and gives positive reinforcement and re-direction. The teacher knows he taught because the student can play.

2. Do you choose your instructors based on their knowledge and their ability to deliver the message attractively? Start choosing your instructors, instead, on their ability to facilitate performance. They should be able to demonstrate a role play, set up a role play, and draw conclusions. Like great piano teachers create increasingly difficult programs for their students, your instructors should be able to craft ever-increasing difficult rule plays. Think of them like creators of ‘virtual reality’.

3. Who is held accountable for the program–the instructors or the students? In most programs, we ‘relieve’ the instructor if he doesn’t get good reviews from the students. The instructor’s the only one accountable. Turn it around. 75% of the accountability should be on the students to demonstrate they have learned the skill. Why? Because, without student accountability, managers get your ‘graduates’ who can’t perform.

4. Is your focus on curriculum? Are you attempting to create value for the program to management or owners by providing more information than the other school? Most training programs could cut 50% of their curriculum and graduate better performers. Instead of focusing on curriculum, create your program as ‘virtual reality’. Have a system that provides a series of “performance building blocks”. Don’t tell them all about playing a concerto. Just tell them enough to let them ‘get their fingers on the keys’.

5. Are the objectives of your program knowledge-based? How do the students graduate from your program? Do they pass a written exam? Managers want a graduate who can perform the activities of a real estate salesperson to reasonably high performance standards. A good training program should identify, teach, observe, and coach performance in several critical performance areas until the student can perform well enough to graduate.

The Right Performance ‘Test’

As a piano performance major, each term, I had to play a ‘mini-recital’ in the music auditorium for an audience of four–all piano professors. I couldn’t just talk about music theory, or answer a multiple choice exam. I had to play. And, to pass the ‘course’, I had to play to certain set performance standards.  The more your training program resembles the ‘virtual reality’ of your specific performance, the more valuable your program to the people who hired your students –and you.

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Carla Cross, CRB, MA, is president of Carla Cross Seminars, Inc., a popular international speaker, and author of 6 books and 20 audio programs for real estate professionals, trainers, and presenters. She is a National Realtor Educator of the Year, and was honored as one of fifty most influential women in business. Contact Carla at 425-392-6914 or email her at her website at www.carlacross.com.

Carla Cross, MA, CRB

How many of these 10 tips for training do you already have in your programs? Too many times we provide training because it helps us attract people to our company. That’s getting only a partial benefit! If you apply the 10 tips for training below, you will see your training pay off in increased productivity, lessened expenses, and much higher customer satisfaction and retention levels.

1. Clarify what you want the student to do—during class, and after class.

2. How well do you expect the student to do that activity? Establish competency levels.

3. Make training a process, not an event. It takes 6-8 times of hearing something to begin to retain it!

4. Space your training for “spaced repetition”. Skills can’t be learned in one marathon session. If your objective is to develop skills, you must create layered, spaced, repetitious workshops.

5. There must be rest and reflection between practices. Scientists have proven that skills are not retained unless there is at least 4 hours between skill-developing sessions.

6. If it’s skills training, three quarters of the time in class should be practice—not teacher lecture.

7. Culturize as you train. The training should be from your point of view, your method of action, and your opportunity to create a strong culture within your training modules.

8. Get feedback from the skills training in your meetings. It reinforces the skills and encourages others to take part. Take your skills to a higher level with additional masterminding.

9. Use a facilitation approach, not a lecture approach. Instead of delivering the information via lecture during class, have the students read articles, interview beforehand, listen to audios, etc.

10. Expect accountability. The student should be highly accountable for practicing the skills and for competency learning.

Carla Cross, CRB, MA, founder of Carla Cross Seminars, Inc., is a popular international speaker, and author of 6 books and 20 audio programs, including two for trainers and presenters. She uses her background in musical performance and teaching to help her clients attain mastery of production and profits. Contact Carla at 425-392-6914 or see her web site at www.carlacross.com.

Today’s audience consists of multiple generations each with their unique expectations from the speaker.   For the first time in history there are five generations in your audience.  One generation likes lecture style, another likes to share expertise.  The next generation likes you to ask their opinion & the youngest two generations prefer role play, videos, & other media. 

How can you tell who is in your audience?  Your best approach is to do an on the spot survey by show of hands.  A quick way is to ask:

• How many of you found work in job ads that said help wanted male, help wanted female? (Boomers & Veterans). 
• How many of you were latch key kids or your school mates were latch key kids? (Gen X)
•  How many of you prefer IM/ texting? (Gen Y & Gen M). 

Now you know who is in the room.

If you are speaking at a conference you can include these questions in your pre-program assessment.  Often the meeting planner can inform you who the audience is.  In the event that is not a viable option, the above on the spot survey should suffice.

Armed with these results you can instantly customize your program to ensure you speak the language of your audience.  By providing information in the manner your attendees desire, you will engage and wow them.

2. Verifying facts during your presentation 

There was a time when speakers were looked up to as the experts who brought knowledge to the marketplace and helped people to be more successful. While this is still true the game has changed significantly. 

With the ubiquitous access to the Internet speakers now have a new type of heckler to contend with. 

For example, at a recent conference for the medical profession in Las Vegas the speaker referenced an article on the industry and mentioned several items for the audience. 

After the lunch break when the audience returned, an attendee raised his hand.  Thinking there was a question, the speaker acknowledged him. 

The attendee then said, “I thought the speaker’s remarks were incorrect earlier.  So while at lunch I surfed the Web, found the article, and verified what was said.  Sure enough the speaker is wrong.  By the way, here’s the URL to get that article yourself and get the facts right.”

Gone are the days when your audience simply took notes and accepted your expertise without verification.  So today it is vital to not only verify your material, but to also confirm you have the most up to date information prior to stepping on the platform. 

Today the audience not only expects information, they expect the most up-to-date information possible along with where they can learn more if they desire.  So the night before a presentation, be sure to check online to ensure you have the most current information.  While you’re at it, check article links as they may have been deleted or the website removed.  Google often has a cached version though and that helps.

3. I want role play – not to listen you go on and on 

Forget about slide decks with 30 – 50 slides.  To really connect with today’s audience you must have fewer slides and more interaction. 

Presentations should be lively so that the audience is energized.  They want to interact and role playing helps them connect the dots and have a more transformational experience.

Many members of today’s audience are Gen X or younger.  They are the highly stimulated generation from gamers to video creators.  Sitting in a chair listening to you drone on through a PowerPoint presentation makes their eyes glaze over.  They used PowerPoint for their school projects in second grade so they need more.

Here are three ways you can engage them:

1. After explaining a point, provide them with a case study that they can solve.  Then have them role play the techniques they used to solve the case study.
2. Create a reality game or play “Jeopardy” with the clues including the tips you are teaching them or speaking about.
3. Give them an exercise to create something or think outside the box.  They are very inventive and sometimes create something that knocks your socks off.  I once gave a group straws, staples, scotch tape and colored markers.  They could build anything they wanted.  The winning entry was a “Bridge over Troubled Water.”

Time will fly by and you will find yourself in the role of facilitator.  When the attendees want the speaker back they actually request it.  This technique gets them really jazzed up and energized. 

Your job is to research and find fun examples for your role play.

4. Downloading during your presentation

In a recent presentation I recommended a book that would be helpful to the participants.  As I spoke, I noticed a young man who was very focused on his iPhone.  This is a normal occurrence during today’s presentations.  There’s even a term for it “Absent Presence.”

As I left the room for the break, he called me over to show me his iPhone.  During the presentation, had downloaded a free Kindle® app for his iPhone, visited Amazon, purchased, and downloaded the book, and was already reading it. 

What’s the point of this pitfall?  To inform you that just because they’re on their iPhone during your presentation, doesn’t mean they’re tuning you out.  Maybe they’re taking action on the recommendation you just made.

This brings us back to Pitfall #2 ‘verifying during your presentation.’  Today’s audiences are used to instant gratification and have the tools to get it.  So it is crucial that your recommendations and suggestions are correct.

5.  Tweeting & Texting during your presentation

A new occurrence for speakers today is tweeting during your presentation.  I know how you feel when that happens.  That’s why I have resorted to asking attendees to get in their one text before we start and during their breaks.

If you are speaking at a conference, be aware that the tweets and texts might be sent to the people currently in your audience or on their way to the workshop. 

One conference speaker experienced this pitfall when they had low turnout for a seminar that previously had blowout attendance.  Evidently attendees tweeted “don’t come to this workshop, the speaker is not very good.”  On reading this many attendees decided to attend a different session and the speaker’s credibility was crushed.

Conversely, if you are a good speaker with an engaging style, the tweets would be “hurry up and get to this session.  The speaker is fantastic.”   This could turn a low turnout session into a blowout session and it’s all happening in real time.  

Take them seriously

These five pitfalls are just the tip of the iceberg when speaking to a cross generational audience.  Yes, I know, today all speaking engagements are cross generational.  However, speakers who do not take these pitfalls seriously, may find themselves with an empty calendar wondering what happened?

Have you ever walked into one room and had your program go really well and done the exact same presentation fall flat with another room?  Well, the challenge may have been your audience.  Your presentation may be tailored perfectly for one generation but disastrous for another.  In this free teleseminar, we’ll be talking to Yvonne F. Brown who is a specialist in Communications with Different Generations.  Yvonne can tell you the secret to connecting with an audience of any age.  Learn the tips, tricks and secrets to speaking the right language to each audience.

Get Emailed About Additional Teleseminar Events

Speaker Bio
Known as a highly effective public speaker, and communicator, Yvonne F. Brown has taught seminars on inter-generational and inter-cultural communications in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada.

As a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Roosevelt University, and College of DuPage, Yvonne teaches a variety of communication courses, including interpersonal, intercultural, organizational, conflict management and career growth. She has also conducted seminars for such corporations as Deloitte Consulting, Lockheed Martin, Citrix and Ft. Campbell Credit Union.

Yvonne has an impressive management background in the consulting industry. She managed staff for a 70 store retail chain, recruited, trained, developed training sessions and curricula.

Yvonne is heralded by participants as the best speaker and trainer they ever had. Her enthusiasm is contagious. She understands group dynamics, and is creative in developing programs that are powerful, interactive and entertaining. Visit her at www.yvonnefbrown.com.

Show Notes

Traditionalists – tell them what to do – take notes and think about it later

Baby Boomer – like a challenge – use case studies and sample examples and let them work on it

Gen Xers – interactive – will ask questions and challenge you

Gen Y – like to play games like jeopardy – turn your presentation into a game – use video

Digital Babies – video and digital interactivity is key

Links:

Yvonne F. Brown

Kelle Sparta – Speaker Coaching and Consulting

Cauldron Retreats – Where Women Who Lead Come to Be Held

Want To Learn More about the Needs of Different Generations?  Read:
The Cultural Creatives – How 50 Million People are Changing The World

Have you ever wanted to be paid as a speaker for an event?  You’ll need a contract for that.  Recently on one of my LinkedIn groups (Need A Speaker / Be A Speaker) there was a request sent out for a copy of speaker’s engagement contracts that people use.  One of the members offered to post all of the contracts that people offered up as examples.  Here is the link to the wiki he created with all of the samples.  Enjoy!

http://beaspeakers.pbworks.com/

I’ve got an exciting announcement! Next week, we’ll be doing a teleseminar with Chellie Campbell, author of The Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction and Zero to Zillionaire. Chellie has been leading high-end workshops for many years.  She has a unique model where she runs classes from home and never has to travel.  She’ll talk to us about the business of being a workshop leader and the choices we make about how we create our business models.

Join Us at 1:00pm (ET) on 15th of January

Register Now To Get FREE Access to This Call

The next time you plan a retreat for your top leadership team, your chances for success are greatly enhanced if you remember these seven key elements.

1. Choose a conducive environment. Select an attractive environment that reflects the nature and purpose of your retreat. Everyone likes to get away for a while (except, of course, those of us who are incurably addicted to our cell phones, pagers and Internet connections), so an offsite location is often best. The fewer distractions you have in your retreat environment, the more productive you will be.

Choose a retreat site that is far enough away from the office so it would be difficult, if not impossible, for your participants to run away to an “urgent” last-minute meeting or crisis.

Establish a cell-free zone, and tell everyone to leave their mobile phones outside your meeting rooms. Cell phones have a way of creating false urgencies, and even the anticipation of their ringing can distract your people from the work of the retreat.

If your aim is to improve the quality of your systems and processes so that everyone can succeed (including all of your students, families and other stakeholders), then choose an environment that models what you want your people to learn. For off-site retreats, I often take my clients to a Ritz-Carlton hotel, winner of two Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards. Benchmarking best practices at the Ritz as you conduct the business of your retreat can energize your own Continuous Quality Improvement journey in a very special way.

We know that when people fail, it is often their systems that have failed them first. When people succeed, it is most often because there are systems and processes in place that make success possible for everyone. At the Ritz-Carlton, they have systems in place that result in consistently high performance and customer satisfaction levels, ensuring success for their own employees as well as for their clients and providers.

Many of the Ritz-Carlton practices can be adapted to school use. What could we learn from such a quality-focused organizational environment that we could use to improve our work back home?

2. Focus on policies and processes, not personalities.

This must be the primary, non-negotiable ground rule for your retreat. Make sure everyone avoids the temptation to make issues personal. Most problems are directly related to the way an organization’s systems and processes are set up. The “blame game” is always seductive, but it is always counter-productive in the long run. Everyone wants to be known for competence, and people resent working in environments that unfairly limit their potential.

Use your retreat to create systems and processes that will optimize the greatest potential of all your people–administrators, teachers, students, parents, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, business and community partners, and all of your other stakeholders. Rather than fixing blame, put your group’s energies into fixing your systems instead.

3. Make relevant data the basis of your work. Put your quality improvement processes on solid ground by focusing on the collection, analysis and application of relevant data. As a colleague of mine is fond of saying, “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” Accurate and relevant data will either prove your point or open it up for debate.

People at all levels of your organization must feel free to challenge unsupported assumptions. In school districts of quality, an often-heard comment is: “That’s an interesting perspective. Can we back it up with data?” Along with “effect” data such as test scores, be sure to collect and analyze “cause” data–information about the possible reasons why you are getting the results you are getting.

Are all students learning and achieving their potential? Why are some of our students performing below their capabilities? Do we need more data on whether they are getting enough uninterrupted sleep at night, whether they are coming to school with protein-rich breakfasts in their bellies, and whether they are getting enough water and exercise throughout the day?

Do we need to consider whether our teaching styles match our students’ learning styles? Are our students engaged in nonfiction writing across the curriculum–a proven method for raising student achievement and improving test scores? These are just a few of the “cause” data sets that are too often missing in our deliberations.

4. Consider every stakeholder group and focus on results. In your deliberations, give adequate consideration to each and every stakeholder group. Unnecessary exclusion creates unnecessary adversaries. Not everybody needs to have a seat at your retreat, but be sure to weigh the needs of your internal and external clients and providers as you plan your next steps.

For example, do your teachers have the tools and strategies they need to help all of their students succeed? Do they use up-to-date tools and techniques to help students develop effective study skills and personal management skills, as well as the ability to think clearly and creatively as they take ownership of their own learning?

A national project of our Center for Schools of Quality, called Expanding Learning Potential, teaches teachers these essential strategies. Students are our most important stakeholders, and our retreat deliberations must have a laser-like focus on the central question: How can we best help our students to learn and grow to their fullest potential?

5. Celebrate and build on your strengths. For the greatest possible improvement, build upon what you already do so very well. Celebrate existing strengths while you expand those strengths to become even better tomorrow than you are today. You might want to begin by having your participants consider these four basic questions: What is getting better? How do we know? What needs improvement? How do we know?

One of the most useful tools is my Plus/Delta/M Exercise, in which you work in teams to identify your greatest strengths (pluses), your opportunities for possible improvement (deltas–the international symbol for change and improvement), and what is currently missing (M) from the mix, or is not yet on your radar screen.

Note that we never use the word “weakness” in my exercise. It’s good to substitute positive words for negatives whenever possible. Positive ideas have much more power because, rather than pointing to past mistakes and causes for blame, they point the way toward future possibilities and opportunities for growth.

6. Provide objective facilitation. To avoid unnecessary conflict and to keep everyone on track, your facilitator should be someone who is objective. More importantly, your facilitator should be perceived as impartial by all of your retreat participants. For this reason, most successful retreats are not conducted by superintendents or board presidents, or even by internal staff developers, but rather by an experienced, respected outside consultant who is a specialist in guiding participants through the often-tricky terrain of interpersonal relationships and personal agendas. An outside facilitator can afford to say things that insiders may not be able to say, leading to more positive results.

7. Don’t forget food, fun and fellowship. Your retreat should provide good nutrition, especially first thing in the morning. “Feed them, and they will come!” is an oft-heard truth from retreat planners. Resist the temptation to offer your retreat participants the usual fare of donuts, bagels and coffee–extremely high in sugars and caffeine. These traditional breakfast foods all too often result in caffeine crashes and sugar slumps by mid-morning, setting folks up for the “dead zone” after lunch, when many people have to struggle just to stay awake.

Instead, consider providing a protein-rich breakfast (egg and cheese croissant, for example) before the first session of the morning, and have protein snacks (cheese sticks, mixed nuts, shelled sunflower seeds) at their tables to munch on throughout the day. You’ll be amazed at the improved energy levels of even your most unenergetic participants!

Also, be sure to build in time for members to enjoy each other’s company away from the business at hand. Make it possible for your people to get away for a golfing outing, a picnic or a concert, so they can get to know each other on a personal level in a relaxed setting. Bonding opportunities such as these offer one of the most valuable, long-lasting benefits of taking your group on a retreat.

Enjoy amazing results

Plan your next leadership retreat with these seven key ideas in mind, and you may be amazed at the results!

Copyright [c] 2003, John Jay Bonstingl. All rights reserved.

In this hour-long podcast, we listen in on a teleseminar that is part of the Foundations Group Coaching program Kelle Sparta runs.  In this teleseminar, Kelle teaches you how to get more referrals from your existing clients.  It’s chock-full of information, so get out your pen and paper – you don’t want to miss this one!

Kelle Sparta

Why We Want More Referrals

• Cheapest, most effective form of advertising
• Pre-sold prospects
• Borrowed trust

Make Sure People Know What They Are Getting From Working With You

• Ask what results they’ve seen (this is even better in a workshop environment for priming people to go deeper)
• Ask them why they keep coming back
• Do an initial survey and then another survey at the end, compare the two to determine efficacy
• If you do energy work, tell people what you find so that they have a context for their experience
• Give people the vocabulary they need to define their experience and to describe it to others
• Getting them to say it out loud reaffirms it for them and for you

Set up systems to ask

• Referral rewards program for existing clients
  • Get $X off of your next appointment when you refer a friend
  • Bring a friend and each save $X
• Ask BEFORE the first appointment
• Send out email follow-ups with surveys and links to review sites online (Yelp)
• Have a waiting room?  Put out a clip board with a Testimonial Request Form on it (don’t forget to attach a pen!)
• Have a special “Bring a Friend” event
• Teach them how to refer
  • Tell them what to say
  • Give them a list of testimonials to go with their own to help them bring people in
  • Give them a coupon for their friends
  • Create an audio recording link they can post on Facebook or email to their friends (or at least a website link)

For advice and help in running YOUR business,visit www.KelleSparta.com

CauldronRetreats – Where Women Who Lead Come to Be Held

Managers, trainers, and even ‘real people’ sometimes have to present in front of three to hundreds of people. Unfortunately, most presenters aren’t trained with the best presentation tools. Instead, they just copy each other. So, we in the audience are frequently bored silly. It doesn’t have to be that way. Take a look at the three speaker tips below to make your next time in front of a few –or many—enjoyable, memorable, and equally enjoyable for your audience.

Three Powerful Speaker’s Tips

1. Don’t lecture for more than 10 minutes. Adults just don’t have that long an attention span (too much on our minds!). Change it up. Use various “alternative delivery methods”–methods to teach other than lecture. In my Instructor Development course, I help students learn these teaching methods by modeling them so they can observe me teaching. Then, we de-brief on what we did. Finally, each student teaches a short module using creative methods, and the rest of the students provide feedback. (We really only learn when we do something). Doing greatly increases confidence–and competence.

2. When you want to change adults’ perceptions, beliefs, or knowledge, don’t just start talking to them. You may just cause them to shrink more into their beliefs, and to defend it (have you observed students who live to argue with the instructor?)

How to tackle the ‘old belief’ challenge:

Prepare students to learn something new. For example: Use a ‘true-false’ or ‘multiple choice’ to start the presentation, or to check learning. I do this in my IDW course in the middle, and ask students how they would have answered at the beginning of the course–and then contrast that with their new perceptions and learning. It creates lots of ‘ahas’ with them, and further cements their learning experience.

3. Don’t just read from the PowerPoint on the screen (and, just as onerous, provide the student with the PowerPoint as the “outline”.) If an instructor does that, I feel I want to just take that outline and leave. I can read, thank you! Too many presenters/trainers rely on PowerPoint to do the teaching.

Use that Right Brain of Yours

Effective teaching is much more than just talking. It should be creative. Use all the “attention strategies” at your disposal (that means to get them into your repertoire).

Suggestions:

Use props, stories, various audio-visual aids, handouts to control the audience “contour”. I learned this as a musician playing for dancing. You direct how you want the audience to dance, and you ‘contour’ the whole experience (slower to faster, then back to slow). As a great instructor/ facilitator, you can direct your audience in an awesome learning experience. It just depends on the skills you bring to the table.

It’s Worth the Effort

Most presenters/trainers aren’t in it for the big bucks (where are those big bucks, again?). They’re in it to assist others. Gaining and practicing presentation skills helps us give back better. The bonus: Deep appreciation from our audience. We’ve even been known to change lives for the better! No amount of money can provide that sense of accomplishment.

Carla Cross, CRB, MA, is a National Realtor Educator of the Year, international speaker, and author of training and coaching programs for most of the international franchises. She was recognized as one of the 50 most influential women Realtors of 2008. She’s the author of the new comprehensive training resource, The Ultimate Real Estate Trainer’s Guide, and the new presentation resource, Knock Their Socks Off. See her coaching and training resources at www.carlacross.com.

In this hour-long podcast, taken from a recording of one of our special Foundations Group Coaching teleseminars, we discuss how to manage your time to best effect to get your business working for you.  Chock-full of information, you’ll want to listen to this one with a pad and pen in front of you.  There are more great ideas here that you won’t want to miss.

Want An Outline to Take notes On?  Download It Here

Links mentioned in this podcast:

Get Your Business On Track – www.KelleSparta.com

Cauldron Retreats – Where Women Who Lead Come To Be Held