The Workshop Leader's Resource

Barbara Musser is an inspirational speaker and trainer and has designed and facilitated personal growth and transformational workshops for the past 20 years. She mentors women and teenage girls in living their unique purpose, and works 1:1 and in groups with people who want to break through and transform their lives.  For more information about Barbara, visit her website at:  www.BarbaraMusser.com

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We all have a mind, an imagination and words which are produced from combining language, syntax and grammar. This is mechanics. We put stories down on paper, offer metaphors for hitting a point home and in the process, we hope to get a moment of a totally silent audience. This is finesse. Embracing the art of authentic public speaking is a magical mixture of both.

Before I dive into this most fascinating topic, I wish to offer a disclaimer: my approach is unconventional. It will not work for those who enjoy their successful comfort zones – and more power to them. I am a fan of many things “guerilla”, doing things differently and realize that often, I am speaking to an already rather SAVVY audience. I am always refining the message and offering new twists on conventional wisdom. I keep it fresh not only for the participants, but also to remain engaged myself. Otherwise, I would get bored with my own words. I call this Going Off Script.

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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?

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

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Those of us who do spiritual retreats know that you can and should engineer the energy of the space of an event long before you enter it.  Setting out intentions, creating a physical environment that reflects those intentions, and then creating and holding space to facilitate those intentions into reality are the ways to create a great environment for your event.  Below is a list of elements to consider as you create your ideal workshop space.

Physical Space

The physical space in which you hold an event is critical to its success.  Too big, too small, too loud, or too soft can spell the different between success and disaster.  It’s particularly important when running a spiritual retreat that you have a space that is energetically solid to hold the work you intend to do there.  Picking a site where the owners have done this for you is a great start.   But if you don’t have this luxury, then you can do some work up front to make your event experience ideal.

The Room
The room, furniture, and site are all factors that contribute to the overall impression of an event.  A hotel ballroom is generally cold and cavernous, a stone mansion with a roaring fire will have a warmer feel.  There are emotions evoked from the setting in which you place your event.  A blank canvas (such as the hotel ballroom) can be painted to a certain extent, but there are limits.  You will want to carefully assess what you need your environment to be in order to best create the space you are looking to set.

The Furniture
Once you know your sit, then the furniture will likely come with the space, but consider carefully if you want it.  Some chairs can’t hold over a certain weight.  Others are just plain uncomfortable.  If you know you’re going to be sitting a lot, you’d better make certain the chairs are comfortable.  Then there’s a matter of arranging the furniture.  You’ll want to be certain that your format fits the function of the event.  Remember that round tables are great for discussion, but half of the people will have their backs to you.  Chairs set in rows need to be far enough apart for people to get in and out when others are seated.  There should ALWAYS be a center aisle when you are set up lecture style so that the rows don’t go on forever and for ease of entrance and exit.  If you want people to buy things from you while you are there, then you will want to seat them close together to create a sense of urgency later.

Other Issues
What are you handing out at the beginning of your events?  What are people being asked to carry around with them?  Do they have a sense of their own space within the environment or are they one of the herd?  What temperature are you keeping the environment at – or are you changing it around?  What clothing are you telling people to wear?  Are you asking people not to wear scents?

Clearing The Energy Grid
If you’re going to have a spiritual or transformational event in a space that is used for anything other than these purposes, then I highly recommend clearing the energy grid before you get started.  The last thing you want is to have a bunch of leftover angst from someone’s wedding reception wreaking havok on your sacred event space.  If you don’t know how to clear the grids of a space, then I’d suggest calling in a professional.  I recommend David Franklin Farkas, a.k.a. The House Healer (www.HouseHealing.com).  He does great work for a reasonable price and it’s all remote, so you don’t have to pay for travel.

Workshop Format

The next thing you need to take into account is what you’ll be doing in the workshop.  what exercises are you running and what will you need for those exercises?  For instance, journaling could require either a table or a binder to form a hard surface.  Are you creating a space in which participants will be in physical contact or not?  If so, you’ll want to give them some room so they feel like they can leave if they need to.  Are you having them move around or stay still?  What special effects (ritual tech) will you be doing (if any)?  If you’re doing any sort of challenging or transformational work, you’ll need to know where you’re planning on taking the people who melt down.

Staff Preparation

How many people are you going to need to run your event?  If you’re running a retreat, some of the staff will be yours and others will belong to the site.  Know how much you can depend on site staff and what you need to cover yourself.  If you’re running a smaller event, then you will want to have at least one person to act as your problem solver and greeter so you can stay focused on creating the space you need to create.

Greeting = Creating
How your attendees are greeted will determine the energetic space in which they’ll arrive at the event.  Your staff will need to know how to greet your attendees for maximum efficacy.  A grumpy staff person can mean the difference between a well-set environment and one where some of the people come in rattled and upset.  Not a good start to a day.  Having a set patter will help your staff to know what is expected of them.

Problem Solver
You’ll also need a problem-solver on staff – someone whose job it is to fix whatever is broken.  This person will be the go-to person for the rest of the staff.  They will get handed any problem item or person so that the rest of the staff can stay on task.

Energetic Space

The last item is the one that most people miss.  This is the energetic space.  You create this with your tone of voice, your attitude, your energy level and the cadence of your speech as well as through your choice of words.  All of these factor in.  But long before your attendees arrive, you need to be setting the physical space.  The night before, you should have control of the room and walk through it setting intentions for the day and visualizing a positive outcome for your event.  Look at all aspects of the experience, both for yourself and your attendees and create a positive intention for each aspect.

The morning of the event, gather your staff together to create a group vision of a positive event.  Get everyone’s energy involved.  Then get them moving – chanting, singing, dancing, clapping, stomping, whatever it takes to amp up the energy in the room to prepare it for your attendees’ arrival.  It will also get your staff’s energy in the right place to model the energy you want from people as they walk in the door.

Summary
Everything you do affects the energy of your event.  From the moment you conceive of the idea until you put it in motion, you are adding to the energetic of it.  If you put the time into planning and the thought into the design and then the energy into the event, you’ll have a successful program in no time!