v1n1.com

There’s an old joke that pokes fun at Christians (don’t worry, I grew up in a Presbyterian church, so I am also the brunt of this joke):

God answers all prayers. Sometimes the answer is NO.

Well, whatever.

So, are answers everywhere? Yes. But the answers may not be what you’re looking for. Still, when you get an answer it’s worth examining.

Last night I was having a burger with my family. My youngest brother Paul was eating a salad (I immediately felt I should have been eating a salad, too!). We were catching up on all of the stuff of our busy lives.

When it was my turn I mentioned to Paul that I had done a presentation on social media in Jacksonville, FL last month, and as a result of that speech was now in negotiations with a company in Houston to deliver an all-day seminar on said topic. Not to mention, but the guy that booked me for the Jacksonville presentation had emailed me that day about a possible speaking gig in Chicago in May, which I was just starting to consider how to make happen.

He was impressed with the speaking stuff I was doing. What he said next impressed me.

“Years ago when I was a district manager for Payless Shoes in Kansas, my boss told me to take a ‘facilitation skills’ workshop. He didn’t care where I took it, so I found one in New York City. Great fun. It was a two-day workshop and I learned a lot and took a ton of notes.”

A few nuggets:

• The best learning configuration for a seminar is for five people to sit at a round table. This works because during exercises the group tends to have great interaction. They teach each other things they know. It’s dynamic for the five people, but not overwhelming like it would be if there were 7 or 8.
• The worst configuration for learning is classroom-style where the group is seated side-by-side or at a table facing forward. Almost no interaction.
• You should go no more than an hour before a short break. After an hour people get antsy and learning goes way down.
• You should engage the audience with either a question where they are actually responding, or with some process that they are mentally answering a question or taking notes at least every seven minutes.
• Hand out a lined sheet titled “Action Steps” where each line is numbered, say 1 – 10. Tell the class at the outset that you promise to give them at least 6 action steps during the class – items that they can leave the class and immediately (or soon enough) do. This gives them a real take-away. If you actually share 10 or 12 action steps you look like the hero.
• In the round-table configuration, the class actually can end up teaching each other 80% of the material. By providing the class with the other 20% you come off looking like the hero and the expert.

I thought I knew my Paul pretty well. But I had no idea that he had skills in facilitating workshops. And that he had some great information that would help me in some of my speaking and teaching endeavors this year.

I asked him to hunt down the notebook he had. Might be hard to track down but he’d try. It was, after all, almost twenty years ago!

But the info is still good.

photo credit: renaissancechambara

Communication Steroids