What’s the First Time Facilitator podcast all about?

There are too many boring, mind-numbing workshops delivered around the world, sucking up our precious time, and giving the word learning a bad wrap.

My mission is to stamp out boring workshops, forever.

I do that by interviewing fantastic trainers and facilitators, all around the world, and sharing their workshop secrets through the First Time Facilitator podcast.

Who is the First Time Facilitator podcast for?

It’s for anyone who wants to improve their corporate training and workshop (in real life, or virtual) delivery skills.

Fact: You don’t have to have the job title “Trainer/Facilitator’ to get value from this show.

While the title of the show is First Time Facilitator, I get messages from seasoned facilitators around the world, who love listening in for new tips to make their next workshop even more impactful.

Tell me more about the host, Leanne Hughes

Hi! I’m your host Leanne Hughes and I’ve been working in corporate environments—mainly in HR and marketing—since 2007. In other words, I’ve sat through a lot of corporate presentations, team building events and workshop days.

There were the ones that made the day drag on and on: powerpoint slide after powerpoint slide. So many corporate buzzwords. Everybody thinking, when’s lunch?

Then occasionally you’d get a surprise: a fantastic facilitator who energised the room and made you actually want to pump your fist in the air. Those were the ones you’d talk about afterwards!

I’m really into personal development (I studied Business and Psychology), so I started working on ways to be more like the presenters I loved.

People who saw my presentations started asking me for tips. Accountants and engineers would come to me with their material and ask, “Hey, how can I make this more interesting?”

In case you can’t tell, I love this stuff. I love it when people show up for ‘just another boring training day’, and it’s not what they expect! I love turning their day around and surprising them with a really good time. I love seeing people actually learn a lot and have an amazing experience.

In the course of my career I’ve worked across industries including construction, mining, tourism, and vocational education and training. I’ve presented all kinds of things including leadership and development programs, on-boarding initiatives and—of course!—training and presentation skills workshops.

I’ve been lucky enough to deliver workshops all across Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mongolia and Singapore.