Episode 134: Virtual centering and well-being techniques for online meetings with Wade Brill
Wade Brill is a Professional Certified Coach, Energy Leadership Index™ Practitioner, and Meditation Facilitator through UCLA’s Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She hosts the popular Centered in the City podcast, offering modern meditations for busy professionals, and is a recognized speaker at conferences, companies, and retreats. Wade helps busy professionals create calm and clarity amid chaos and realize the importance of their one mind, one body, and one life.
Are you zipping around from one virtual meeting to the next? Clicking Exit on a call, then clicking a new link to jump on the next without getting space in between?
I am!
Let’s talk about the arrival: How can we facilitate an experience, where our participants arrive into our virtual workshops with renewed energy and focus?
That's the conversation I have with today's guest, Wade Brill.
Wade is a Mindfulness Coach, Podcaster and Speaker who helps busy professionals experiencing stress and overwhelm be more present, productive and energized. Wade devotes her life’s work to helping others connect to their own inspiration.
In this episode, we discuss virtual centering and wellbeing techniques, and how to build our facilitation skills, as we move virtually to help support team wellbeing.
Wade also shared her ideas on how we can use team video calls to work on team connection, listening and attention skills.
About Our Guest: Wade Brill
Wade Brill is a Mindfulness Coach, Podcaster and Speaker who helps busy professionals experiencing stress and overwhelm be more present, productive and energized. At the age of 21, Wade survived Hodgkin’s Lymphoma while simultaneously losing her mother to Leukemia. This major life interruption inspired Wade to realize how precious life is and that practicing radical self-care is smart, not selfish. Wade devotes her life’s work to helping others connect to their own inspiration.
Wade is a Professional Certified Coach, Energy Leadership Index™ Practitioner, and Meditation Facilitator through UCLA’s Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She hosts the popular Centered in the City podcast, offering modern meditations for busy professionals, and is a recognized speaker at conferences, companies, and retreats. Wade helps busy professionals create calm and clarity amid chaos and realize the importance of their one mind, one body, and one life.
In this episode you will learn:
How to settle your mind and nervous system
Relaxation breathing techniques
How to incorporate mindfulness into online sessions through centering activities
Combining productivity with well-being
Questions Leanne asked Wade during the interview:
If someone wants to take charge of what’s going on in their head, where can they start?
What are the ways we can bring your work into online sessions?
What is your approach for people to become more mindful during the day?
How do you prepare for starting a new workshop with a client?
Resources:
Watch the video! Leanne Hughes and Wade Brill chat about virtual centering and wellbeing techniques for online meetings
Quotes:
“Before you let your day fill up with meetings, carve out half an hour of time for yourself, that’s going to make you feel your best, having that is key to being productive for the rest of the day.”
“True self-care and mindfulness is learning to listen inwards and let our inner voice tell us what our body and mind need instead of our body clock telling us.”
“As a facilitator, I am not responsible for the audience's outcome, they are responsible to make their own meaning and connect the dots in their own way. We plant the seeds but we don’t get to control how it’s going to get watered, bloom or blossom.”
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, Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 13 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 was a finalist in the 2018 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
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The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
Episode 133: Serving 132,000 students worldwide from a spare bedroom in remote Australia with Sarah Cordiner
Anytime you’re live - whether that’s presenting a webinar, or a face-to-face workshop, you’re essentially exchanging your time for money.
Today’s guest, Sarah Cordiner has helped over 132,000 students from all over the world. You don’t do that by running workshops, you do it by scaling what you offer through digital programs and courses.
Where do you start if you want to scale? That’s the conversation I have with Sarah today.
Sarah Cordiner is a Qualified Course Creation Specialist, trusted by over 20,000 Course Creators & Educators in 146 countries. She helps you turn your expertise into profitable digital products and programs.
Anytime you have to “go live” - whether that’s presenting a webinar, or a face-to-face workshop, you’re essentially exchanging your time for money.
Today’s guest, Sarah Cordiner has helped over 132,000 students from all over the world. You don’t do that by running workshops, you do it by scaling what you offer through digital programs and courses.
Where do you start if you want to scale? That’s the conversation I have with Sarah today.
Sarah Cordiner is a Qualified Course Creation Specialist, trusted by over 20,000 Course Creators & Educators in 146 countries. She helps you turn your expertise into profitable digital products and programs.
In this episode, you’ll learn how to start, how to build an audience and how one idea from a video, can be used to market in so many different ways.
More than that, it’s an inspiring episode looking at failure and how all that matters with failure, is deciding what to do next. Reflecting on this episode, I was reminded of this Winston Churchill quote: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
If you’ve ever held yourself back, or have reasons to not do things, I think you’ll also be inspired by what Sarah shares in this conversation.
About today’s guest: Sarah Cordiner
Sarah Cordiner is a postgraduate qualified education and training professional with over 13 years of experience as a leader and business owner in the education and training sector.
She’s the youngest university Executive Director in Australia's history,
She was listed by the Huffington Post as "The Top 50 Must-Follow Female Entrepreneur 2017", has had her course creation work cited in Forbes, she is a 12 x published author (and 5 times international number 1 best-seller), host of the Course Creators Podcast and holds the record for being the youngest University Head & Director in Australian history - a university that was ranked number 1 in Australia at the time of her leadership.
She's also a mum to 2 young children and runs her 7-figure education company from the spare room in her outback Australian home.
Using Sarah's tried and tested step-by-step system, even the newest entrepreneurs, traditional businesses and even complete non-techies can quickly and easily create a profitable online course that can impact millions and create a life and business that they love.
Here are some of the questions Leanne asked Sarah during the interview:
What do you do now and how do you discover the world of online courses and online training?
What is the first course you ever produced and how did it go?
How did it take for you to build your audience from all around the world?
How are you doing all of the things you do?
Resources:
Visit Sarah Cordiner’s website
Sign up for Sarah Cordiner’s Online Course for FREE
Connect with Sarah on Linkedin
Watch the video! Leanne Hughes and Sarah Cordiner chat about online course creation
Quotes:
“When you go out with a ‘I can get through this’ attitude, you no way you’re going to fail.”
“Education comes in many forms. And I realized the reward of gifting somebody new knowledge.”
“I am so amazed by how somebody’s life can be changed by simply allowing them to understand themselves. Showing people the skills that they didn’t know were there.”
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, Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 13 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 was a finalist in the 2018 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Grab my cheat sheet:
The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
Episode 132: Getting your foot in the door as a moderator with Kjell Lutz
Kjell Lutz is fascinated by how people learn. During his studies in organizational psychology, he immersed himself in the theory of knowledge transfer, how can you help people learn.
He first applied this with small groups during training, then online with e-learnings and then with large groups during meetings.He further immersed himself in the psychology of making choices, how do we make choices and especially how can we make better choices.
Panel discussions! You see some great ones, you see some ordinary ones.
A few years ago I was really into the ABC TV show, Q&A with Tony Jones. Some people didn’t enjoy his style. I loved it. He was direct, funny, great at segueing the conversation and getting panellists to add, argue, contradict each other, which created fantastic drama.
It’s really funny, over 131 episodes down and today we explore a topic we’ve never discussed before: The skill of moderating.
That’s what we talk about with today’s guest, Kjell Lutz
In this one, you’ll hear how Kjell got his start with moderating panels and MCing, how he creates a dynamic conversation between panelists and audiences; how he gets large audiences interacting with content as well.
About our Guest: Kjell Lutz
Kjell is fascinated by how people learn. During his studies in organizational psychology, he immersed himself in the theory of knowledge transfer, how can you help people learn. He first applied this with small groups during training, then online with e-learnings and then with large groups during meetings.He further immersed himself in the psychology of making choices, how do we make choices and especially how can we make better choices.
Kjell as a chairman is full of energy and enthusiasm. With an appropriate dose of humour and the right interaction, he connects the participants to the theme of the day and the current topics. He loves to lead different work forms that contribute to the learning process of the participants. Let people experience something meaningful in a playful way.
As a speaker, he ensures that the dialogue session is properly initiated with an appropriate keynote. As a moderator, he facilitates the rounds of conversations to create the space that is needed.
In this episode you will learn:
How to create good conversation between panelists and audience
How to prepare yourself (and the panellists) before an event
How to select good speakers for your panel
Tips about moving training from face to face to online
Here are some of the questions Leanne asked Kjell during the interview:
Can you share what you discovered working from training and presentations to moderating and what are the skills needed in moderating?
How do you create an environment where people feel safe enough to stand up?
If you are the panelist, how do you make sure that you get the best out of each speaker?
Do you need interactive tools like Sli.do or any technology during moderation?
How do you prepare before the workshop?
Resources:
Kjell Lutz website
Connect with Kjell on Linkedin
Here’s a link to training that Kjell is delivering on 10-11 September. The Show Must Go On(Line)
Grab 15% off Virtually Possible - doors close this week! Code: PODCAST
Quotes:
“The important thing in moderation is what the goal is and what do we need to do.”
“Be open to new information, make choices and start doing.”
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, Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 13 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 was a finalist in the 2018 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.
Doors are closing soon: Virtually Possible
Virtually Possible
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
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The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
Episode 131: The conflict of creating interesting conversations (then having to stop them, so we can move to the next one) with Misha Glouberman
How did I find today’s guest? Through this article: How to Host a Cocktail Party on Zoom (and have better classes, conferences and meetings, too) written by Misha Glouberman, that Michael Bungay Stanier shared on LinkedIn.
As I read the article, my jaw dropped. The level of consideration around facilitating this birthday party was next level! From this one article, you could tell how much he values the finer details of hosting an event.
Misha Glouberman teaches communication skills, runs meetings and conferences for organizations, hosts live events, and speaks at conferences. His work has been described as “humanizing relationships—one event at a time."
In this episode, you’ll learn how we can get better at our conversations by zooming out, how to be collaborative when solving problems AND he also shares an incident he had as a panellist, when someone in the audience, called him out! Listen in for that story and more importantly, what Misha learnt from it.
One thing I’m still trying to navigate, is that fine line between giving your participants autonomy to create, vs. “sticking to the plan”.
Misha provides an excellent distinction on how we can decide how to progress by being transparent with the group.
About our Guest: Misha Glouberman
Misha Glouberman is the author, with Sheila Heti, of the book The Chairs Are Where the People Go, which the New Yorker named as one of its top nonfiction books of 2011 and described as "a triumph of what might be called conversational philosophy." In it, Misha relays everything he knows about communication, conferences, relationships, making friends, monogamy, playing charades and more.
His approach to conference design draws on Open Space Technology and UnConference approaches, which are highly effective at getting people talking and sharing ideas in ways that are effective and meaningful.
Misha has taught classes in improvised music and theater, worked as a database designer, and has a degree in philosophy from Harvard.
His interest in how people connect extends into his work as a performer and artist. Every month he hosts Trampoline Hall, a barroom lecture series that has been popular with the arts and literary set in Toronto and New York for well over a decade. His instructions on how to ask a good question at a public event were published in the New York Times Magazine. His Terrible Noises for Beautiful People is a series of participatory sound events for non-musicians, which has been presented in partnership with Nuit Blanche Toronto and the Long Now Foundation among others.
Here are some of the questions Leanne asked Misha during the interview:
With your background and the work that you do, have you always been interested in creating great connections? When did you discover that you want to work in this field?
If you could offer tips or suggestions for listeners on how to target relationships and build it over time?
How do you draw the line between giving autonomy vs being collaborative?
How do you get yourself ready for a workshop experience?
Resources:
Connect with Misha Glouberman on Linkedin
Lecture series hosted by Misha The Trampoline Hall
Say to Misha via Twitter and let him know you’ve listened to this episode
Visit Misha Glouberman’s website for more details
Join a community of facilitators from all over the world, on The Flipchart!
Quotes:
“When you are in a difficult conversation, zoom out - talk about the pattern, relationship, feelings and systemic issues.”
“I have two conflicting jobs as a facilitator, one is to create interesting conversation and the other one is to stop them so we can move on to the next.”
Join the Virtually Possible movement
Doors are now open!
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Grab my cheat sheet:
The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
Episode 130: Taking you back-stage: How to find a collaboration buddy and facilitate a solution with Leanne Hughes
On this weeks’ show, I’m taking you backstage!
If you’ve been listening for a few weeks, you’ll hear that I’m collaborating with Joeri “The Magic Sauce” Schilders on a project called Virtually Possible.
We started chatting in early June and we’re really close to launching this new program! In this episode, I share my perspective on the collaboration process, and how you can facilitate a collaborative project with a) Someone you barely know, who b) Lives in another country.
We haven’t done things the traditional way: We don’t use emails to communicate at all!
I’d love this episode to inspire you to consider: Is there someone in this beautiful world who you could collaborate with to solve a problem?
On this weeks’ show, I’m taking you backstage!
If you’ve been listening for a few weeks, you’ll hear that I’m collaborating with Joeri “The Magic Sauce” Schilders on a project called Virtually Possible.
We started chatting in early June and we’re really close to launching this new program! In this episode, I share my perspective on the collaboration process, and how you can facilitate a collaborative project with a) Someone you barely know, who b) Lives in another country.
We haven’t done things the traditional way: We don’t use emails to communicate at all!
I’d love this episode to inspire you to consider: Is there someone in this beautiful world who you could collaborate with on a problem?
Collaboration is great for so many reasons - surprisingly, it’s also great for building your self-awareness.
I also share how you can identify a collaboration partner (hint: Look for someone who’s better than you at certain things!), how you can establish communication protocols and roles that play to your strengths, and the format for our sprint/work sessions last week.
Join us live!
Joeri and I are live-streaming onto YouTube later this week, sharing 5 ways you can ramp up the energy in virtual meetings (by being a little bit lazy). We’d love you to join in!
Click here to register (can’t make it live? We’ll email you the link!)
Resources mentioned in this show
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, Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 13 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 was a finalist in the 2018 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.
Waitlist: Virtually Possible
Virtually Possible is coming soon.
Also, you’ve heard it here first! Joeri from The Magic Sauce and I are collaborating on a program called Virtually Possible.
Sign up to the Virtually Possible wait list and join the movement
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Grab my cheat sheet:
The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
Episode 129: Facilitating culture change, one conversation at a time with Prina Shah
In this week’s First Time Facilitator conversation with Prina Shah, you’ll learn how culture change works for organisations, balancing roles between being a consultant and workshop facilitator, how to build a facilitation business and also bringing in your personality and uniqueness.
So many times as facilitators we’re asked to come in to solve a specific problem: It could be communication, leadership challenges, absenteeism, decision fatigue or indecision, even. We’re given a lot of challenges and you know what? A lot of the time, it comes back to the culture of a team, the culture of an organisation and what standards and values have been set.
When you start talking about culture, it can get pretty complex, right?
So, where do you start?
That’s the focus of my conversation today with my guest, Prina Shah.
She is one of those rare HR people who have generalist and specialist experience AND she’s also working part-time and has her side hustle going as well - very cool.
We connected over IG and LinkedIn and as I mention during this interview, I really like the way Prina communicates her value with behind the scenes videos on social media. I saw she was doing some cool things and it’s why I reached out for a chat with her!
About today’s guest: Prina Shah
Prina has over 18 years’ experience of in-house management roles in the areas of Organisational / Leadership Development, Human Resources, Culture Change and Change Management for companies within the not for profit, government, utilities, small business and private sectors across London and Australia.
She’s based in my other favourite Australian city, Perth and she’s accredited in a variety of tools including the LSI, DISC and her specialisations include coaching, leadership and team development, facilitating culture change and more.
In this episode you will learn:
How culture change works for organisations
Balancing roles between being a consultant and workshop facilitator
Building a facilitation business
Bringing in personality and uniqueness
Here are some of the questions Leanne asked Prina during the interview:
If the client wants to set a new culture, where do you begin?
What do you do hen senior leaders are not role modelling positive culture?
What kind of workshops are you running? How did you progress and build your facilitation business?
How do you prepare the night before / or in the morning to get yourself in the energetic state that you need to be?
Resources:
Prina’s website
Follow Prina on Instagram
Connect with Prina on Linkedin
Continue the conversation when the show is over, join The Flipchart free group on Facebook
Quotes:
“I like the excitement of facilitating and not knowing how it’s going to go. Having an idea of what the outcome is but also going with the flow during the day.”
“As a first time facilitator, remember your personality, remember to be yourself rather than sticking to your slides.”
Waitlist: Virtually Possible
Virtually Possible is coming soon.
Also, you’ve heard it here first! Joeri from The Magic Sauce and I are collaborating on a program called Virtually Possible.
Sign up to the Virtually Possible wait list and join the movement
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Grab my cheat sheet:
The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
Episode 128: Stop being so afraid: Nobody wants a humble consultant (and other truth bombs) from the rockstar of consulting, Alan Weiss
Leanne Hughes interviews the rock star of consulting, Alan Weiss on the First Time Facilitator podcast. Discover what it takes to create a million dollar consultancy.
If you’re going to learn something, you might as well learn from the best, right?
I’m still reeling from my interview with today’s guest, Alan Weiss.This is another episode for you if you run your own business or looking to be a solopreneur.
I reached out to Alan after Michael Bungay Stanier’s contribution to Episode 120, where he said, “If you read Alan Weiss’ book Million Dollar Consulting, you’ll never go hungry again”.
Alan Weiss is the rockstar of consulting. Marshall Goldsmith once called him “The finest entrepreneurial coach in the world.”
In today’s conversation we cover many topics, including:
Debunking the myth that the riches are in the niches
Who we should target in our marketing efforts (spoiler alert: Not HR or Training people)
How to create our value proposition to share the value we bring
Why it’s important to create content to build marketing gravity
Honestly? This is a masterclass in how to market your facilitation and consulting business.
This was also an experiential, Show.Up private community episode, where I invited members to ask Alan questions on the show.
Doors for Show.Up will open up in a couple of months - get notified when they do!
About our guest: Alan Weiss
Alan Weiss is one of those rare people who can say he is a consultant, speaker, and author and mean it.
His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients such as Merck, Hewlett-Packard, GE, Mercedes-Benz, State Street Corporation, Times Mirror Group, The Federal Reserve, The New York Times Corporation, Toyota, and over 500 other leading organizations. He has served on the boards of directors of the Trinity Repertory Company, a Tony-Award-winning New England regional theater, Festival Ballet, and chaired the Newport International Film Festival.
His speaking typically includes 20 keynotes a year at major conferences, and he has been a visiting faculty member at Case Western Reserve University, Boston College, Tufts, St. John’s, the University of Illinois, the Institute of Management Studies, and the University of Georgia Graduate School of Business.
He has held an appointment as adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Rhode Island where he taught courses on advanced management and consulting skills to MBA and PhD candidates.
He once held the record for selling out the highest priced workshop (on entrepreneurialism) in the then-21-year history of New York City’s Learning Annex. His Ph.D. is in psychology. He has served on the Board of Governors of Harvard University’s Center for Mental Health and the Media.
In this episode you will learn:
Tips for those starting out on how to get traction and build marketing gravity
How to shift from day rate pricing to value based pricing
Difference between niche consultancy and generalist consultancy
Providing clarity of outcomes when creating proposal for those those working in less tangible deliverables
Here are some of the questions Alan Weiss was asked during the interview:
Why is it important to differentiate marketing and consulting?
How do you build marketing gravity if you are just starting out?
What is your strategy for showing up delivering to the clients and marketing yourself on different channels?
How do you move from day rate pricing to value based pricing?
If you are a generalist process consultant how do you know where to market yourself?
What meetings do you recommend and how do you handle them?
How can we maintain more stability when it comes to associating with contracts?
Resources:
Alan Weiss’ website
Million Dollar Consulting Growth Access
Follow Alan Weiss on Twitter
Connect with Alan on Linkedin
Get your copy of the Million Dollar Consulting book here
Quotes:
“You're better off meeting with a buyer and failing to obtain immediate business than sitting at your desk designing "programs" and "offerings." The former is progress, the latter is procrastination”You're better off meeting with a buyer and failing to obtain immediate business than sitting at your desk designing "programs" and "offerings." The former is progress, the latter is procrastination.”
“When you are organized, focused and disciplined, then you have power because you are in control of your life.”
Waitlist: Virtually Possible
Virtually Possible is coming soon.
Also, you’ve heard it here first! Joeri from The Magic Sauce and I are collaborating on a program called Virtually Possible.
Sign up to the Virtually Possible wait list and join the movement
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Grab my cheat sheet:
The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
Ep127: How to structure a 60 minute virtual workshop that delights your participants with Leanne Hughes
Today I share my approach, mindset, key considerations and structure, on how to deliver a 60 min virtual training session, or workshops - that boosts interaction and engagement. The methods I share on today’s show are simple - no use of difficult technology, just simple ways to mix things up and keep you audience front and centre.
This episode was inspired by a question that came through on The Flipchart community last week from Yishan Chan, host of the Talent Stack podcast.
She asked, “Hi Leanne, is there a short podcast episode I can share with my workplace on why we need to think differently about how Zoom "show and tell" sessions are run?”
Today I share my approach, mindset, key considerations and structure, on how to deliver a 60 min virtual training session, or workshops - that boosts interaction and engagement.
The methods I share on today’s show are simple - no use of difficult technology, just simple ways to mix things up and keep you audience front and centre.
I also hope this episode inspires you to share with me your approach to 30-60minute workshop delivery. What great things do you bring in, to create interaction?
Waitlist: Virtually Possible
Also, you’ve heard it here first! Joeri from The Magic Sauce and I are collaborating on a program called Virtually Possible.
Sign up to the Virtually Possible wait list and join the movement
Virtually Possible is coming soon.
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, Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 13 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 was a finalist in the 2018 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Grab my cheat sheet:
The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
Episode 126 - Facilitation for Innovation: Mixing together madness, measure and magic sauce with Joeri Schilders
Many leaders, teams and companies talk about innovation. It’s often a company value. Yet, we still see traditional work practices, and not a lot of real innovation happening. So, what is innovation? Joeri Schilders believes innovation isn’t a simple 7-step framework. He says it’s more like a street fight (and he’s been in a few).
We talk about that (and more) in this week’s First Time Facilitator podcast episode.
If I was playing a game of corporate buzzword meeting bingo, the one word I’d like on my bingo card would be: Innovation!
(“Unprecedented” would be my second choice).
Many leaders, teams and companies talk about innovation. It’s often a company value. Yet, we still see traditional work practices, and not a lot of real innovation happening.
So, what is innovation?
My guest this week, Joeri Schilders believes innovation isn’t a simple 7-step framework. He says it’s more like a street fight (and he’s been in a few)
Over the past decade and a bit, Joeri has worked on numerous challenges spanning from new product development across Asian emerging markets, digitising traditional manufacturing in Europe, to building systemic innovation cultures around the globe.
Joeri bring tons of energy, a pragmatic approach and fresh inspiration, which you’ll also find on his YouTube channel, Joeri the Magic Sauce.
In this conversation, we discuss many topics, including:
How to facilitate innovation in organisations and help employees take action when the workshop is over
How to manage your relationships with clients as an external facilitator
Joeri’s predictions on the future of workshops + virtual facilitation
About our Guest: Joeri “The Magic Sauce” Schilders
After having lived in the US, UK and China for almost half his life, Joeri set up The Magic Sauce in Singapore in 2013. Over the past decade and a bit, he has worked on numerous challenges spanning from new product development across Asian emerging markets, digitising traditional manufacturing in Europe, to building systemic innovation cultures around the globe.
He has been in Asia for more than 20 years and spends most of my time designing and facilitating innovation & co-creation.
Joeri did not go to the University of Innovation.
Instead he brings real stories, tough lessons, tools and tricks learned from running over 100 big and small innovation projects over the past decade, working with some of the coolest industries and businesses. He has the battle scars to show.
In 2013, he set up The Magic Sauce in Singapore with the aim to demystify innovation and creativity for global clients through facilitation, speaking and content creation.
He has an effusive passion for the work I do and always brings tons of energy, a pragmatic approach and fresh inspiration.
Here are some questions Joeri answers on the show:
Why do you think people hold innovation as a value on a pedestal?
How do you ensure an organization will take action on ideas discussed in a workshop?
What tips do you have for people who love face to face workshops and are struggling with virtual facilitation?
Resources:
Check out The Magic Sauce YouTube channel - it’s so good!! You’ll love it.
Visit The Magic Sauce website
Connect with Joeri on Linkedin
Yves Morieux: As work gets more complex, 6 rules to simplify (TED)
Join 900 other facilitators from all over the world in The Flipchart community on Facebook
Joeri - The Magic Sauce quotes:
“Innovation is an output of creative thinking, critical thinking, a bit of luck, a lot of work, spotting opportunities and making something of a new value and with a bit of luck that innovation goes on to be successful.”
“Innovation is the engine. Creativity is the oil that makes the engine run".
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Episode 125: Holding the mirror up: 3 powerful questions to help you sustain success with Dr Fergus Connolly
I’m in complete awe of high performing athletes and teams, who show up, work hard, have a strong mental game, pull off impossible feats and my guest, helps them do that! Dr. Fergus Connolly is one of the world’s foremost human potential thought leaders and influencers. Author of the bestselling book "Game Changer - The Art of Sports Science". We talk about how he works with high performing teams, how he builds trust and rapport quickly, what he’s thinking/feeling when he starts working with amazing athletes, the common challenges amongst sporting and business teams. We also talk about purpose and he shares 3 questions that can help you be content and passionate in what you do everyday and also how he prepares for upcoming speaking engagements.
I invited this week’s guest on the show because I love, love, love sport; I love playing it, I love watching it. I’m in complete awe of high performing athletes and teams, who show up, work hard, have a strong mental game, pull off impossible feats and my guest, helps them do that!
Dr. Fergus Connolly is one of the world’s foremost human potential thought leaders and influencers. Author of the bestselling book "Game Changer - The Art of Sports Science"
Fergus has applied performance science with leading sports, military, and business teams.
He is the only coach to have full time roles in every major sport, including soccer (Liverpool, Bolton Wanderers), professional and college football (San Francisco 49s and University of Michigan), rugby (Welsh national team) and elite military units.
We talk about how he works with high performing teams, how he builds trust and rapport quickly, what he’s thinking/feeling when he starts working with amazing athletes, the common challenges amongst sporting and business teams. We also talk about purpose and he shares 3 questions that can help you be content and passionate in what you do everyday and also how he prepares for upcoming speaking engagements.
I loved listening to Fergus share all of his experiences and how we can hold the mirror up and answer questions, to help us gain clarity and move forward.
About our Guest: Dr Fergus Connolly
Coach, teacher, mentor, author, speaker and student of success and resilience – Dr. Fergus Connolly has worked with some of the world’s leading sports, military, and business teams including the San Francisco 49ers, University of Michigan, Liverpool FC and multiple Special Forces units
Dr. Fergus Connolly is one of the world’s foremost human potential thought leaders and influencers. Author of the bestselling book "Game Changer - The Art of Sports Science"
Fergus has applied performance science with leading sports, military, and business teams.
Fergus Connolly shares his personal story of success, authenticity and the power of empathy among leaders.
In this episode you will learn:
How to influence people with challenging ideas
Finding your purpose out of the work that you do
Three questions to help you sustain success - who are you, what do you do, and why are you here
How to prepare for speaking engagements or events
These are some of the the questions Leanne asks Fergus on the show:
What career pivots got you here?
Do you get intimidated or pressured being a part of a high performing team?
What is the common thing that you find with these teams?
What are some ways you’ve adapted your style when working with different people and trying to influence them with a challenging idea?
Is it okay to link your purpose to what you do? If not, how do we avoid it?
What are some of the ways you build trust with a group or individual?
How do you prepare for speaking engagements and events?
What is the advice that you probably have given yourself when you started your path?
Resources:
Connect with Dr. Fergus Conolly on Linkedin
Check out Fergus Connolly’s Books
Send a tweet to Fergus Connolly about this episode
Follow him on Instagram
Watch his episode on TEDtalk on Leadership, Authenticity and Sheepdogs
Quotes:
“I became aware of understanding people’s fears and needs which changes from cultures and environment.”
“Organizations need clear, disciplined directions and start moving on to the next stage where you are starting to get better.”
“Three questions fundamentally people should be able to answer - who are you, what do you do, and why are you here?”
“Would you have been authentic enough to find awareness so you can be empowered and start to develop yourself.”
Grab my cheat sheet:
The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
Episode 124: How walkshops can help you read the room better with Jacinta Cubis
What happens when you mix street photography and facilitation together? Very cool things! You become a better observer, a key skill for facilitators.
We’ve never really taken a deep dive on the concept of “noticing”. Noticing your perspectives, other people’s perspectives, seeing things in a new light, or a different way.
I think this is always relevant, particular as facilitators - noticing, sensing what’s happening in a workshop room (or a Zoom room!).
My guest this week, Jacinta Cubis, is one of Melbourne’s most energetic and creative facilitators. She went to uni to become a journalist, exited a filmmaker and developed photographs in a Parisian basement.
She’s absolutely thrilled to be hosting Virtual #Facilitography Walkshops.
You heard it right, WALK SHOPS. What a cool concept.
Curious? Listen to find out more!
Jacinta is passionate about bringing out the best in people as a facilitator, coach and mentor.
As an author and speaker, she inspires and energises people with insights and ideas. She loves helping thought leaders and experts translate technical information into engaging content, and nail what they want to say, for diverse audiences.
She is the founder of #Facilitography that helps to train our eyes not just to look, but to see, notice and observe – with our phones and street photography. Better observers make better facilitators. Better project managers. Better team leaders. Better teachers. Better…everything!
About our Guest
Jacinta Cubis is one of Melbourne’s most energetic and creative facilitators. She went to uni to become a journalist, exited a filmmaker and developed photographs in a Parisian basement. She’s absolutely thrilled to be hosting Virtual #Facilitography Walkshops.
She helps take you on a creative 'walkshop' that helps you to get a good eye for reading the room - or the Zoom! #Facilitography can help anyone get better at reading the room and help:
Project teams connect to their strategy
Employees connect with each other
Communities show organisations what they like, want and need, in addition to telling them in writing and words
Internal teams see things from stakeholders and communities points of view
Stakeholders and partners see things from each other’s perspective
In this episode you will learn:
How you can get better at reading the room
Practicing observational skills for facilitation
How to give people photographic exercises based on what is useful for facilitation
Here are some questions Leanne asked Jacinta on the show:
How did you decide to start a career in facilitating workshops?
Can you share more what partnership brokering is all about?
What is facilitography?
How are you adapting/pivoting to the online world?
Resources:
Love Jacinta’s idea? Join one of her Introductory Walkshops on the last Tuesday of every month – details here.
Videos with examples of photo exercises that Jacinta give people in walkshops
Visit her the blog - Why Photography Is Great Training for Facilitation
Check out Jacinta’s #facilitography posts on Instagram – modelling the daily practice of observation and noticing
Connect with Jacinta:
Quotes:
“I am engaged to deliver outcomes.”
“Everyone can get better at looking (reading the room). If you practice your observational skills, it follows.”
“As facilitators, you have to work with what you’ve got.”
“Better observers, make better facilitators.”
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Grab my cheat sheet:
The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
Episode 123: You lost me at hello: Re-engaging your audiences and nurturing your relationships with David Nour
What do you learn when you sit on 128 webinars in a week? My guest this week, David Nour shares his experiences and more in this episode!
What do you learn when you sit on 128 webinars in a week? My guest this week shares his experiences and more in this episode!
I invited senior leadership/board advisor, researcher, executive educator and best-selling author, David Nour on the show to talk about a phrase/book he’s releasing called Curve Benders. These are the strategic relationships we have in our lives - that can help our growth (personal, or business) dramatically. But how do you find these people in your life? How can you nurture these relationships?
David answer these questions and also shares a very cool story on how he created a speakers video reel, without ever speaking on stage!
About today’s guest: David Nour
David Nour was born in Iran, immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager with $100, limited family ties and no fluency in English. He graduated from Georgia State University with a bachelor’s degree in business management and went on to earn an Executive MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. He resides in Atlanta, GA, with his family.
He is internationally recognized as the leading expert on applications of strategic relationships in profitable growth, sustained innovation, and lasting change. The author of ten books, including best-sellers Relationship Economics® (Wiley), and Co-Create (St. Martin’s Press), as well as the forthcoming Curve Benders, Nour serves as a trusted advisor to global clients and coaches corporate leaders. He is an adjunct professor at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, was named to the Global Gurus Top 30 Leadership Professionals list and is honored to be one of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Global Coaches.
A Forbes Leadership contributor on the Future of Work, and an Inc. contributor on Relationship Economics, Nour’s unique insights have been featured in a variety of prominent publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fast Company, Huffington Post Business, Entrepreneur, and Knowledge@Wharton. He’s also the host of the popular Curve Benders podcast.
Resources mentioned in this episode
David Nour’s website: Nour Group
Check out and contribute to the Nour Forum
Listen to Nour’s podcast, Curve Benders
Social Media handles:
Connect with David Nour on LinkedIn
Instagram: @davidnour
Twitter: @davidnour
Quotes from David Nour
“Your relationships are your biggest assets.”
“Relationships should be intentional, strategic and ideally quantifiable in your journey from now to next.”
“Don’t let obstacles get in the way of what you’re after. Get creative, get scrappy, find a way to get there.”
“Use this pandemic to rethink, reimagine, reinvent, reinvigorate, parts of your life, parts of your job to go after that next level of personal and professional growth.”
“Many relationships come into our life that dramatically bend, shape our growth journey.”
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet David Nour your favourite part of this episode.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Grab my cheat sheet:
The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
Episode 122: An introvert's perspective on facilitation with Tony Brazelton
Tony Brazelton loves to design and deliver learning experiences to help people be excellent—to each other.
In our conversation this week, he shares an introvert’s perspective on facilitation (as well as some smart workarounds for small talk!). We also discuss his pre-workshop preparation and how important it is to get centred.
Tony Brazelton is a biochemist, a manager of projects, a manager of people, a process improvement consultant, a change management consultant, and now a corporate trainer and management and leadership consultant.
He loves to design and deliver learning experiences to help people be excellent—to each other.
In our conversation this week, he shares an introvert’s perspective on facilitation (as well as some smart workarounds for small talk!). We also discuss his pre-workshop preparation and how important it is to get centred.
During this time, Tony has also been helping his colleagues feel comfortable with online meetings, and in this conversation he shares how he’s assisting them with jumping over those online engagement barriers.
Tony provides training and consulting on leadership, communication, change management, coaching and personal development. These are the universal skills that accelerate your performance at work, at home, and in life. He also creates human-centered communications with video, in print, or on the web.
In this episode Tony and I talked about the gift we give to other people and how we accept the gift given to us too. How we can reduce the barriers of online engagement and adapting to the new normal, moving from face to face facilitation to online facilitation.
Resources mentioned:
Connect with Tony Brazelton on Linkedin
Join the conversation on The Flipchart Facebook Group
Quotes:
“When people give you a moment, it’s a gift.”
“I realized I needed to do what I love to do in workshops which is to create a space where people feel safe sharing their true self.”
“I want to be the provider of energy to the participants.”
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Episode 121: How reframing a question saved a team building event (and the day!) with Yoke van Dam
In Episode 121, I chat to Yoke van Dam about the following topics (and much more!):
Why language and how we phrase things is so important (in terms of what the brain taps into and what words we hear, what words we tend to discard as well)
How we can get PR opportunities to build our brand and business
Yoke's story on how she used her NLP superpower to save a team building event
Specialising in neuro linguistic programming, Yoke trains and coaches business leaders, executives, sales teams and individual staff members the tangible skills that can deliver the outcomes they want. She also presents keynotes in corporate and other settings to bring about positive change.
[side note from Leanne: Listen to her enthusiasm in this conversation, its contagious!!]
Her training specialties include sales, persuasion, presentation and emotional intelligence. She balances theory with practical solutions, and is highly adept at engaging her audience to be active participants in the development of these solutions so that they own them and want to make them work.
About today’s guest: Yoke van Dam
Yoke van Dam is a catalyst for change, whether in a person, team or an entire company. She is a qualified behavioural change and leadership coach, public speaker, facilitator, trainer and sales consultant with more than 16 years’ experience.
She has done several thousand hours of training and presentation to clients as diverse as sales executives, business leaders and owners, customer service agents, marketers, lawyers, engineers and accountants.
The industries she has covered range from automotive, retail, manufacturing and engineering to advertising, publishing, legal and academic.
Yoke has written for Entrepreneur magazine and contributes articles on emotional intelligence to the Female Entrepreneurship Collective. The video of her talk at Disrupt HR in Sandton, Johannesburg, in August 2018 became the most watched worldwide in the two weeks following the event. She is often interviewed on Mix FM and Radio Today.
Yoke has 10 years consultative sales experience working for Oxford Publishers, Pearson and Entrepreneur magazine. Additionally, she trained the national sales team for Auto Trader, Commercial Trader, Auto Fuzion, Bikes and Corporate Sales. She developed team-building and staff dynamics workshops for Auto Trader and various companies. With her passion she founded Y-Connect in 2017.
In this episode you will learn:
Why language and how we phrase things is so important (in terms of what the brain taps into and what words we hear, what words we tend to discard as well)
How we can get PR opportunities to build our brand and business
Yoke's story on how she used her NLP superpower to save a team building event
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Quotes of the episode:
“People find more value from what people say about you, than you say about yourself”
“Facilitation is about setting clear expectations and meeting the outcome.”
“See what’s available, go for it and make it the best possible.”
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
22 facilitators and trainers answer: What I wish I'd known before starting my business (Episode 120)
For this special episode, I sent out a request to a number of my Learning and Develoment business owner friends. I asked them, “What’s the one thing you wish you knew when you started your facilitation business?”
This my friends, is the episode I wanted to listen to, when I dropped out of corporate life on 4 February 2019.
For this special episode, I sent out a request to a number of my Learning and Development business owner friends. I asked them, “What’s the one thing you wish you knew when you started your facilitation business?”
Their incredibly helpful and thoughtful responses have been pieced together in Episode 120 of the First Time Facilitator podcast, or if you prefer reading their tips (and cutting out my running commentary!), you can scroll down the page to read the “wish list” transcript.
Today’s guests (in order of appearance on the show)
Dr Annette Koy and Cameron Fee
Twitter: @CoretexGroup
Instagram: @CoretexGroup
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coretex-group/
Website: https://coretexgroup.com.au/
Jane Anderson
Twitter: @jane_anderson__
Instagram: @the_jane_anderson_
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeandersonpersonalbranding/
Website: https://janeandersonspeaks.com/
Tom Scantlebury
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomscantlebury/
Website: https://www.skybluecxs.com.au/
Nadja Petranovskaja
Twitter: @petranovskaja
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petranovskaja/
Website: https://petranovskaja.com/
Chris Huet
Twitter: @comms_coach
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrishuet/
Website: https://www.understood.net.au/
Murray Guest
Twitter: @inspiredenergyM
Instagram: @murrayguest
Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/murrayguest
Website: http://inspiremybusiness.com.au/
Kirsty Lewis
Twitter: @SOFfacilitation
Instagram:@schooloffacilitation
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-schooloffacilitation/
Website: https://www.schooloffacilitation.com/
Mel Kettle
Twitter: @melkettle
Instagram: @melkettle
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melkettle/
Website: https://www.melkettle.com/
Michael Bungay Stanier
Twitter: @mbs_works
Linkedin: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/michaelbungaystanier
Instagram: @mbs_works
Website: https://www.mbs.works/
Jason Knight
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonknightdesign/
Website: https://movedbydesign.com.au/
Ingrid Thompson
Twitter: @IngridLouiseT
Instagram: @healthynumbers.com.au
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ingridthompson/
Website: https://www.healthynumbers.com.au/
Sarah McVanel
Twitter: @SarahMcVanel
Instagram: @SarahMcVanel
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-mcvanel-msc-csp-pcc-chrl-csodp-7804387/
Website: https://greatnessmagnified.com/
Rachel Ben Hamou
Twitter: @peoplestorming
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeopleStorming
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/peoplestorming/
Website: https://www.peoplestorming.com/
Bill Jarrad
Twitter: @Bill_Jarrard
LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/billjarrard
Website: https://mindwerx.com/
Petra Zink
Twitter: @petra_zink
Instagram: @impaccct
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petrazink/
Website: https://www.impaccct.com/
Jenny Blake
Twitter: @jenny_blake
Instagram: @jennyblakenyc
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennyblake/
Website: http://www.pivotmethod.com/
Nikki Mcmurray
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki-mcmurray-8b07736/
Website: https://www.corporatelearningpartners.com.au/
Angela Henderson
Instagram: @angelahendersonconsulting
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-henderson-378aab106/
Website: https://www.angelahenderson.com.au/
Dr Michael J Consuelos
Twitter: @MJConsuelos
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjconsuelos/
Website: https://www.mjc.solutions/
Christine Burych
Twitter: @StarlingBrook
Instagram: @christineburych
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-burych-33531318/
Website: https://www.starlingbrook.com/
Myriam Hadness
Twitter: @myriamHadnes
Instagram: @myriamhadnes
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myriam-hadnes/
Website: https://workshops.work/
Show.Up: I’ve opened up a private community - and you’re invited to join as a Founding Member!
Find out more and join Show Up: A community for consultants, facilitators and trainers who want to score amazing opportunities (but don’t know how to market themselves with ease...yet!).
Doors are only open til Tuesday 12 May.
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Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
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Episode transcript:
Dr Annette Koy and Cameron Fee from Coretex Group: We wish we knew when we started our business - enjoy the small wins. You see we spent a lot of time chasing the big winds, yet everyday we have these small wins. And looking back it was really the small wins that gave us the biggest momentum and biggest sense of progress.
Jane Anderson from janeandersonspeaks.com: The thing that I wish I had learnt or I had known when starting my practice was that, to remember that it is your practice, it is your business. I think it's really easy to get caught up or fall into the challenge of comparisonitis. When we feel like we’re not moving quick enough, not being fast enough, not as good as this person. It's really easy I think to go into beating yourself up and falling into this situation where you really compare yourself and your progress to where others are at. The problem with that is, it doesn't help with your self talk, it doesn't help with your mindset. The reality is that you're only seeing that other person's practice or business at a stage or one of the chapters in their book. So it can look like they started at the same time as you but they actually didn't. They've been building their business for ten years. So it's your own ways, stop worrying about everybody else and just play it your way.
Tom Scantlebury from Skyblue Customer Experience Services: When I founded my business four years ago, the one thing I would've liked to have known then is how important the mindset shift is from somebody who owns her own business to somebody who had been an employee. So the early days it's really exciting and a lot of adrenaline. But you are carrying that whole business and all of its future in your head, on your shoulders 24/7. So that can lead to a fair bit of anxiety and burn out, and certainly it feels like you're not living the dream and you wake up in the middle of the night thinking about your business. What I've learned is that, it's really important to have some rituals in place to distinguish between business and work time and the other parts of your life. So I may have quite a few little things in place which makes sure that I don't start working until I meant to start work. And I celebrate the achievements of the day and do a few things before I kind of step into the personal compartment of my life. So I think it's important to compartmentalise and really prepare and think about what the impacts on your whole life is when you set out to start a business. So I would not have it any other way. Some people who have had the chance to run business and have not made it really work, their worst nightmare. Other people think it's a dream life until the reality comes to eat up. But I definitely would not have any other way.
Nadja Petranovskaja from More Shiny Eyes: I'm the creator of Wonder Cards. When I started my facilitation business in 1997 I wish I knew how important it is not to take myself so seriously.
Chris Huet from Understood:. When I started my communications, coaching business, I wish I was prepared for the roller coaster ride I had signed up for and that I knew that even though there'll be down days and when it looks like you're about to run out of money, they're more than made up for the good days when people are approaching you and asking you to do new things. And then if you just keep doing the right work, satisfying your customers, and reaching out to new ones, then on the whole, it's going to be an upward ride and to take those down days for the up days and be prepared for them. I wish I knew that.
Murray Guest from Inspire my Business: When I started my facilitation business five years ago. I wish I had known how important mindset and attitude are for a business success. Over the years I've invested in my money mindset and my attitudes and that certainly driven my business success.
Kirsty Lewis from the School of Facilitation: When I started SOF I really I wish I had known how to set up my finances so that I had a really clear picture of what money was available to me to invest in the business to pay myself and also to report myself with the profit that I was making. And I have achieved that now because I have read a brilliant book called Profit First. Go read it.
Mel Kettle, Communications Strategist and podcast host of This Connected Life: When I started consulting about fourteen years ago, I really wish I'd known a lot more about managing cash flow and the importance of knowing my numbers. In terms of sales, my bank account and especially how much I needed to give aside to pay the tax bill. I also wish I sought advice from an accountant who understood small business.
Michael Bungay Stanier of mbs.works and author of The Coaching Habit and the Advice Trap (among others): What do I wish I really knew, really understood when I started my business 20 years ago? Well I really wish I understood money, because you can be a great facilitator, you can be a great teacher, you can be a great writer, but unless you're comfortable asking for what you are worth, you are always gonna struggle. So, you need to understand marketing, you have to understand sales, but you need to understand how to price yourself. And the breakthrough for me was reading the book by Alan Weiss called Million Dollar Consulting. He was the first person who explained to me the concept of value pricing rather than this is my cost per hour or per half day or per day, it's about value pricing. Understand that and you'll never go hungry again.
Jason Knight from Moved by Design: What I wish I'd known 15 years ago with my consultancy, design consultancy, would have been two things. One is about how to do value based pricing rather than ally and the idea that feeling I guess worthy at the end of a design project. That book Win without Pitching by Blair Enns. The other would be markups and changes on client work and that would have been fall stage or markup. It's about client based programs, where clients can put comments or annotations on the actual designs and that took a lot of frustration away from the design process.
Ingrid Thompson from Healthy Numbers and author and host of the "So you want to start a business?' podcast: The one thing that I wish I knew when I started my consulting, coaching, mentoring business was to choose a niche. One key area of speciality as a focus for what I offer to the world. One day three of my biggest fans said to me separately "Ingrid we just don't understand what you do and who you work with. We cannot support you or help you or refer for you and of course and off course we'd love to." This was such a wake up call for me. Starting out I know this is challenging, and for various reasons we can do more than just what we say and we wanted to do more than just whatever this focus is. And this makes for a fussy fussy message. So I picked a line and I'm so grateful I did because now I support health and well-being professionals who are highly skilled at what they do with their clients. I help them create, build, and grow their practices, their studios, their businesses so they can do more of what they love doing.
Sarah McVanel, Recognition Expert at Greatness Magnified: Most of what I do is speaking and so I guess what I wish I had known when I first started my business was that there was an association for that - Canadian association of Professional Speakers. Because the folks that I have met in the community have been instrumental in referrals, support in helping me grow my business. Related to that as well is being an expert. It's a lot easier for people to refer to you and for you to be able to charge what you are worth when you claim your space. And if it could be just less exhausting by not having to keep up on so much research. The technology tip I'd share is there's a really cool CRM, mailing list, LMS system called ketra and that's what I would pick if I had to do it all over again.
Rachel Ben Hamou, Chief Facilitator at PeopleStorming:. I wish I'd known that it was okay to be opinionated. When I first started out making training in schools, I knew I had to create content that was informative, and educational and useful. But I was always nervous to give my opinion. Because I thought you know this will alienate some of my potential clients. Over time I realised it was exactly my opinion and my experience my clients pay me for. I finally internalised that not everyone will agree with me and not everything I say will resonate with everyone. But if I could reach one person, and I can connect with them deeply, then I've done something meaningful. And that's what I wish I had known from the start.
Bill Jarrad from Mind Works International: When we started Mindworks in about 1999. One of the things I wish I had known more about was the balance between marketing and actual work. So often you get busy and you forget about the marketing aspect and you tend to have a bit of a roller coaster ride in the way in which the business runs. So I wish I had spent more time thinking about that and managing the process overall.
Petra Zink, founder of ImpaCCCT and The360Talentco: The one thing I wish I had known before I started my first coaching business ImpaCCCt was simply building a product and putting it out there is the wrong way to go. It's about validating the idea and pre-sell the product before you put all your resources , time and energy in it. The one thing I would give you as an advice is to slow things down before you can speed things up. Good luck with everything.
Jenny Blake, author of Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One and host of the Pivot podcast: I've been self-employed running a speaking, coaching, and consulting business for nine plus years now and the one thing I wish I had started on the consulting side was licensing sooner than I did. In the beginning I was designing this bespoke training for different companies, I was so grateful to have a client, any client, especially big fancy brands and companies that I would work with and design the most customised bespoke solution, only to realise, the more clients I got, the more work I was creating for myself.
Instead as I started to transition towards licensing, I realised that If I came up with a really solid training with a beautiful presentation and matching workbook then I could offer that to companies on a licensing basis and it's even easier for them, it's even more turnkey.
You can see examples of this at pivotmethod.com/companies and the workbook at pivotmethod.com/workbook in case you want to get an idea on how you may apply this and start building this, even if you have a several year vision in mind for how it unfolds. Because I found it really to be a game changer. The other thing I'll say is that bespoke isn't bad, just make sure you maintain the IP and then every time somebody hires you, let's say it's to do a video series, that you own the rights to distribute, edit and use that in the future as well. In that way every time you do custom work for a client, it's a win-win. They get the content, they get to distribute it, and you get to keep leveraging that moving forward in your business as well.
Nikki McMurray from Corporate Learning Partners: When I started my facilitation business 14 years ago, I wish I knew how important it was to invest in myself and my own professional development. Whether it be marketing or accounting, or even sitting in on another professional facilitator. Chewing the facts, getting ideas, being inspired and also remembering what it's like to be a participant on the other side. The other thing I'd like to comment on is connecting with other professional facilitators who've been through the journey that you're embarking on. In those days there was no first time facilitator podcast or the Flipchart facebook or even LinkedIn. So I wish you all the very best in your journey.
Angela Henderson from Angela Henderson Consulting: Now I'm currently in my role as a business consultant at Angela Henderson Consulting but I've also run Australia's leading toy stores over the last decade. So when I think back to first starting on a business I wish I knew how important it was to pay to play. That's right, pay to play. Now what I mean by that is investing in yourself and learning from people who already have the skills and tools you need to move your business forward. But also when you pay to play you're not only getting the strategy you need to move your business forward but you're also being held accountable and more than you get access to that individual's persons network, their community. And when you have community you have connections, when you have connections, you have conversations, and when you have conversations, you have conversions. So my advice to you out there is pay to play in your business.
Michael J Consuelos, Principal at MJC Solutions: It’s so hard to narrow it down to just the one thing since I've learnt so much in the past year. It's also a great chance I think to reflect, and my instinct was to find the one thing that may be a surprise to me and helpful to your audience. So here it goes... You don't have to do it all yourself. As I started my journey I put a lot of pressure on myself to do everything and get everything just right. And then I realised I had so many people around me that could be helpful in so many different ways. They were able to help me with my writing, my podcasting, my website, I mean I don't really know what SEO was, I mean in theory I knew there was. So I reached out to my friend Jef, who I cycle with, and he does this for a living. And I just tapped into his knowledge and we went on a bike ride and he just did a great download on my brain, and we went back to my house to fix my website and it was great. It was fun, it was exciting and in the end I think it was better than if I did this all by myself. So once again my one bit of advice to you and your audience has been, you don't have to do it all yourself.
Christine Burych from StarlingBrook Leadership Consulting. When I started my facilitation business, I wish I knew how important it was to collaborate with other people. I had this thought I could go and do it alone and needed to prove to myself I could build this business, and what I realised is I really need the help of others. And so collaboration is absolutely key.
Myriam Hadnes, host of the Workshops Work podcast: Looking back to when I started my facilitation business, I wish I knew how my own energy impact the group. My impatience and judgement had an impact on the group dynamics. Today instead, I can step back, be present and trust the process and trust the group. I don't need to fix them. They will find the solutions that will work for them.
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