Training Tools

Training to Succeed in Life

2012-01-01T11:19:00.000-08:00

Reposted by popular demand

As we propel at the speed of light into 2012, I have noticed the need for more and more training of staff in the job market. You are probably thinking, of course, training on the job is a great thing and needed so that each employee can do a better job. Well, I would like to see training start a step further to address the lack of soft or social skills needed to be a productive team member.

Once upon a time, soft or social skills were taught in the home by parents. Children were always taught to say excuse me, thank you or a simple salutation of hello when walking into a room or elevator where others were already gathered. It seems to be the norm in certain parts of the country to avoid any human interaction at any cost; making eye contact is out of the question with the fear that someone may address you in some way.

Some of the places where we are all guilty of being unsociable or polite include:

Airplanes and other types of transportation– everyone seems to try wearing the invisible cloak from Harry Potter. If they don’t exist and I haven’t been introduced to them, why say hello or excuse me for coughing or sneezing all over the place without covering their mouths.

Supermarkets – apparently the word excuse me must be eliminated from one’s vocabulary as soon as they enter the store. Even saying hello to the cashier seems to be difficult for most people. Quite often a simple smile can do the trick. How often to you smile?

Restaurants – How often do you say hello to the people or person at the table next to you that you just showed your bottom too as you squeezed in to sit at your table. It’s always a good idea to say hello to your server and ask them how they are doing? Believe me, it will make his or her day because no one ever asks. The key here is to be sincere or don’t bother because people know when others are being fake.

Super Shuttle – Today I tried an experiment when taking Super Shuttle from Dulles International Airport. There were 3 other people on the bus and I wanted to try wearing my invisible cloak to see what would happen. Just as anyone would expect – absolutely nothing happened. People looked at each other and never made a sound. Half way through the 2-hour trip, I said something that made people laugh and from that moment on everyone was chatting with each other and having a delightful time. Even the driver chimed in with a few comments.

Walking to work while talking on your phone or trying to check emails is probably the rudest trait of all. Quite often those who strive to multi-task and get things done really aren't getting very much done at all, well at least not well. They also cut people off, bump into people and quite often fall down flat on the sidewalk. Challenge yourself, try walking to work or home without being attached to your mobile device one day out of each week. Figure out a reward for yourself if you can actually do it.

For the past year, I have been working in our nation’s capital, Washington, DC and the lack of social skills feels deeply rooted and here to stay. This lack of these skills has nothing to do with the amount of education that one may have, nor what their economic status is or can potentially be, or even one’s cultural background – it’s simply across the board throughout the workforce. It exists with people making over $100,000 and with those making less than $20,000 per year. Initially I thought that the lack of soft or social skills only existed with financially challenged people, but I was wrong. I challenge you to become more aware and observe for one day how many times someone was socially inept for the job they were doing. Have you ever noticed how excited we are to reward any worker for actually doing their job? For example, in restaurants when we find a great server we all tend to leave no less than a 20% tip when they are basically doing their jobs well. Most of us are so accustomed to bad service or difficult staff providing inferior outcomes that we are overjoyed when someone really does that job in what we consider exceptionally.

The challenge is to check yourself out first and become aware of the number of times you may have been rude or impolite to another person for no apparent reason or didn’t use the social skills that you were taught as a child or learned along the way to becoming an adult. Often we can all be guilty of being lost in the pressures of our work. Today I was craving a small dessert and my car drove me to the nearest Whole Food. Did I mention I was also hungry? Well, when the staff person presented herself to me I immediately started giving orders of what I wanted. When she returned I said to her, please forgive my rudeness; I forgot to say please and hello to you. She laughed and said you are the first person to say anything at all to me or smile. She then told me a story about how her young daughters ages 7 and 8 always remind her to say thank you and please. We had a good chuckle about it and promised to check ourselves and our behavior even during those stressed times.

After conducting trainings with local corporations, community organizations and government agencies it became clear that companies should be obliged to take training to the next level. Research states that most of us spend more time on our jobs than we do at home, therefore spending more time with our co-workers than with our families. Try counting the number of people that you may have contact with from the time you start your day to the end of your day. I conducted an experiment with myself and I was surprised at the number of people that I encountered throughout my day. Let’s see, it started with the concierge staff in my apartment building, people on the street that I speak to everyday, people that are lost and asking for directions, the clerk at Caribou Coffee, the security team in my building, people on the elevator and co workers. This list goes on and on and that’s only a small portion of the morning. In a day, I may come in contact easily with 75 to 100 people. All to often we assume that everyone has great manners and skills to communicate effectively if they have a college degree or if they are from the dominant culture in America. Fiction. There are a series of things that can be done to incorporate the workforce, where people spend so much time, into their lives. Here are a few examples that friends and colleagues shared with me over the Thanksgiving holiday:

New staff orientation or structured welcome– It’s important to introduce new staff to other staff members. Granted they may not remember all the names but it will be more difficult to not speak to someone the next day if they have been properly introduced.

Creating a team of energetic, outgoing staff members to be on a welcome committee. This team could share or develop a list of things to do in the neighborhood. For example, where to get coffee, lunch or the best place to meet friends for cocktails if they are new to the area. They could also provide information on the local transit system.

Take a new staff person to lunch day, especially if they are in your department.

Try talking to new staff members in everyday language instead of using acronyms which can be more confusing. If you must use things like COB (close of business) or other ridiculous words that really aren’t that easy even when you know what it stands for – at least in the beginning verbalize the entire meaning. For example, CDC – Centers for Disease Control, etc.

My challenge to you is to take a day to watch yourself and jot down your initial reactions

to others. Many people have told me that often they don’t interact with others, especially if they don’t know them because of perceived fear of the unknown. If someone is wearing a beautiful dress, tie or shoes share that thought with others. If someone’s label is hanging out alert him or her to the fact. Or if someone’s fly were down, they would appreciate knowing it before stepping into a meeting.

Remember, even a dog knows the difference between being kicked and stumbled over.

Tip: Try assuming the best of others.

Let us know your thoughts and what you have observed in your surroundings.

Training Starts At Home, or Should It?

2011-12-01T22:52:00.000-08:00

As we propel at the speed of light into 2012, I have noticed the need for more and more training of staff in the job market. You are probably thinking, of course, training on the job is a great thing and needed so that each employee can do a better job. Well, I would like to see training start a step further to address the lack of soft or social skills needed to be a productive team member.

Some of the places where we are all guilty of being unsociable or polite include:

Airplanes and other types of transportation– everyone seems to try wearing the invisible cloak from Harry Potter. If they don’t exist and I haven’t been introduced to them, why say hello or excuse me for coughing or sneezing all over the place without covering their mouths.

Supermarkets – apparently the word excuse me must be eliminated from one’s vocabulary as soon as they enter the store. Even saying hello to the cashier seems to be difficult for most people. Quite often a simple smile can do the trick. How often to you smile?

Restaurants – How often do you say hello to the people or person at the table next to you that you just showed your bottom too as you squeezed in to sit at your table. It’s always a good idea to say hello to your server and ask them how they are doing? Believe me, it will make his or her day because no one ever asks. The key here is to be sincere or don’t bother because people know when others are being fake.

Super Shuttle – Today I tried an experiment when taking Super Shuttle from Dulles International Airport. There were 3 other people on the bus and I wanted to try wearing my invisible cloak to see what would happen. Just as anyone would expect – absolutely nothing happened. People looked at each other and never made a sound. Half way through the 2-hour trip, I said something that made people laugh and from that moment on everyone was chatting with each other and having a delightful time. Even the driver chimed in with a few comments.

Walking to work while talking on your phone or trying to check emails is probably the rudest trait of all. Quite often those who strive to multi-task and get things done really aren't getting very much done at all, well at least not well. They also cut people off, bump into people and quite often fall down flat on the sidewalk. Challenge yourself, try walking to work or home without being attached to your mobile device one day out of each week. Figure out a reward for yourself if you can actually do it.

New staff orientation or structured welcome– It’s important to introduce new staff to other staff members. Granted they may not remember all the names but it will be more difficult to not speak to someone the next day if they have been properly introduced.

Creating a team of energetic, outgoing staff members to be on a welcome committee. This team could share or develop a list of things to do in the neighborhood. For example, where to get coffee, lunch or the best place to meet friends for cocktails if they are new to the area. They could also provide information on the local transit system.

Take a new staff person to lunch day, especially if they are in your department.

Try talking to new staff members in everyday language instead of using acronyms which can be more confusing. If you must use things like COB (close of business) or other ridiculous words that really aren’t that easy even when you know what it stands for – at least in the beginning verbalize the entire meaning. For example, CDC – Centers for Disease Control, etc.

My challenge to you is to take a day to watch yourself and jot down your initial reactions

Remember, even a dog knows the difference between being kicked and stumbled over.

Tip: Try assuming the best of others.

Let us know your thoughts and what you have observed in your surroundings.

Conducting Effective Meetings

2011-11-11T19:52:00.000-08:00

Due to popular demand, this month's blog will focus on the ability and tools needed to conduct effective meetings. From years of experience I have observed that the scarcity of effective leaders and managers. Heading one's staff into submission by using fear does not make anyone a good manager and certainly not a leader in any sense of the word. I had the great opportunity to attend a training on the many ways of conducting great meetings. Initially I didn't think that they could teach me anything new, but I was wrong. I walked away energized with new tools to add to my repertoire.

Ask anyone what makes a meeting a bad experience and people will be talking and sharing examples until the cows come home. Here are just a few examples that colleagues have shared with me:

Too much rambling on and on about nothing
No agenda or no following of an existing agenda
Poor facilitation skills
Too boring and monotone
Nothing to really talk about

Who to have at your meeting?

Those who can benefit
Those who can contribute

The following are the stages of a meeting:

Planning
Organization and Coordination
Conducting or Facilitation
Concluding / Wrap Up

Many managers call meetings all the time without substance, but merely as a soapbox. Conducting meetings just to report out on what a department has been doing is a waste of time, money and an insult staff members. This happens in the non-profit, corporate and governmental entities every single day. Attendees all dread such meetings and entertain themselves by secretly checking their email, text messages and dreaming of the death of the so-called leaders. The following are reasons to conduct a meeting:

To discuss a hot issue or crisis
Update staff members about an important issue
Team meeting
Strategic planning with an outcome and a call to action
Good news to be shared
Key management issues that are not about simply reporting out about what each manager did last week. Even managers get bored with poor leadership which seems to exists more and more.
Forecast or Planning for the future of the organization

There are a variety of roles that are necessary to conduct an effective meeting. Those include:

Facilitator or Leader
Participant
Scribe - All to often meetings are conducted and no one ever records notes from the meeting, making it difficult for hold members accountable
Time keeper - Keeps one "big mouth" from having diarrhea of the mouth
Parking lot attendant - The role monitors what items need to be placed on hold for later discussion

Creating an agenda can make your meeting successful and efficient. Most of you know what need to go in an agenda, but it's always nice to have a refresher. Being at a meeting without an agenda is like being at a restaurant without a menu. Always include:

Pre-meeting preparation
Purpose of the meeting
Time allocation
Topics / Items
Date of meeting
Time of meeting
Location of meeting
Action Items / Tasks

Tip for conducting effective meetings: We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Two ears to listen and to hear better. One mouth to speak clearly.

Please feel free to share your thoughts about great meetings and bad meetings with us. May your next meeting be an effective one.

Pr For Peanuts: Pr Firm Offers Unique Service | PRLog

2011-10-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

Pr For Peanuts: Pr Firm Offers Unique Service | PRLog

Death by Lecture

2011-10-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

Can you remember the last time you thoroughly enjoyed participating in a training or lecture? You may need a bit of time to dig deep in your memory banks to find the one training session that fired you up to make a difference. Don't feel alone, until last week I hadn't experienced an entertaining speaker for several years and kept asking myself, "What makes them think they are such a good speaker or trainer?"

There are many presenters who simply talk to hear themselves talk without evaluating if anyone is interested in what they are saying. That's all to say that a trainer or speaker who never pauses to catch a breath is usually the only one learning about him or herself because no one else is listening. I truly believe this is the reason text messaging is so popular, especially when we are not being entertained and given the exciting information that we hoped to discover.

Do you ever stop to ask yourself what you are like as a speaker or trainer? As a facilitator and trainer I am constantly practicing, learning from others and sharpening my presentation skills. A great trainer once shared a thought with me that I have never forgotten, amateurs work until they get it right, professionals work till it can't go wrong. I always strive to be a professional, always learning, always changing my presentation and listening to the audience.

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to witness two great presenters. The first presentation was a short lunchtime event on media perception and the way we see things, or don't see things. Our overall intuition or perception can sometimes deceive us or have an impact on our decisions for projects or other related work. The presenter was the best I have ever witnessed. His presentation was tight and well thought out. In other words he was prepared and in sync with the audience. I watched him very closely as he would go into 10 or 15 minutes of lecture, move into an interactive video or activity and constantly checked in with the audience for feedback, comments and questions. When he ended we all yearned for another session with this energetic presenter. He shared two videos with the group about seeing the gorilla in the room. Here is a link to the videos if you have not seen them. Monkey business illusion: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100714/03225710210.shtml

At another all day training on the topic of Crisis Communications and Management, hosted by Fleishman Hillard's DC office, was simply amazing. Attending an all day training is usually a clear signal to me that your head may hit the table before the first morning break. But this time I was dead wrong. Every presenter was entertaining, funny and full of information. Each one was ready to answer any question and listen to comments from the audience. My favorite speaker of the day was Andy Card. Mr. Card was the Chief of Staff for President George W. Bush. Initially I thought he would be dry and stuffy. To my excitement and surprise, Mr. Card was outstanding and great professional speaker that spoke for one hour without receiving a yawn from anyone in the room. He gave us factual information about disasters and crises, how to plan strategically, made his presentation interactive by including the audience in his discussion and he managed to keep us laughing while discussing a serious topic. Truly a professional.

Here are a few tips that can make you a hit at your next training:

Know your audience well

It's helpful to obtain as much information as possible about your audience which will help you to tailor your presentation
Information can be received through online surveys, phone calls or a brief survey card when your audience enters the room
It also helps to mingle and welcome the audience when they arrive to get a true feel of their attitude, etc.

Talk to and not at your audience

No one likes to be lectured to, even when sitting in a college classroom
Include your audience in the discussion or presentation
Try to give capsule or bite size pieces of information
The average listener loses interest after 30 to 45 minutes unless they are included in the conversation and also able to contribute. Remember your audience are smart people.

Keep the audience engaged

When possible, move around the room, wearing a wireless microphone
If you are stuck on stage, try to move around or be as animated as you can be, you should be truly interested in the topic you are sharing
If you have a good sense of humor, this is a time to use it

Reasons that make you want to remove a presenter from the microphone:

Boring speaker
Someone who likes to hear themselves talk.
Someone who always runs over the allotted time and ignores all the warning signs being waved by staff in the back of the room trying to give them the cut it off signal.
Someone who reads the PowerPoint presentation or their notes to the audience. Almost like a bedtime story. I think that we are all able to read the slides for ourselves.
Someone who never looks at the audience.
Someone who lectures with their back to the audience so they can read the slides.
Someone who keeps switching glasses in order to see the slides or to read their notes.
Someone who starts the training by admitting that they are not a very good speaker and may be dry.

As you can see, this list could continue on until the cows come home, but I will allow you to add to the list and share your list with me. Death by Lecture -- simply not worth the pain. Remember to have fun when you are presenting, your audience want to love your presentation and are ready to have a great time with you.

Eye Contact: Tips for Speakers

2011-09-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

Eye contact is essential for the speakers whether you are in a small meeting or addressing a crowd of 1000. Often, failing to use eye contact means you are losing one of the most important tools you have to connect and convince your audience about your message in the speaker audience relationship. Your position as the presenter will establish you as the leader of the group. Research shows that looking away from your audience may signal avoidance, looking at them signals approach and that audiences rate it highly. Here are a few tips:

Be sure you look at all sections of the room. Don't ignore one side or the other, or favor those in front without looking to the rear of the room. If you have trouble remembering to do this, write directions to yourself in your speech text. Look rear, look left, look right as reminders to yourself.

Audiences can sense when you are not connecting with them. A helpful tip is to make contact with 2 or 3 people in the audience and try to focus on them. Make sure that all 3 are not in the front way but all over the audience. It really does help to be at your workshop prior to the participants so that you will have time to develop a bond with them, introduce yourself and find out a little bit about each of them that you can refer to when presenting.

Eye contact can also emphasize an important point. Eye contact can be an important tool for visual learners, and can help audiences to remember and retain what you are saying. Use it to emphasize what you want them to recall, to indicate a specific group in the audience or to refer to what a speaker or participant pointed out.

Remember, it's great to have a mini chat with your workshop or seminar participants before the training. It helps to address key members of your audience and refer back or to call on them during your presentation. Looking over the room and at certain individuals really helps to create a bond between you and your audience.

The most important part of this exercise is to remember to have FUN and to enjoy your presentation.

Social Media Tips: To Use or Not to Use

2011-08-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

Social Media is one of the most exciting avenues to not only reaching, but also influencing your target audience. During my recent training gigs, when organizations were asked if they used some form of social media, they all yelled YES WE DO! When asked why they used social media the responses took on a whispering of reasons. Mostly, organizations admitted that they used social media because everyone else seems to be using it. Other answers included:

· Board told us to start using it

· To raise money

· To increase our pool of new supporters

· To enhance relationships with existing audiences

· To round out their communication mix of creating awareness

· A staff member said that we should

Social media links are being used in magazines, attached to articles and advertisements for just about everything. They also said that the news media uses it at the end of their broadcast to let you know that you can follow their news by becoming a fan.

The biggest concern that my workshop participants continue to have is how should I use social media? Most organizations clearly stated that social media was comprised of Facebook, Twitter and You Tube. Please be aware that these are the best known and the largest social media sites today. They were quite familiar with these three machines. They were rather surprised when I shared many other modes of social media transportation with them, which by the way caused them think even harder about photo and video sharing sites that they have been curious to try out.

This month, the President of the United States announced that he was now using Foursquare to let people know where he is or has been. So much for the secret service fellows eh? In our workshop we addressed a few video and photo sharing sites and how to upload and embed those videos into your documents. Many were familiar with Shutterfly (http://www.shutterfly.com/) Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/) and Snapfish (http://www.snapfish.com) and Tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com).

In terms of video and photo sharing, my workshop participants were pleased to be able to create You Tube accounts and upload files and videos.However, they were overwhelmed with excitement when they were introduced to Animoto, a site that formats your photos into a beautiful slide show/video with lovely music that is available for your selection. It also allows the user to upload their music. The results were magnificent and participants couldn’t wait to create an account. Check it out when you get a moment at http://www.animoto.com.

Interested in learning more about social media? Check out The New Social Learning: Guide to Transforming Organizations Through Social Media by Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner. Click on the following link to download your very own copy at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4280888/Social%20Media/TheNewSocialLearning_eBook.pdf.

Check out Dropbox (http://www.dropbox.com/) while you are at it too. A great way to store your documents. If you need an invite, just email me and I will send you an invitation to join.

Next time – Promotions West will be sharing Twitter Tips that will help you with your tweeting. Any ideas out there please leave your comments and they will be greatly appreciated.

Social Tools Increase Employee Interruptions

2011-08-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

Collaboration and social tools designed to increase productivity are actually

costing businesses millions of dollars per year in lost productivity, according to a

survey of more than 500 U.S. employees conducted by online market research firm uSamp (United Sample) and commissioned by social email software provider harmon, i.e. Nearly 60% of work interruptions involve email, social networks, text and instant messaging, or switching windows between applications. According to the report, 45% of employees work just 15 minutes (or less) before getting interrupted.

During the upcoming days and weeks when you are sitting at your desk, make a list of the number of times that you get interrupted by co-workers, phone calls, emails or other types of disturbances. Ever wonder why it’s so challenging to get through that well designed “To Do” list. Very often I have to transfer my to do items to the next week.

According to USamp collected data, the follow are common workplace distractions listed by activity. I am sure that the list of activities in our busy lifestyle will continue to increase. Let me know some of your daily distractions.

Distractions	Percentages
Phone calls	28%
Processing emails	23%
Toggling between apps	10%
Talking with Co-workers	10%
Facebook, personal web searches	9%
Instant messaging	6%
Text messaging	5%
Ad hoc meetings	5%
Web searches	3%
Tweets	0%

How Not to Facilitate a Training

2011-06-15T21:22:00.000-07:00

This week I had the opportunity to participate in a government training. Initially I was in shock, then in utter horror when I realized that the training presenters were quite serious about their presentation styles. I don't know if it's a government style of presenting or if it was a rare and unusual moment. After the 30+ hour training of observing people nod off into deep sleeps during each session, I started to ask everyone for their opinion about the teaching style that has helped me to create this month's blog on things not to do when presenting.

I must admit that all of the presenters were intelligent people interested in sharing their knowledge. For us in the audience, it was a missed opportunity to have fun and to learn at the same time. Here is a list of items that should be avoided at any cost when presenting:

Dryness of materials presented. Very often as a trainer or facilitator you may not be able to select the materials or topics to be discussed, but it's better to try and make the most of it and make the topic real for the audience. It's extremely important to understand your audience and learn as much as you can about them prior to the training. Even conducting a mini survey asking basic questions may help you to prepare your presentation.

Fake humor. If you don't have a good sense of humor that can be incorporated into your presentation, then it's better to not fake it. The audience always knows the difference between what's fake and what's real.

Sharing stories. Before attending this government training, I have always encouraged trainers to share their life stories with their audiences as it can develop a bond between the speaker and the listeners. However if no one in the room can understand or relate to any of your stories you may want to stop ASAP.

Ignoring your audience. Too often facilitators will power through their presentation without looking at one single person or face in the audience. When facilitating it's extremely important to be able to read the room for interest and alertness. It's a clear signal when 1/3 of your audience is yawning, falling asleep or texting. Remember to talk with your audience and not at them. It has been proven to be one of the fastest way to lose your audience.

Presenting with your back. Everyone knows this, but, yet too many people keep their backs to the audience as they read every single line from the slides as if the audience is too stupid to be able to read the slides for themselves. This is one of the #1 reasons to kill a facilitator without guilt no matter how nice the back side may appear.

Overcrowded Slides. Slides with too much information on them can be annoying and difficult to read. As the information increases on each slide, the font gets smaller and smaller, especially when charts are used. Each slide should have no more than 5 lines. The purpose of slides are guide to the facilitator. They are not to used to write out the entire discussion that will only be read or repeated, making it a recipe for a slow death.

No audience participation. Every good training session should include participants in every step of the way. It provides a reinforcement to lessons uncovered and lessons learned. It's also an opportunity for training participants to exchange information with each other.

Starting / Ending late. It's important to start the meeting each day on time and to finish on time. Participants respect a trainer to start on time and will absolutely adore you if you finish 15 minutes early, cutting them a bit of slack.

Reading from a script. Often trainers who are called in as a last minute replacement will often read from a script without looking at their audience. Older trainers will often wear reading glasses and keep taking them on and off in order to see the print and to see the audience. This can be quite annoying to training participants. If you have vision problems, try making the font as large as possible on your script so that it's not laughable. Remember, you want to be taken as a serious presenter.

Fumbling with the equipment. It pays to check out your training room, equipment and all other logistics ahead of time. Many presenters will waste valuable time trying to figure out how to make the slides move backwards and forwards. Often facilitators want to include a funny video or a video that may be only funny to them, but they can figure out how to have it as part of the powerpoint presentation and will have to leave the presentation to open a browser and search for the video to show. Again, wasting valuable time and appearing to be less than professional.

Just remember that the best part of facilitating a training is to have fun as the presenter and to make it an enjoyable experience for your audience. Being prepared and aware of the needs of your audience leads to a very successful training. There are many great training tools, just remember to use them appropriately.

Have you experienced a training that could have used a kick? Share that information with us at Promotions West.

Handling Team Problems with Finesse

2011-03-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

Keep your team on target:

Teams can easily get sidetracked for a variety of reasons. Their sense of direction may weaken as a result of your leadership style, the team's internal working or conflicts that may exist within the team.

Find out what the problem may be:

As soon as you realize there is a problem, deal with it immediately. The most important piece is to identify the problem. In many cases the problem could exist for the following reasons:

· Misunderstood or ill-defined goals

· Lack of focus on team dynamics

· Lack of communication among team members

· Lack of commitment to the team’s performance

· Gaps in critical skills

· Unresolved internal conflict

· External misunderstanding, hostility, or indifference from other groups

Resolving the problem:

Don’t avoid or deny the problem by hoping that it will simply just go away. Problems and issues have a way of hanging around and growing larger and more annoying if ignored.

Often there are simple things that you can do to help a team to get back on track. For example:

· Lead a discussion the reviews the team’s purpose, approach and performance goals.

· Establish goals and a course of action to achieving them

· Share new information and a different perspective.

· Share outside information and data via benchmarks and case studies.

· Remember to tell your tell team how much you appreciate their efforts and their work. Often a simple “Thank You” is all that team members may need from their leader or a pat on the back.

The art of leading a team is to persuade a person who is unmotivated – which can range from a community outreach manager, and executive director to an administrative assistant – to do his or her job. As the team leader, you must always show appreciation. Remember to thank people for the simplest things like opening a door. How many of us have worked for and with people who never uttered words “Thank You”, but instead focused on what you weren’t doing according their non-verbal expectations of you?

One of the lessons I learned early in my career was that leading a strong and successful team takes an entire team’s effort in constructing a positive relationship.

Grabbing the Attention of Your Audience

2011-02-13T21:07:00.000-08:00

If you fail to grab the attention of your audience with your opening sentences, it won't matter how brilliant the rest of your presentation may be because nobody is going to pay much attention. However if you are fortunate enough to engage them at the very beginning, you will increase their accessibility to all that you are trying to communicate and share. Here are several quick and easy recipes that will help you to hit the ground running.

Make it Personal

There is no faster way to create interest with your audience then in the form of story. Personal accounts, whether they focus on adversity, nostalgia or triumph, can create an instant rapport. The audience wants to know that you can relate to things that they have gone through in their lives. Quite often presenters will talk at their audience, instead of to them with the same canned speech that they have used for every audience, regardless of the age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or level of education to name a few.

Share a Fact or Statistical Information

Sharing a key fact or piece of data that relates to your topic and may affect your audience and ease the introduction of a challenging topic. For example, if you were doing a workshop on social marketing, one could kick off the session by explaining the differences between traditional and social marketing and why social marketing is able to influence and change difficult behaviors.

Keep Them on the Edge of Their Seats

If you manage to pique the attention of your audience in the very beginning, there is a great chance that they will be with you throughout the end of your presentation. Remember to always invite your audience to participate in your discussion and to anticipate at the same time.

Create a Series of Mini Stories

To pull your audience into your presentation, it can be helpful to orient them with a series of connected “reality snapshots”. If you were presenting about Consumer Scams and Fraud, your audience will be interested in hearing how others, like them, are being targeted. One of the recent scams occurring throughout California today are fake calls alerting consumers that they have violated the law by not turning up for jury duty and that a warrant will be issued for their arrest immediately unless the caller can collect all of their personal information in order to resend the notice that was never received. Your audience will be on the edge of their seats for every detail and to learn ways to prevent it from happening to them and to their family and friends.

Using Humor

If you are a naturally people person with a great sense of humor, by all means do use it at the right times. It can serve to reduce anxiety by making people feel comfortable, lighten the mood and it can leave your participants looking forward to your next thought. However, if you are not a natural funny person, it’s recommended not to even try pretending. An audience can immediately identify a fake or nervous presenter. It’s always better to be yourself.

Training Tip

Try to discover the background of your potential participants that will be attending your training. Knowing as much about them can only be an asset to the Trainer. When doing a presentation on a certain topic, it’s always best to know how much your audience will know about the topic, which will help you, the trainer to better target his or her presentation as not to bore the audience.

Facilitator Behavior and Strategies

2011-01-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

How you behave as a facilitator can make or break your effectiveness. The more groundwork you do, the better you will become as a facilitator. Here are some suggested parameters for facilitator behavior.

· Be Informed. Successful facilitators always gather extensive data about their prospective participants in order to fully understand both their business and their needs. They survey and interview participants, read background reports and use prepared questions to build a complete picture of the group’s situation.

· Be Optimistic. Facilitators do not allow disinterest, antagonism, shyness, cynicism or other negative reactions to throw them off. They try instead to focus on what can be achieved and to draw the best from each participant.

· Be Consensual. Facilitation is fundamentally a consensus building process. Facilitators always strive to create outcomes that reflect the ideas of all participants equally.

· Be Flexible. Successful facilitators always have a process plan for all meetings, yet at the same time must always be ready to toss it aside and change direction if that is what is needed. Really great facilitators bring alternative strategies and possess a good command of process tools.

· Be Understanding. There are great pressures on employees in today’s workplace. Facilitators need to understand this and recognize that antagonistic or cynical behaviors are a result of high stress levels.

· Be Alert. All great facilitators are expert people watchers. They pay careful attention to group dynamics and notice what is going on at all times. All process leaders need to train themselves to be watchful of both how people interact and how well they are achieving the task.

· Be Firm. Good facilitation is not a passive activity. It often takes a substantial level of assertiveness to keep people and activities on track. Facilitators must be ready to step in and direct the process if the situation calls for it.

· Be Unobtrusive. The facilitator should do as little talking as possible. The participants should be doing all of the talking. The facilitator says only enough to give instructions, stop arguments, keep things on track and sum up. Trying to be the centre of attention or make yourself look important is a misuse of your position.

· Let the Participants Excel. Facilitating should be an egoless activity. The purpose is to make the group succeed, not to make you look really important and clever. An effective facilitator will leave a group convinced that “We did it ourselves!”

Preparation and Practice Makes Perfect

2010-12-02T14:40:00.000-08:00

There are two secrets to making a good presentation: preparation and practice. Take the time to prepare properly and your chances of success will increase enormously.

Defining your purpose

What do you want to communicate to your audience?

Before you start to prepare your presentation, decide what you want to achieve. Focus on the purpose of the presentation at every stage to ensure that your presentation is relevant and efficient. Here are a few points to remember when planning for your presentation:

· Presentation should to relevant, simple and to the point.

· The audience will be impressed by the depth and breadth of your knowledge and honesty rather than by a show of fake intellect or arrogance.

· A positive attitude, energy and enthusiasm for the subject will speak volumes to your audience. Your audience will remember you long after the details of your speech have been forgotten.

· Once you have written your speech, remember to cut it, cut it, and cut it again.

Know your audience

It’s very important to know as much about your audience as possible. It will help you to know the level of knowledge that exist in the room as well as individuals that can be used as experts to help answer questions.

Be yourself

Unless you are a trained actor or actress, it’s difficult trying to be anyone other than yourself. We all bring different assets to the table that complements the overall team. Concentrate on defining and utilizing your best assets. If you have a strong voice, use it to your advantage. If you have a talent for being humorous, use it to make the audience feel comfortable.

Using Good Body Language

2010-10-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

At every moment of your waking life, you are sending out nonverbal signals about your feelings and intentions. It’s possible to use this body language in a presentation to help reinforce your message. Keep an open posture at all times, avoiding crossing your arms or creating a barrier between you and the audience. Use hand gestures selectively for emphasis, but don’t gesture so much with your hands become a distraction. When relaxed, your body language will reinforce your message naturally, but using the appropriate gestures can help you disguise your nerves.

Remember the following tips:

· Eye contact establishes positive rapport with your audience

· Make eye contact with somebody in the audience at every available opportunity

· Relaxed body language conveys confidence

· An open jacket presents an image of honesty

· Open hand gestures emphasize key points

· Sharing a relevant anecdote will put you at ease when speaking

Presentation Do’s and Don’ts:

· Do use simple, concise language whenever possible for clarity

· Do use eye contact to obtain feedback from the audience. Their body language will reveal their reactions to your presentation

· Do keep pauses specific and emphatic. Use them to show your audience to absorb what you say

· Don’t ever apologize for your lack of speaking experience

· Don’t mumble or hesitate. If you lose your place, stay calm until you find it

· Don’t drop your voice at the end of each sentence. It will sound as if you are not sure of what you are saying

Finally, use the 3 Es in your presentation. Every presentation has three essential objectives. The first aim is to educate: the audience should learn something from your speech. The second is to entertain: the audience should enjoy your presentation. The final element is to explain: all parts of your speech should be clear to your audience.

Give your pitch a Facelift

2010-10-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

What do you do? That's usually the first question a new contact will ask you at a meeting, conference or at a social gathering.

It’s a simple enough question, used often for starting a conversation. Yet the answer you provide to that question can determine whether the conversation continues or stops dead in its tracks. Everyone needs a clear, concise and engaging way to answer the question, “What do you do?”

Here are a few ideas about how to refine and refresh your quick pitch:

· Know your target audience. Knowing exactly who would benefit from your product or service is critical. We all must be able to communicate ideas that others will recognize, so they will see how we can help them. You should have the ability to adjust your pitch, depending on your audience.

· Understand what the other person cares about, his or her concerns and priorities.

· Talk about your results, not how you achieve them. For example, if you are a consumer financial literacy educator, just don’t talk about all the consumer issues that exists, you might say that you help communities all over the country to take charge of their financial lives.

· Connect with your own passion and enthusiasm.

· Pay attention to how people respond. The goal of an elevator speech is to get people interested and have them ask more questions. If they don’t ask questions, you may want to adjust what you are talking about so people can recognize the value or benefit that you provide.

· It’s also important to listen to what the other person is saying to you. Quite often they will tell you exactly what they are looking for or interested in learning or hearing from you.

· Less is more. Most people like to receive information in capsules or bite size pieces.

Speaking Effectively to Your Audience

2010-09-20T23:38:00.000-07:00

Once you are actually in the room with your audience, you must focus on delivering the most engaging presentation possible. You will achieve your best performance if you speak effectively, project a positive image, and keep your audience engaged. Remember, your presentation is not about you, but about what you are offering to support and inspire your audience. Here are some suggestions:

Make your presentation conversational. Know your audience.

Avoid the use of jargon or terms that may be unfamiliar to the audience.

Watch the audience for non-verbal clues about their response.

Breathe. It helps you relax and reduces filter language such as “um” and “er”

To use your voice to it’s best advantage, keep its tone natural and conversational. Avoid yelling or talking too loud into the microphone, which could turn people off. However, do speak loudly enough for everyone. In most cases, you can do this by speaking to the most distant person in the room. Here are a few tips:

· Avoid raid fire or drawn out speech. Practice with a colleague or team member to get feedback.

· Be expressive. Don’t speak in monotone. Raise and lower your voice to make your point.

· Enunciate and pronounce words clearly.

· It’s also important to remember to not to interrupt a team member when they are facilitating or presenting to the audience. Interrupting a team member can cause them to lose track of their thoughts. In addition, it also confuses the audience in terms of who is in charge. If you feel that something need to be said to your team member, one should:

· Make a note of your thoughts and speak to your team members after their presentation so that they can make a note of the information the next time they are presenting; or

· If you are facilitating and you are not sure of the answer, you can call on a team member for help or let the audience know that you will get the information and report back to them later during the day.

· It’s also a good idea to place difficult questions or questions that you may not have the answer to at the time on a “Parking Lot” easel or pull information from your audience.

In closing, remember there are ways to present a positive image to your audience. Your confidence and commitment to your message is reflected by your demeanor and body language. To optimize your effectiveness, make sure to do the following:

· Project confidence through your dress and presence.

· Make sure your facial expressions convey interest in the audience. If you are too nervous to look at the entire audience, focus on individuals instead.

· Make and maintain eye contact with audience members at all times.

· Be humorous when possible.

Tips for Presenting Effectively:

· Do not talk from a script. Talk from notes. There is a difference.

· Face your audience and make eye contact.

· When you want control or more involvement, or to become a member of the group, walk around your audience. Depending on your personality, you may reach out and touch them.

· Use gestures in a relaxed and normal way.

· Use your voice effectively.

Keep your focus on your message and on your audience.

Lead without being a control freak

2010-08-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

Lead Without Being a Control Freak
Facilitation is a way of providing leadership without taking the reins. As a facilitator, your job is to get others to assume responsibility and to take the lead.
The facilitator’s job is to act as a referee. That means you watch the action, more than participate in it. You control which activities happen. You keep your finger on the pulse and know when to move on or wrap things up. Most important, you help members define and reach their goals.
When facilitating, use the following core practices:
Stay neutral on content: Your job is to focus on the process role and avoid the temptation of offering opinions about the topic under discussion. Use questions and suggestions to offer ideas that spring to mind, but never impose opinions on the group.
Listen actively: Look people in the eye, use attentive body language and paraphrase what they are saying. Always make eye contact with people while they speak, when paraphrasing what they have just said and when summarizing their key ideas. Also use eye contact to let people know they can speak next and to prompt the quiet ones in the room to participate.
Paraphrase to clarify: This involves repeating what people say to make sure they know they are being heard, to let others hear their points of view a second time and to clarify key ideas.
Ask questions: This is the most important tool you possess. Questions test assumptions, invite participation, gather information, and probe for hidden points. It will allow you to bypass the symptoms and get at the root causes.

Use the flip chart: It helps to keep track of emerging ideas as well as final decisions. Notes should be brief and concise. They must reflect what the participants have said, not your interpretation of what was said.

Keep time: Appoint a timekeeper to call out time markers, or use a timer to help keep the group on track.

Play Ping-Pong: Picture yourself standing at the flip chart with a Ping Pong paddle in one hand. If someone asks a question or makes a comment, redirect it by sending it back to someone else to answer or build on. This is a great way to get participants to interact with one another.

Test assumptions: Often you need to bring the assumptions people are operating under out, into the open and clarify them so that they are clearly understood by everyone. Assumptions may need to be challenged before a group can explore new ground.

Synthesize: Don’t just record the ideas of participants, but get participants to comment and build on each others thoughts to ensure that the ideas recorded on the flip chart represents collective thinking. It can build consensus and commitment.

Hold up a mirror: It helps to tell the group how they look to you so they can interpret their actions and make corrections.

Summarize periodically: A great facilitator listens attentively to everything that is said, and then offers concise and timely summaries. Summarize when you want to restart a discussion that has come to a halt, or to end a discussion when things seem to be wrapping up.

Label sidetracks: Remember, it’s your responsibility to let the group know when they are off track. (i.e. “We are now discussing something that isn’t on our agenda. What does the group want to do?”)

Park it: At every meeting, tape a flip chart sheet to a wall to record all sidetrack items. Later, these items can be reviewed for inclusion in a future agenda or later during the day. Parking lot sheets let you capture ideas that may be important later while staying on track.

Use the spell check button: Most people are nervous enough about writing on flip charts without having to worry that they are spelling every word correctly. You can relax everyone by drawing a spell check button at the top right corner of every sheet. Tell participants that they can spell creatively, since pressing the spell check button automatically eliminates all errors.

Outreach to African Americans

2010-08-14T09:52:00.001-07:00

Outreach to African Americans

Conducting outreach to African American and other ethnic communities can be challenging if it's a new experience for you and/or your organization. One of the most important lessons to be learned is to know as much as you can about your target audience. It will help you to devise a strategic plan.

It's always wise to follow these steps in reaching the African American audience:

Plan your approach
Develop a list of goals and objectives
Conduct a needs assessment with your audience
Understanding attitudes and culture
Ways to reach your audience
Develop a marketing or communications plan for your event or project
Plan your media relations efforts or earned media
Evaluate your outreach efforts
Identify key strategies and tactics

When preparing your outreach efforts, public awareness campaign or event, remember that every campaign is designed to:

Create awareness
Educate and inform
Remind the audience of your message
Call to think
Call to act

It's also important to involve the target audience in your research and campaign. It's helps the target audience to feel invested in your outreach activities. Ascertain the challenges and barriers that may prevent your audience from participating in your outreach and engagement activities.

For more information on outreach activities, please download a free copy of our e-book at entitled, Outreach to African Americans at http://promotionswest.com/Welcome.html.

Stage Fright

2010-08-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

Coping with stage fright

You are about to facilitate a workshop. People are starting to enter the training room. Your executive director or general manager is sitting up front. Funders are sitting in the back of the room. Your boss stands up to introduce you and you walk toward the stage.

As you approach the front of the room your confidence fails. Your stomach starts doing flips, your palms are sweating, and your mouth feels like it's full of cotton balls. You pick up your notes and your hands are slightly shaking. As you start to speak, your voice quivers a bit. Has this ever happened to you? Welcome to the world of stage fright. Most professionals and business people have stated that they prefer instant death over standing up and speaking to an audience.

You are not alone if you have had this experience. Almost everyone has, even people who regularly speak to groups. Preparation is critical in overcoming stage fright. There are a few concepts that may help you to avoid stage fright:

Know your audience:

Before making a presentation, it’s always important to acquaint yourself with both the audience and the setting. Try talking to a few people who will be in the audience before you start. Reviewing the list of participants will give you a better idea of the organizations that will be attending the workshop.

Remember to look over the setting before you present. Find out where you will be speaking and try to get there early. Check out the room’s acoustics, sit in a chair and see the room from the audience’s perspective. Test the equipment and assume nothing. Be flexible—it’s the key to being a successful trainer.

Prepare your material:

Never underestimate how important good research and preparation are to reducing your anxiety. Knowing what you want to accomplish, what you are going to say, and how you are going to say it, will make you feel less nervous. Mark Twain said that it took him 3 weeks to prepare an impromptu speech. Here are four rules for preparing your presentation:

Know your topic. Audiences can sense when you are bluffing and feel that you are unsure of your topic.
Prepare more material than you think you will use. If you need to give a minute or 45 minute presentation, develop enough materials to last longer. It's better to cut back than to run out of things to say.
Consider questions your audience may ask you. Come up with answers to potential questions before you give your presentation. Either incorporate the answer into your presentation or hold them in readiness in case they come up.
Memorize the first 60-seconds of your presentation. The greatest anxiety is experienced at the beginning of every speech. It could make you more comfortable allowing you to get rolling smoothly.
Avoid rigid rules. Remember to use humor in your presentation if possible. It allows the audience to relax a bit and giggle. They tend to be alert and waiting for the next funny comment that will come from you.

Usually after your presentation, participants will come up to you and congratulate you on a job well done. Most speakers who think that they are nervous don't really appear to be nervous to the audience at all. Stop beating yourself, chances are you are a great presenter and facilitator. The more you practice, the more confident you will be as a speaker. Most importantly, remember to have fun with your material, your presentation and most importantly with the audience. You will find that the audience wants to have a good time too.

Remember, every presentation has 3 essential objectives. The first aim is to educate: the audience should learn something from your presentation or speech. The second is to entertain: the audience should enjoy your presentation. The final element is to explain: all parts of your speech should be clear to your audience.

Remember to enjoy each and every presentation.