Johnnie Moore’s Podcast

This video shares my recent experience hosting a workshop for facilitators. A session on the second day captures how I focus on practice, rather than techniques. In practice, you bring your attention to what is happening which means you too may experience uncertainty. In contrast, a technique is more like something you do expecting a certain result. I also talk about my preference for experiential...

I’m hosting again in Cambridge next April. This is a little announcement video, with a little footage taken from this year’s workshop. I've come to believe that when everyone's attention seems to be under constant challenge, the ability to give people careful attention is going to become a kind of master skill. When we do this, all sorts of creative things become possible. This is theme that runs...

There’s a great line in the first Lord of the Rings movie where Gandalf assumes great power but then shifts status to create relationship. This gets me thinking about how how we might all use some of that skill to create a bit of magic of our own… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnniem.substack.com

I remember, long ago, a colleague arriving for a workshop with a suitcase full of equipment. But I’ve been wondering about the potential of showing up with nothing - so that we really bring our focus into what’s happening live in front of us. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnniem.substack.com

In a darkened theatre, the experience of being alone in the ghost light creates a sense of excitement and possibility. I feel that when I start working live in front of a group. There’s something relational that happens in the moment, where I feel alive to possibilities in a way that doesn’t happen in a planning process. I feel this is connected to what it really means to ‘read the room’. This is...

I caught some of the early morning light in Cambridge to follow up on my last video. I share a story of a sleepless night, a big challenge, and putting my trust in someone else’s judgment. Our primal need for real connection doesn’t vanish, even in the frenzy of content and contention out there. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bon...

I aim to record these videos in a single take, not aiming for perfection. Rough edges and pauses are part of what human connection is about. What brings conversations to life is often missed when we aim too high, or allow AI to take over. It’s often little stories that provide us with the connection we need, and to keep us grounded when there’s seems a lot of pressure to talk in grand abstractions...

What I learned singing to strangers on the subway, and why emotional connections matters even more in a hi-tech era. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnniem.substack.com

When we are flooded with information and advice, we risk a kind of cognitive overload. AI hallucination goes beyond errors of fact; human thinking is of wholly different quality. When facilitating, more and more I want to sense the next move at my fingertips, it’s an embodied practice of giving moment-by-moment attention. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subsc...

This is part of the space we’ll be exploring on a workshop in Cambridge in September. Details here: https://creativefacilitation.com/cfcam26/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnniem.substack.com

If we think meetings are mostly about sharing ideas and information, we may be missing something simpler than creates an important sense of belonging. A game I learnt from the world of improv theatres brings this to life in a primal and often hilarious way. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnniem.substack.co...

I found myself thinking about the play I studied as a teenager - and what it tells us about managing an uncertain world of performances we can’t trust. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnniem.substack.com

Managing anxiety is a familiar challenge for facilitators. Being able to meet the unexpected with calm is usually pretty helpful. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnniem.substack.com

I make short videos outdoors, and I always feel a flicker of performance anxiety just before I start — which is apt, because performance is exactly what I want to talk about. Facilitation is a performance, and I think we don’t pay enough attention to how we show up, beyond our favourite processes and techniques. I’m running a two-day workshop in Cambridge this September exploring just that. Get in...

I’m hosting a two-day workshop this September. Last year about 13 people attended and I’m expecting a similar number this year. We’ll spend two lively days exploring how to be a more responsive, engaging facilitator and how to find more satisfaction doing it. Although you will likely pick up some new techniques, the focus will be on your performance as a facilitator. My own training in gestalt psy...

I shot this in a single eight-minute take, which is in the spirit of an experience of Ralf Wetzel’s workshop, Leading from the Clown. Clown training is probably the deepest and most challenging work I’ve done. Enjoy. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnniem.substack.com

Meeting a friend in the pouring rain, I ended going with him to pub instead. An observation of how his eyes closed when thinking connected to a conversation about inside-out expression and the importance of expressing ourselves from within, rather than being swept along by external stimuli. The conversation left me operating in a slower, more internally-driven way—a mellow creativity that feels de...

I recently thanked an optician’s receptionist for making me feel welcome, and her tearful reaction made me realize how rarely she must be noticed. This stayed with me. Despite technology’s promises of personalization, we’re drowning in sales messages and surveys, leaving many of us feeling unseen. In my team coaching work, I’ve noticed how presentation content can overwhelm personal connection—lik...

A simple experiment with eye contact on Zoom feels like a microcosm of how I like to work with groups. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnniem.substack.com

I’ve been talking to people who are coming to my facilitation training workshop in November and found myself riffing on an old Monty Python sketch - to talk about the times when I want to offer more of an explanation of what I’m doing. And expanding on my more improvisational approach to the work. Details of the workshop . This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subs...

I observed a corporate MD's masterful stage presence at a conference, but later saw his insecure, controlling nature privately. This performative "big P presence" contrasts with authentic presence. Equally, true presence isn't all about peaceful retreat spaces, but being open and responsive to life's energy. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get...

There’s a difference between “Big I" improv (fast, clever, funny and showy) and "Small I" improv (being sensitive to small gestures and moments). Facilitation is much more about the second than the first. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnniem.substack.com

In this video I contrast two kinds of leadership stories. Many are like that of Ernest Shackleton - heroic struggles against adversity. In contrast his rival explorer, Amundsen was much more successful in a less exciting way. Maybe we need to spend less time focussing on big excitement and see the beauty in small details, if we’re willing to be a bit more patient with things that may at first seem...

There will be two threads running through this - techniques, and then performance or presence. In the video I say more about how the latter can be a lot more important than the particular recipe you follow. If you’d like to know more, let me know. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnniem.substack.com

I was recently at a facilitation event with Rob Poynton where the client wanted a "pure" approach after bad experiences with know-it-all facilitators. Rob suggested we act as mirrors to the group - making observations about what we see rather than telling people what to do. This metaphor has been on my mind since, and I explore it in this short video This is a public episode. If you would like to...