First Time Facilitator

Send Leanne a message I spend TOO many time designing workshops, making sure every activity, every piece of content is fit for purpose! Wouldn't it be great if planning a workshop was as easy as shuffling some cards around? Today's guest thought so, too! Meg Bolger is a facilitator working to create a more beautiful and just world. She's the co-developer of Facilitator Cards , a dec...

Send Leanne a message In today’s episode, I draw an activity extract out from a recent Virtually Possible 2.0 call, where i was joined by Marisa Agrasut and Joeri Schilders. In this conversation, Marisa shares a virtual session she developed called: Activate your attention; how to prime your natural listening and observation skills for meaningful and rich conversations. I’m sharing this as an epis...

Send Leanne a message Having a home base as a facilitator. A metaphorical place in your workshop room, where you can reset. What's not to love about that idea? This week on the show I’m chatting to Jordan Mendoza. The best advice Jordan was given when he was a First Time Facilitator, was about discovering that home base: A place where you can reset/centre yourself during a workshop. Jordan is...

Send Leanne a message In this Flipchart live-stream event, Leanne Hughes answers the following three questions: How do you embed leadership workshop material through coaching sessions held after your workshop? How do you facilitate a hybrid workshop, where you have guests in-person, and guests who dial in? How do you say goodbye and end your virtual workshop, without it being too awkward? Build yo...

Send Leanne a message Are you exploring or tossing up the opportunity of going out on your own - of being your own boss?   As I’m 18 months into my own journey, I always love the opportunity to discuss what it takes to do that, to build and maintain your sanity!   Today’s guest is an absolute rock-star when it comes to this, too - so if you’re into building your own facilitation business, or becom...

Send Leanne a message Okay, we all know it's important to get a good night's sleep, switch off, clarify your vision, and deal with stress. But like most things in life - these things are much easier said than done. The best part of my conversation today with my good friend, Warren James is the pragmatic approach is takes to all of this important life and work stuff (including development...

Send Leanne a message It’s always fun to deliver a project but as we all know as facilitators, many of the lessons learned are discovered in the reflection! Joeri Schilders and I met a few months ago and in space of a few weeks, created a concept for a project, launched it, welcomed members in, created the program and delivered it. In this episode, Joeri and I debrief the first, online collaborati...

Send Leanne a message Today, I’m chatting to someone who also shares my love for the Clifton Strengths tool. It’s all well and good to find a tool you love, that echoes back what you think + feel about yourself but more importantly? It’s what you do with it that matters! Today’s guest, Charlotte Blair from The Strengths Partners shares how we can apply and activate our strengths across various con...

Send Leanne a message We’ve been delivering in-person workshops for years. We’re comfortable. Give us a marker pen, some butcher’s paper and some decent catering: We’re good to go! When Covid hit earlier this year, many of us had to shift gears and deliver workshops online. We had to adjust to new technology, new ways of experiencing workshops, a range of energy levels. We all started feeling like...

Send Leanne a message Ever since I spoke to Jacinta Cubis on the show, I've started noticing more facilitation lessons around me, every day. In this week's episode, I share the story of my return to a group fitness class at the gym, and what I learnt about virtual facilitation as a result. Click here to view the show notes. Get on the Virtually Possible 2.0 waitlist   Get Work Fame , my...

Send Leanne a message Mark Bowden is back! It sounds weird to say this: But this guy makes you feel at home when you chat to him. Yes, I know we’re all at home already — he’s curious, he uses your name when he talks to you, he asks questions, he nods, he does all the things to make you feel safe and ready to contribute. I spoke to Mark in Episode 102 of the First Time Facilitator podcast, and it’s...

Send Leanne a message Have you been running webinars but finding it difficult to get people through the door? This week’s guest is great at tuning in to topics that people actually want, and he’s figured out a pretty neat system to do this! Ken Burgin works with foodservice operators to assist them to be more popular & successful. He is a former cafe and restaurant owner in Sydney, and started...

Send Leanne a message 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! 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...

Send Leanne a message 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 scal...

Send Leanne a message 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 episo...

Send Leanne a message In this episode, Leanne and Joeri share 5 super simple (some might say, lazy?) ways to keep up the energy in your virtual sessions. This is the audio replay of a really fun webinar we ran on 23 July 2020. Enjoy the webinar? Then, you’re going to love our new program called Virtually Possible Join the Virtually Possible movement (use coupon code PODCAST to get 15% off) Join Th...

Send Leanne a message 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...

Send Leanne a message I’m taking you backstage to share how Joeri Schilders and I are collaborating to bring you the Virtually Possible program.  With everyone in lockdown, this may be a good time to reach out to someone and put your heads together, to solve a problem. We haven’t really done things the traditional way: We don’t use emails to communicate at all! In this episode, I share details on...

Send Leanne a message 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 yo...

Send Leanne a message 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...

Send Leanne a message 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 considera...

Send Leanne a message 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? What does it...

Send Leanne a message 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 influenc...

Send Leanne a message 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 energ...

Send Leanne a message 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!  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...