First Time Facilitator

Leanne Hughes from the First Time Facilitator blog reveals all of her group facilitation, training and workshop tips and tricks so you can be ahead of the curve the next time you step out in front of a group. Discover how you can tweak elements of your facilitation style, or incorporate new techniques to engage your audience and leave with lasting impact (and 5-star feedback). Icebreakers, leadership, group interaction, preparation, games, conflict, props, flip-charts, delivery, voice, body language, confidence, discussions and everything that works (and doesn’t work) to help you better understand how to deliver and connect with your audience, every single time.

To stand out, you have to stand up with Mark Garrett Hayes (Episode 173) 05/17/2021

To stand out, you have to stand up with Mark Garrett Hayes (Episode 173) Building a training business! We think we need to do all those things like cold call people, have the best one-liners, be on social media all of the time. Mark Garrett Hayes is my guest today and he shares that there are other ways you can build your training business, which doesn’t rely on what we traditionally think we should do. Mark is the founder of , a Media and Education platform serving facilitators, trainers, coaches, consultants, learning & development consultants and human development experts around the world, to start, scale and grow their business! I was a guest on Mark’s show last month and loved our conversation around building a business, and wanted to continue it and hear his strategies for outreach and connecting with clients, to create a profitable training business, his podcast, Training Business is a fantastic source of inspiration to help you out with this, too. What I love about this conversation is how we can use our masterful skill of facilitation to grow our business. It really is the best skill around. Mark drops some fantastic, memorable one-liners too, some of my favourites include: Acronym BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timing) Sales - reframing it, calling it a service, making it fun, more accessible, and creative, too References, referrals and recommendations - the difference and which ones you should pursue. About our Guest: Mark Garrett Hayes Mark specialises in working with inside sales teams (telesales / digital sales) in technology businesses and has collective experience in working with professional services (legal / finance) and online retail business. His team works with business internationally and the beauty of working with telephone sales people is that we can deliver sales training / sales coaching online remotely whether your business is in the US, UK, EU and APAC.  In this episode you will learn: Easeful systems and frameworks for generating and qualifying leads A realistic timeframe for building your business How to promote yourself without talking about yourself! Knowing your ICP - Ideal Customer Profile /episode/index/show/firsttimefacilitator/id/19128428

Start the conversation: Creating a safe space to explore tough topics with Rose Allett (Episode 172) 05/09/2021

Turning a monologue into a dialogue with Johnny Quinn (Episode 171) 05/01/2021

Putting grace in the space with Beth Wonson (Episode 170) 04/26/2021

How to get your groups to spot (and share) their stories with David Pullan (Episode 169) 04/18/2021

How to get your groups to spot (and share) their stories with David Pullan (Episode 169) Today, you’ll hear from a guest with tremendous presence (and a matching tremendous voice!). We all know stories are important, but what’s the best way of eliciting those stories from our workshop participants? My guest today is David Pullan, co-founder of The Story Spotters. In this conversation, David shares pragmatic details on questions and x-factor activities we can use in our next workshop, using the Story Spotter framework. He also shares a reassuring phrase we can use as facilitators, to help us relax a little bit (I’m looking at myself here!!). David is a fine example of someone who is excellent at building relationships, and he also shares his ideas on how facilitators make THE best facilitators. I never thought of it that way! David Pullan is the founder of The Story Spotters where he helps leaders and teams use the power of story to build powerful connections one conversation at a time. We dive into the 4 elements of story spotting in this show. He has extensive experience in helping clients sharpen their spoken communications. He specialises in business development communication and key internal presentations, helping clients to unlock the complexity of messages that need to stick with their target audiences. David has been coaching senior leaders since 2005. Working in some of the world’s top organisations and SMEs, he helps clients adapt their communications for different settings from Board and Executive committee sessions, to town hall meetings and video conferences. David was a professional actor for 20 years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre, BBC and Paramount Pictures. He continues to work both as a broadcast voice-over artist and conference host, both of which keep his own communications skills at the sharp end. In this episode you will learn: The stories that you need to spot, shape and share stories: Listen to David share his valuable story-spotting framework How to make your workshops the best experience for all involved Some refreshing advice for first time facilitators How to connect people’s ideas to concepts and key messages How to extend the life of your voice, using the UFO technique What keeps David motivated as a business owner Resources mentioned in this episode: Join Connect with David Pullan on /episode/index/show/firsttimefacilitator/id/18763457

An L&D Detective solves the ultimate measurement mystery with Kevin M Yates (Episode 168) 04/11/2021

How to turn a workshop into a killer keynote speech with Leanne Hughes (Episode 167) 04/05/2021

Creating an atmosphere of "serious fun" with Diversity Dana #Bestof (Episode 166) 03/29/2021

Creating an atmosphere of "serious fun" with Diversity Dana #Bestof (Episode 166) Energy is the most important thing when it comes to your workshops, and I discovered this nice and early when I geeked out on an energetic conversation with today’s guest, Dana James-Edwards. This is a #bestof episode - I spoke to Dana back in 2018, when she called herself “Dana the Trainer”. Through a series of pivots and discovering her passion, she is now known as “Diversity Dana". Today’s conversation is as relevant as ever - you’ll learn Ways to make facilitation more fun, colourful and engaging How to balance or lift your energy levels when required What to do when things don't go to plan (hint: prevention is better than cure) How to create content for new workshops I want to share her website copy on her About page as a way of introducing her: "My favourite word is the F-Word – FUN (Wait a minute … what F word were you thinking about?). Seriously! As you can tell I take an unconventional approach to learning focusing on fun, colour, enjoyment and making things as practical and relevant as possible to make sure that key learnings make it back to the workplace. What is it that I facilitate? Great question! I have my fingers in many pies, but my 3 core areas are *drumroll please* Diversity & Inclusion, Train-The-Trainer (or Coach) and Agile And if that sounds like an eclectic mix of things that shouldn’t go together and make no sense you’re going to have to read the rest of my bio to find out why and how it all came about. To confuse you even further I sometimes even dabble in some Management & Leadership bits … but that’s a story for another day. What’s new with Leanne and First Time Facilitator? So excited to share that I’m partnering with Slido on their Online Meetings Revolution trend report. Come along to the launch and hear the interesting data + predictions to make your online meetings as engaging and relevant as possible. It’s on 14 April 2021, . Join the conversation when the show is over with 1300 facilitators from all over the world in our free group called Support the show (and my ideas) by Resources mentioned in this episode: Like this show? — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally. ! Quotes of the show: "There are so many things that you can do to bring learning, to bring a classroom alive to make things not so painful for people". Even when you know the content and you're familiar with it, you’re still thinking, 'Who's going to be there tomorrow?', 'What if this exercise doesn't work?', 'What do I have as a backup for this?', 'Did I pack this thing?' 'You cannot be rigid, sticking to your lesson plan. The classroom is a place of surprise. The best facilitators pull the learning out of what is happening in the room, instead of sticking to the script'. /episode/index/show/firsttimefacilitator/id/18502313

#bestof Facilitating once in a lifetime workshop experiences with Steve Sims (Episode 165) 03/17/2021

#bestof Facilitating once in a lifetime workshop experiences with Steve Sims (Episode 165) Wouldn't it be cool if you could say to your client: "We'll practise those skills at Sir Elton John's Oscars party!". Today's guest has done that :) Here's one of my #bestof episodes! I'm in deep work mode, working up a new program and busy attempting to pick my own brain. My guest today is Steve Sims and he runs the coolest workshops I’ve ever heard of, no joke. And how does he embed learning at the end of these workshops? By making people practice the skills they’ve learn, when they rock up to Sir Elton John’s Oscars after-party. Steve is the man who created Bluefish, a company that makes once-in-a-lifetime events happen for the rich and famous reveals to the rest of us his trade secrets for making things happen. With his help and expertise, his clients’ fantasies and wildest dreams come true. Steve is the author of the Bluefishing: The Art of Making Things Happen, and he has a podcast of the same name. Steve has spoken at Harvard and the Pentagon, twice. Getting married by the Pope in the Vatican, being serenaded by Elton John, and connecting with powerful business moguls like Elon Musk are just a few of the many projects he has worked on. I really wanted Steve on the show to talk about a few key things - the assumptions we have about asking for things, how confidence; and your approach can take you far and (literally) open doors. We also talk about the perfectionism beast. If you’d like to join the conversation when the show is over, join , a free community on Facebook for First Time Facilitator listeners. About our guest: Steve Sims Steve Sims Steve is the visionary founder of Bluefish: the world’s first luxury concierge that delivers the highest level of personalized travel, transportation, and cutting-edge entertainment services to corporate executives, celebrities, professional athletes, and other discerning individuals interested in living life to its fullest. Resources mentioned in this episode: Steve Sims Website Like this show? — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally. your number one takeaway from this episode! Quotes of the show: “I'm a great believer in keeping liability low.” “The greatest growth comes from the greatest accidents.” “It’s incredible to have people just be able to realize the rich people are poor people with a lot of money; things don't change, just that bank account.” “I'm a great believer that perfection is a blue unicorn with three testicles; it doesn't exist.” “I don't believe speakers should give speeches. I think speakers should have conversations with thousands of people or hundreds of people.” Episode transcript . /episode/index/show/firsttimefacilitator/id/18371393

The skill that makes you a better human with Maria McDonald (Episode 164) 03/13/2021

The skill that makes you a better human with Maria McDonald (Episode 164) You’ll often hear how facilitation is used in the context of workshops and meetings on this podcast. However, today’s guest, demonstrates how it’s an incredibly handy skill for life in general, to. In fact, she used the tool of facilitation alone to build an entire Learning and Development department at the company she worked at. She’s a tremendous example of how you can define what you love, and have the courage to go after it. If you want to build a facilitation career but have no idea how to take the next step, I hope that this conversation will help you find your courage to seek opportunities where you are. My guest today is Maria McDonald. As a Learning & Development consultant (as well as the L&D Manager for Geocaching), Maria is dedicated to helping leaders, businesses, and entrepreneurs intentionally shape effective, impactful, and empowered company cultures. In this show, we also discuss how her yoga teaching practice combined beautifully with her facilitation growth, how to demonstrate value-add for teams, how she used facilitation to create a role in her organization (that never existed before!), and how she deals with unpredictable moments in her workshops. Maria uses facilitation skills to demonstrate the value of continuous learning, improve collaboration across the company, clarify mission & goals, improve individual & collective communication skills, enhance brainstorming sessions, guide retrospectives, and mediate conflict. About today’s guest: Maria McDonald As a Learning & Development Consultant, Maria is dedicated to helping leaders, businesses, and entrepreneurs intentionally shape effective, impactful, and empowered company cultures. Through customized consulting practices, Maria’s innovative and energizing techniques support you in achieving your business goals while proactively developing your people. Her vision is to shift each business into effective paradigms that inspire people at every level of your organization. Maria is also the Learning and Development Manager for Geocaching, where she formulates learning and development strategy based on organizational needs, and creates a culture in which continuous learning and improvement are encouraged, and where employees are equipped with the tools for self-help and empowered to teach and learn from each other. Resources Visit website and send her a message, letting her know your favourite takeaway! : Join the world’s largest treasure hunt Join community on Facebook Support the show and /episode/index/show/firsttimefacilitator/id/18312050

One Zoom Cheat Sheet to Rule Them All with Jan Keck (Episode 163) 03/07/2021

One Zoom Cheat Sheet to Rule Them All with Jan Keck (Episode 163) Here’s the scenario: You’re working with some new clients, and they haven’t used Zoom before. You pull together some slides, videos and helpful pointers and send them these beforehand. During the session, you dedicate the first few minutes to sharing features, and getting them to feel comfortable using Zoom. You’re happy with what you’ve created but then, BAM, Zoom delivers another upgrade, which means screenshots have changed. As we know, it takes time and effort to update your Zoom onboarding calls.. UNTIL this week! Previous guest of the show, Jan Keck has pulled together an incredible resource for anyone who uses Zoom. As a facilitator, you can share this with your clients prior to your workshops - it will save you so much time! This week, I hopped on a quick fireside chat and brought Jan back on the show to talk through this cheat-sheet, how it will help us as facilitators, how his team put it together, and more. Don’t forget to reach out to Jan to say thanks for this piece of gold dust he’s brought us!! About today’s guest: Jan Keck Jan Keck is a community addict. He is the creator of ASK DEEP QUESTIONS, which started out as a deck of cards to help his friends connect on a camping trip and is now being used to facilitate meaningful conversations through sharing personal stories on every continent around the globe. Jan’s mission is to help people feel less alone, so by creating experiences, workshops and programs he is fuelling the movement for deeper human connection. Growing up as an only child he found his soul family at summer camp, in sports clubs and even politics. But when he moved from Germany to Canada in his twenties he had to re-create his community from scratch and learned that the fastest way to make deep connections is through meaningful conversations and experiences. Jan now lives in Toronto with his wife Natalia (aka Cookie), his son Mika and you can often find him hanging out with his mastermind group, attending community events, or camping up north. Resources Grab it! Visit Jan Keck’s Connect with Jan on Follow Jan Keck on Like his on Facebook Listen to our previous conversation on Join community on Facebook Support the show and /episode/index/show/firsttimefacilitator/id/18217355

How to get people to show up to your workshops (without saying "It's mandatory") with Leanne Hughes (Episode 162) 02/28/2021

Connecting, empowering and leading groups in the outdoors with Phil Brown (Episode 161) 02/21/2021

Bringing swagger into your workshops with Leslie Ehm (Episode 160) 02/14/2021

How to win friends and influence your online colleagues with Leanne Hughes (Episode 159) 02/06/2021

Facilitating digital change? Prioritise the people, not the tech with Mike Knapp (Episode 158) 01/31/2021

Driving word of mouth marketing through your workshops with Suzi Dafnis (Episode 157) 01/25/2021

Driving word of mouth marketing through your workshops with Suzi Dafnis (Episode 157) Move over virtual workshops, let’s talk about virtual marathons - more specifically, online events that can span over a couple of days. It’s a different game, with longer interaction, so how do you maintain your energy, and keep your participants wanting more, too? This week’s guest is the perfect person to answer this question because she’s been running online events since 2007! I'm joined by , the CEO of HerBusiness, a collaborative online community of women who are growing and scaling a business. For over 25 years HerBusiness has provided mentoring and training to help women grow a sustainable business. Her big passion is helping women business owners to create the impact, the income and the results that they want through their business and to do what they love, every day. She has grown multiple multimillion-dollar businesses, and that hasn’t been by accident. What struck me from chatting to Suzi is how strategic and intentional she is with all of the things: Having a background in Events, she cleverly uses her workshops to drive incredibly powerful word of mouth marketing opportunities for her business. Facilitators, solopreneurs...okay, ANYONE organising workshops and virtual experiences, you’ll love this one! About today’s guest: Suzi Dafnis Suzi Dafnis is the CEO of HerBusiness, a collaborative online community of women who are growing and scaling a business. Her BIG passion is helping women business owners to create the impact, the income and the results that they want through their business and to do what they love, every day. For over 25 years HerBusiness has provided mentoring and training to help women grow a sustainable business. Suzi started her first business in the spare room of her home, in her late 20s, with no savings and no business degree, and built that into an $18million business with 45 staff and offices in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Learn more at Request an invitation to join the HerBusiness Network at Resources: Join our community of facilitators from all over the world on our free Facebook group, Love the show? w /episode/index/show/firsttimefacilitator/id/17664767

Let’s have a conversation that matters with Jan Keck (Episode 156) 01/18/2021

Let’s have a conversation that matters with Jan Keck (Episode 156) In case you can’t tell, I love conversations. If my life could involve having morning coffees with interesting people, then chatting with other cool people over an afternoon champagne by the water, rinse and repeat every day x 5 days, my life would be complete. What’s interesting is that I’m really not the best (or interested?) in small talk. I don’t love going to the dog park, because the chitter chatter generally seems to go around in circles, talking about our dogs. That’s cool for a few minutes but we talk about things like what they eat and how they sleep… I think I’d enjoy a conversation with today’s guest in a dog park though, because his tagline is all about having conversations that matter. His name is Jan Keck and he is a self-proclaimed community addict. He is the creator of ASK DEEP QUESTIONS, which started out as a deck of cards to help his friends connect on a camping trip and is now being used to facilitate meaningful conversations through sharing personal stories on every continent around the globe. You can check out what he does over at and In this conversation, we chat about relationships and which ones we invest in, if it’s possible to create a sense of belonging in an organisation. We dive into chats about redesigning virtual calls, scaling connections online, and btw Jan also has a kick-butt youtube channel, so he shares his tips for camera confidence, as well as advice for first time facilitators. About today’s guest: Jan Keck Jan Keck is a community addict. He is the creator of ASK DEEP QUESTIONS, which started out as a deck of cards to help his friends connect on a camping trip and is now being used to facilitate meaningful conversations through sharing personal stories on every continent around the globe. Jan’s mission is to help people feel less alone, so by creating experiences, workshops and programs he is fueling the movement for deeper human connection. Growing up as an only child he found his soul family at summer camp, in sports clubs and even politics. But when he moved from Germany to Canada in his twenties he had to re-create his community from scratch and learned that the fastest way to make deep connections is through meaningful conversations and experiences. Jan now lives in Toronto with his wife Natalia (aka Cookie), his son Mika and you can often find him hanging out with his mastermind group, attending community events, or camping up north /episode/index/show/firsttimefacilitator/id/17584838

Exceptional self coaching to help you start small and finish strong in 2021 with Daniel Kerr (Episode 155) 01/11/2021

Exceptional self coaching to help you start small and finish strong in 2021 with Daniel Kerr (Episode 155) This episode comes with a warning: If you’re not interested in being inspired, then don’t tune in! This week, we have a special guest on the show, who I met during my 20 week consulting gig last year. I was lucky enough to be placed in a team with him, and I say that because when you talk to him it feels like you’re sitting in the front row of a TED talk - meaning, you instantly feel inspired during conversations with him. Daniel Kerr from is a a physiotherapist turned high performance coach and he’ll share that transition story with you on this show. Early in this interview, you’ll hear a watershed moment for Dan that steered him towards the work that he does know. And I’d love you to reflect on that word, too. If you do want to reflect on where you’re at, your mindset, your habits, and committing to growth this year, you’ll love this show. About our Guest: Daniel Kerr Daniel Kerr is High Performance Certified Coach trained by Brendon Burchard , Certified Mental Performance Mastery Coach, Certified Wellness Coach and a Physiotherapist. In this episode you will learn: What it takes to show up as your best self Having an action plan as a way to make the shift in 2021 Reflecting and planning your next goal Finding your authenticity and niche to make yourself better and grow Fear of not being good enough makes you start making excuses Make your audience visualize the message you’re sending across What Dan values when he prepares to run a workshop Resources mentioned in this episode: Reach out and connect with & say hi to Leanne to let her know you’ve listened to this episode Continue the conversation when the show is over: Join a community of over 1200 facilitators around the world in Quotes of the episode: “You have a choice - you can react or respond. In order for things to change, something new comes into your life, or something new comes from within.” “You can accept and say, no matter what happens, I'm still going to show up as my best self. How would I be my best self in this situation? How can I live into this moment? And how can I carry myself to be that top performer that I know it can be?” “One of the big things that I've learned is how to measure my progress, reflect and accept that if you don't get something right,the first time that is not failing, that's learning. That is a mindset shift that you have to make peace with.” “You want to represent the best version of yourself. So when you go into a situation, I set up triggers. If I'm walking through a door into a meeting I'm going to facilitate or lead a program, I have a trigger. When that door closes, it's game on time and let's deliver the best version of how I want to be” “You can never please everybody. I don't suggest to try to do that. But everyone's entitled to their opinion and it's how you receive that feedback and implement it. That really will take you to that next level.” 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, Papua New Guinea, and Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 14 years’ of experience across a range of industries including mining, government and tourism sectors. Social Media ! /episode/index/show/firsttimefacilitator/id/17484257

Exceptional self coaching to help you start small and finish strong in 2021 with Daniel Kerr (Episode 155) 01/11/2021

Facilitate your own change journey using a sprinkling of constructive delusion with Leanne Hughes (Episode 154) 01/03/2021

#Bestof: Storytelling works! (Because no one's ever asked to see a Powerpoint presentation twice) with Matthew Dicks (Episode 153) 12/28/2020

#Bestof: Storytelling works! (Because no one's ever asked to see a Powerpoint presentation twice) with Matthew Dicks (Episode 153) Guess what? You can become that amazing storytelling you secretly want to be! In this First Time Facilitator re-run of Episode 8, internationally bestselling author shares why storytelling so important, and how telling stories is not simply sharing a series of events; it’s the manipulation of emotions. It’s a skill that can be taught and he shares some of the techniques he uses to engage his audience, whether they're 10 year old kids, or politicians. So many cool things happened after this podcast was released on 8 April, 2020: I met Kate Norris and Thomas Krafft from (we basically caught up and just spoke about how great Matthew was!) They started their own podcast, Presentation Boss, and then a live storytelling event in Brisbane called (based on Matthew’s event in the US called Speak Up Storytelling). Earlier this year, I shared a story during the virtual Life Out Loud event and guess who was the surprise guest story-sharer… you guessed it, Matthew Dicks! Stop binging shows on Netflix and start binging . They’re brilliant, and always stir an emotional response - ranging between laughter, or goose-bumps. In this episode you’ll learn: What a story is (and what it isn’t) The details you should leave in your story and more importantly; the details you can leave out How you can become more memorable by sharing things that are vulnerable, amusing or embarrassing The power of assuming that no one wants to listen to anything you have to say How you can start collecting your own stories by reflecting on everyday moments (Homework for Life!) About today’s guest: Matthew Dicks Matthew Dicks is the internationally bestselling author of the novels Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, Something Missing, Unexpectedly, Milo, The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs, and the upcoming Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling. His novels have been translated into more than 25 languages worldwide. His new novel, “The Other Mother” is set for release in January 2021. You can join the live book launch by signing up here. When not hunched over a computer screen, Matthew fills his days as an elementary school teacher, a storyteller, a speaking coach, a blogger, a wedding DJ, a minister, a life coach, and a Lord of Sealand. Matthew is a 35-time Moth StorySLAM champion and 5-time GrandSLAM champion. He has also told stories for This American Life, TED, The Colin McEnroe Show, The Story Collider, The Liar Show, Literary Death Match, The Mouth, and many others.Heis also the co-founder and creative director of Speak Up, a Hartford-based storytelling organization that produces shows throughout New England.Matthew is the creator and co-host of Boy vs. Girl, a podcast about gender and gender stereotypes. Resources mentioned in this episode ’ website Grab his new book! Transcript . Connect /episode/index/show/firsttimefacilitator/id/17340005

A #neverdonebefore serendipitous group interview (Episode 152) 12/21/2020

Leanne's favourite facilitator things: A holiday wishlist! (Episode 151) 12/12/2020

50 episodes / 50 weeks: Facilitation and business lessons with Leanne Hughes (Episode 150) 12/07/2020

Anyone can use Lego Serious Play in their workshops (and here’s how you do it) with Michael Fearne (Episode 149) 11/28/2020

Using the House of Communication to create contrast in your workshops with Michael Grinder (Episode 148) 11/22/2020

Lecture-breakers and smart tips for virtual summits with Barbi Honeycutt Ph.D (Episode 147) 11/15/2020

Workshop Design in the Moment (and from your back pocket) with Meg Bolger (Episode 146) 11/08/2020

Activate your attention: How to prime your natural listening and observation skills for meaningful and rich conversations with Marisa Agrasut (Episode 145) 10/31/2020

First Time Facilitator

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