You make sex boring – getting intimate about speaking and training with Scott Berkun, author of Confessions of a Public Speaker
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Humor & comedy, Training & development
Setting the Stage:
You make sex boring, is one eye-catching item on Scott Berkun’s short list of big things not to do when you’re public speaking. In other words anyone can kill a topic by speaking in a monotone voice, looking disinterested, picking uninspired examples and behaving like you don’t care about what you’re saying.
If you’re bent on not making sex boring and being a ‘connection maker, sharing an authentic part’ of yourself to create ‘a singular, positive experience for the audience’ Scott’s book ‘Confessions of a Public Speaker’ will help.
Whether you regularly deliver speeches and training or you’re simply called on from time to time to speak in front of groups this book will help you be more effective. After all, while public speaking is nerve rattling for many, ‘they’re [your audience] not judging you as much as you think because they don’t care as much as you think’. Teaching is ‘an intimacy of the mind’ so let’s get intimate.
Tags: communication, confessions of a public speaker, public speaking, scott berkun
Tipsy fridges that tip learning over the top
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Humor & comedy, Training & development
Said fridge freezer & accoutrements
My body went rigid with frustration when, as I closed my fridge, the attached freezer door popped open and stayed open. It happened again …. and again.
I took a quick look in the freezer to see if something was preventing it from closing. Nope. I gave up.
I came into the kitchen a while later and found the freezer door open again. I implored my kids to watch the freezer door when they closed the fridge. The chances the kids would remember to do that were about as high as if I’d left cookies out in the open and expected them not to hoover them up.
The freezer thing kept happening. I kept getting frustrated.
I sought help. My brother-in-law was over. It’s easy, he said, supporting the fridge are little feet which you can adjust so it tips back slightly. This will make the freezer close.
Phew! I thought, solution in sight.
The next day I got my teenage son to tip the fridge back as I, with my butt in the air, bent over and shined a flashlight, looking for the adjuster-things. Two things immediately became apparent. 1) there is a good reason why some people occasionally clean under their fridge and 2) there were no adjuster-things in sight.
Entirely frustrated now, my inner chatter was in high gear. I don’t have time for this. I don’t like doing stuff like this. I can’t do stuff like this. I don’t want to be doing this.
It was sometime around there that my inner chatter banged around in my head loud enough to tell me that while I could try and ignore it, there was an oven sitting behind me, which probably (no definitely) would have equally disgusting things hidden under it.
O for overwhelmed. The damn freezer door still wasn’t closing.
In a flash of inspiration I dug around for some little door stopper things I remembered having. Slim ones, ones that would be Perfect with a capital P. That’ll work, I convinced myself. Trouble was I could only find one. I was pretty certain that tipping the fridge to only one side would make it seem drunken as opposed to effectively closing the freezer door.
After digging out all the disgusting things from under my stove and fridge I hollered for my kid to help me again. He once again tilted the fridge so I could stick a board under the front legs. That was after the anxiety of trying to find a board that would fit, one that I wouldn’t have to cut. Because having to actually get out a saw and cut a piece of wood was more than I could bear.
Didn’t work.
I went to a hardware store to look for doorstop type things (notice the lack of my vocabulary for all things home repair related). They only had gargantuan ones, ones which would create such a dramatic angle it would risk making all my food fall to the back of the fridge.
I came home and rummaged around and found some of those things you put under couch legs to protect the floor. Valiantly trying to protect my sanity, one more call to kid to tip the fridge again, found said fridge at more than a wee angle. Voila. That’s gotta work I was desperately telling myself.
Nope, only made the fridge hard to open.
I asked for more help, Ms. Google in fact. Scrub the seal. Put something heavy on the door, Ms. Google said. Check, to both of those.
No change.
At this point I turned to more comfortable things and searched for some learning in all this idiocy and made plans to write a blog post about it. (The idea of confessing to the gross state of the undersides of my fridge and oven was much less stressful than trying to fix the door.)
So here’s what I observed from my uncooperative, tipsy fridge and its disgustingly dirty underside:
# 1 Observation = Motivation
I wasn’t motivated to learn about how to keep the (#$&% door shut. I just wanted it fixed. My lack of motivation made learning how to do it very unappealing and uncomfortable.
Application as a trainer? Help your training participants be motivated about the subject matter or at least acknowledge that the only reason they may be in your workshop is because the boss said so. This will help them avoid their lizard brain and be able to think critically, creatively and learn.
#2 Observation = Learning is hard
I was slightly open to learning when I thought it would be a simple matter of adjusting some lever. When it kept getting more and more complicated, my motivation tanked even further.
Application as a trainer – take care to inspire the confidence of your workshop participants, especially if they’re in a new setting, learning new content and/or anything else that they might deem hard.
#3 Observation = Learning makes you vulnerable
I wasn’t feeling go great about myself that I wasn’t able to solve this relatively simple problem. Learning about it made me feel vulnerable. Ergo the chatter I don’t have time for this. I don’t like doing stuff like this. I can’t do stuff like this. I don’t want to be doing this.
Application as a trainer – know that you as a training specialist likely know more about both your content matter expertise and the process of how to teach it. Know that your participants are likely feeling vulnerable as they’re trying new learning on for size. Recognize and take steps to encourage that. Learning doesn’t happen without it.
Okay, time to go look at the freezer door again….
Tags: amygdala, motivation, vulnerability
What kind of journey are you on – measured, secure & contained or wild with risk & opportunities?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Training & development
My good friend Dyana Valentine took this photo of her friend's necklace while on holiday in Big Sur.
No matter if the journey (Journey Life Lens™) is a strong preference of yours or if you avoid it all costs (preferring to get to the point, the destination – Destination Life Lens™) we’ve all got to deal.
Deal with the open road and the horizon that beckons. Find our own path that works. For us.
Some look forward. To the destination.
Some look around. At the journey.
Some of us get ‘there’ faster than others, that’s the whole point no? Gotta check it off my list and then onto another horizon.
Others meander, tracing an organic, iterative path. You gotta stop and smell the flowers folks!
Whatever journey you’re on, whether it’s measured, secure and contained or wild with risk and opportunities, I wish you your own form of reward.
Tags: destination lens, dyana valentine, journey lens
What kind of learning can happen in a library with no books? Turns out a lot
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
I love learning.
Soaking up learning from the wide variety of books I read and taking the odd continuing education course from time to time (right now I’m taking a mixed media course) are my idea of bliss. Forget Calgon, I don’t need no bubbles to carry me off to faraway places and new ways of approaching the mysteries that are every day life.
Being able to lug home multiple mystery books (my fav fiction to read) from the library feels like a guilty pleasure. Which made me all the more curious to read about a library with no books.
Yep, all 16,000 books were gone, taken, checked out by various townsfolk. They emptied the entire library.
Why you ask?
To make a point.
The town of Stony Stratford in the U.K. had plans to close down the public library so the community pulled together to make an emphatic point. They even created a Facebook page to help get the word out. Today’s count bring the page 1576 ‘likes’.
Just as the shelves were gapingly empty, this kind of short sighted thinking (closing a library to save money) cuts off learning opportunities at the knees.
It leaves us gasping with brains agape for learning.
When was the last time you visited your public library and perused its offerings? Do yourself a favour and go. Check out the librarians’ recommendations. Who knows, it may just open up a whole new world of learning.
Tags: book learning, learning, library
How do you cross the street? Depends on your perspective
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Diversity & culture
What could be easier than moving from one side of the street to the other?
- Look left
- Look right
- When there’s no oncoming traffic, cross the street
Right? Not so fast. Crossing the street, like many other daily rituals in our lives, is influenced by that massive lens through which we see the world … culture.
When we’re surrounded by like minds and similar cultures we can press autopilot without knowing it.
Thought bubbles float above our heads:
- This is the way we’ve always done it.
- Why would you change anything?
- You wanna do what? Huh?
- I just don’t get you.
Perspective. It can lead to a view through a straw or a view expander.
Take your pick. Pick your perspective and cross the street.
For more information about finding out both the bright and dark spots of your own perspective see Life Lenses.
Tags: culture, life lenses, perpsective
Getting real with Dyana Valentine; is being on track and being true to yourself antithetical?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness
- What are the biggest blocks or obstacles you see your clients trying to overcome?
- Daniel Pink, in a Whole New Mind, talks about how our North American-centric search for abundance hasn’t satisfied us, that we’re still yearning and searching. What do you think we’re hungry for?
Want to get more of Dyana’s Pitch Perfect [1]?
- Listen to the audio of Dyana answering the above questions
- Download this worksheet filled with resources
- Email her your pitch and why you’d like to win a free Pitch Perfect session – one lucky winner will do just that. Good luck!
Tags: analysis paralysis, Daniel Pink, dyana valentine, perfect pitch, rock.paper.scissors newsletter, transparency, Whole New Mind
The art of being an unconventional trainer (with a nod to Chris Guillebeau)
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
Chris & I at his book signing
I saw Chris Guillebeau speak recently, the author of The Art of Non-Conformity. He thinks instead of looking for efficiency we should be looking for adventure.
I agree and as an adventure seeker when it comes to learning and development here’s my 10 point take on how a conventional trainer stacks up against an unconventional one.
Which kind are you?
Tags: art of non-conformity, chris guillebeau, learning & development, unconventional trainer, unconventional training
Three funny resources to ensure being on track and being true to yourself isn’t antithetical
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness
The recent Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter includes an interview with Dyana Valentine and explores whether being true to yourself and being on track is antithetical.
If you’re a regular reader of our monthly newsletter you’ll know that they include an article, some resources and then, well, some resources to help you take yourself and those around you not too seriously.
Here’s to those things that tickle our funny bones by way of helping us be on track and be true to yourself:
- The fallout when people don’t believe in your dreams. (18 sec) I dare you not to laugh … then think about what your inner kidlet is pining for)
- When the impossible becomes possible. (1:50 min)
To read the entire newsletter (including a chance to win a free Pitch Perfect session with Dyana Valentine) click here. Sign up to receive our free monthly newsletter here.
Tags: dyana valentine, humour, pitch perfect, rock.paper.scissors newsletter
Some free resources to ensure being on track and being true to yourself isn’t antithetical
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness
The recent Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter includes an interview with Dyana Valentine and explores whether being true to yourself and being on track is antithetical.
Check out the following resources to help you do both – be on track and be true to yourself.
Worried about the waves these kinds of changes may cause? Know that water seeks its own level and while there can be some big waves, things will settle in. This 1:28 minute video proves it.
Tags: dyana valentine, on track, rock.paper.scissors newsletter
‘Don’t fake it – you gotta feel it’ Mr. B. to his PS 22 Chorus at the Oscars
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
Mr B is the phenomenal teacher and conductor of PS22 Chorus, the choir that’s taken Youtube by storm. A recent Time Magazine article describes them as having a tendency to skip traditional chorus tunes in favor of exuberant renditions of pop songs. Mr B recently gathered his charges, from Graniteville, New York, a racially diverse neighbourhood, and flew them to LA to perform at the Oscars.
This ain’t no fancy private school with funds to burn or even an arts focused school. Rather ‘regular’ kids rocking out to the sweet harmonies they create. Regular kids doing something far from regular.
So what gives? Their phenomenal, inspirational teacher, Mr. B.
I was caught by a quote from one of his students, during the pre-Oscar show, who said Mr. B tells them don’t fake it, you gotta feel it. Great advice for life …. and for teaching.
Learning participants, whether they’re in the c-suite or on the factory floor will give you half a chance if you’re passionate about what you’re teaching (your subject matter expertise) AND your teaching itself. Period.
Making learning engaging, intriguing and sticky starts with you, the trainer. It starts with being passionate. And that you simply can’t fake.
***
Here they are performing at the Oscars…
And another rousing rendition of ‘Just Dance’
Tags: christain science monitor, engagement, learning & development, mr. b, oscars, passion, PS22 chorus