I was wondering: Do you have any tips & tricks to improve the chances of your workshop results? I mean outside of the “core” workshop design (e.g. what exercises to use, what participants to invite etc.) Here are three that come to my mind: 1️⃣ Make Sure Everyone is Well Rested Because we make worse decisions when we’re tired. 💡 Don’t start your workshop at 8 am, don’t make it too exhausting and plan frequent breaks. 2️⃣ Make Sure Everyone is Well Fed After we eat, our dopamine levels increases. Dopamine helps nerve cells to send messages to each other. Exactly what you want for your group in a workshop! 💡 Don’t be cheap - saving money on lunch or snacks will cost you in form of poor decisions! 3️⃣ Change the Environment During the workshop - if the group sees what they see every day, their thinking will be tied to what they think every day. You know how all those top execs always have their strategy retreats away from their office? They’re doing it for a reason. 💡 To get fresh ideas, change the environment. Anything else? Let me know what other tricks you use to improve your chances!

As a facilitator, I made an interesting discovery about DIFFICULT ATTENDEES. From time to time, I become one of them MYSELF. This happens when the trainer: ▸ Rambles ▸ Lacks any sense of humor ▸ Is not prepared (e.g. reads notes) ▸ Did not build their ethos as an authority on the topic ▸ Says things I disagree with AND are unable to defend their opinion ▸ Presents as a fact things they only know from books, not from experience How about you? Is there something that can turn YOU into a difficult participant?

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." - Bruce Lee Imagine you could pick a single workshop exercise to truly master - and do it 10,000 times. Which one would it be - and why?

Hello people! Nice to e-meet you all! I'm glad to join this magnificent club. I'm a product designer based in Tel Aviv. I'm an AJ&Smart subscriber for a long time, but relatively new to facilitating workshop in the company I'm working for, and it's been HARD. It all started last year when I was sent to collaborate with a team I didn't know at our San Francisco office where I never been at the time. We had a week to come up with a solution to a large problem. so I spent the 12 hour flight reading the Design Spring book by Jake Knapp. Somehow it wasn't a complete failure, and I fell in-love with workshops. Since then I'm trying to incorporate workshops in my job when ever I can, but I realized I'm missing a lot of tools and techniques to master this skill. Let me know what was your biggest challenge as a beginner facilitator?

Hey Facilitators, I know many of you are just starting out in the field - I thought it might be interesting for you if I shared my journey to becoming a full-time facilitator. Of course - your journey can be much faster than mine! 2010: I finish my studies in Italy, internship in Germany, and start a full-time Management Consulting job in Prague. 2011: In my first year as an analyst in Management Consulting, I have no clue what I’m doing. But I’m doing it every day till the late hours of the evening. So it must be worth the time. 2012: I’m getting the hang of what I’m supposed to do. I’m becoming the Master of PowerPoint and the Wizard of Excel. I also join this strange club called “Toastmasters” and conclude that public speaking could be a cute little hobby. 2013: During my days, I learn how to swim with the corporate sharks. During my nights, I entertain people with my speeches about my teenage dating life and piña colada. 2014: Promotion in Management Consulting. My salary doubles. Nice. But also a feeling that what I truly love is being in front of people and teaching them stuff. That I do in Toastmasters. In my free time. For free. 2015: After overdoing it a little at work (E.g. working 32 hours straight without sleep, ending up not having the strength to click a mouse), I quit Management Consulting and join MSDm for a more relaxed job. With more “free time,” I start winning some public speaking contests. 2016: I decide to become “famous” in Toastmasters. I do PR stunts such as adding Pulp Fiction slides to trainings about creativity and making people sing Britney Spears songs in my trainings. 2017: In MSD (the company I work for), I propose to our local L&D: “You don’t need to pay the external trainers. I can do the trainings for free. And better.” The local L&D have doubts, but they give me a chance. 2018: The reviews of my trainings in MSD get EXTREMELY positive. Now I get to do a LOT more trainings. The only problem is: It doesn’t seem like something I could make a career in.