Last week I did a workshop covering the Natural Professional foundation. I was fortunate to have an engaged, responsive group.

One of the things I wondered about afterward was the feasibility of dividing a group, OR offering two different versions: one for the lefty brains and one for the righty brains. My concern was that near the end of our two hours, we were covering material fairly quickly. There were three lefties sitting right in front of me and I could tell they were right there, following my train of thought, taking the tips that would work in their world view, letting the rest float off.

The rest of the group… what was happening for them? If I pick up the pace, I risk losing the folks who do better with a more experiential or visual learning process. As a workshop leader, I never want to look out and see glazed eyes reflecting a brain screaming, “information overload!!”

Short answer is: don’t speed up at the end =)

Longer answer begins to point toward the question, “how to pack 24 hours of material into 2 hours?” But that’s not so practical so maybe the question should be, how to better convey a truckload of info in a fascinating and engaging manner such that it fuses into the very cells of my listeners. A sort of magical and mystical expansion of the Natural Professional awareness that comes complete with an integrated understanding of the strategies, tools, and methods to employ. OK. Getting a little off track and unrealistic here?

In any case, it brings me back to a more storytelling type of approach. A couple of months ago I went to the Sierra Storytelling Festival where Willy Claflin closed out the Friday night session with a most hilarious story (of sorts) about how it was Martha, and not George (Washington) who invented the kazoo. (Pardons to Willy if I’m remembering it wrong, but geez! My ears may not have been working properly as my stomach hurt from laughing so much. If I had been drinking anything, it surely would have splurted out my nose and into the hair of the woman sitting in front of me. Her companion, a large bulk of a man who was blocking the view of the person sitting directly behind him surely would have protested to such a dousing of his companion’s curls and who knows what he’d have been moved to do?! If he was as engaged in Willy’s story as I was, he’d have been quite peeved to have attention so unexpectedly wrenched from listening. The situation would have escalated to some yelling and shouting, which would have, no doubt, turned people’s heads. The event producers surely would have frowned on this as the Hulk was not on the program for the evening. It would have been awkward. Which is why I’m thrilled to not have been drinking anything while enjoying Willy’s performance.)

I love that the workshops are a work in progress, forever to morph, grow, and improve. A fun and satisfying vehicle to connect with people everywhere. Onwards!