Slides from our AEA webinar -- Activating Mental Velcro

1.
Activating Mental Velcro:
Facilitating Learning That Sticks!
AEA Coffee Break
May 3, 2012
Cassandra O’Neill, Wholonomy Consulting
www.wholonomyconsulting.com
Amy Schaller, University of Arizona

2. Six Secrets to High Impact Presenting
 What we’ll be sharing today is part of an e-
book called Six Secrets to High Impact
Presenting
 Available for purchase at
www.ideaencore.com

3. Thought for the day
Whoever does the work does the
learning.

4. Why Do We Need the Six Secrets?
 People don’t walk into a presentation or
training ready to learn.
 They are often thinking about other things.
 There are simple steps to help people focus
and get ready to learn.

5. High Impact Evaluation Presentation
 Think about the next evaluation presentation
you will make with clients, stakeholders, or at a
conference…
 Would you like to be able to hold your
audience’s attention and gather insightful
feedback?
 Would you like to know at the beginning what
they expect from your presentation instead of

6. Secret 1: Focus and Activate Positivity
Positive Psychology
research tells us that if
you want people to be
creative, and to be
able to see both the
big picture and the
details - forest AND
trees - positive emotions
must be activated!

7. Simple Ways to Help People Focus
 Ask them appreciative questions
 Strengths based approach to change
called Appreciative Inquiry
 Think of a time that something was going
well, you were successful, you felt alive,
excited, and engaged.

8. Sample Appreciative Questions
 Think of a time you:
 …learned something that made a difference
 …made a contribution to a team or group

9. Strategies for Effective Sharing
 Write down and share with one other person
 Share with whole table
 Share with whole group
 Share what you heard from a partner with
table or whole group

10. Get Creative!
 Use cards to prompt sharing
 Pause Cards by Inspired Mastery
 Zen Cards by Daniel Levin
 Group cards
 Make your own quotes
 Ways to share: have people pick and read a card,
and make a connection with the message
 Share at tables or with larger group

11. Quick Tip: Short on Time?
 Ask people to share a quality they are
bringing to the group
 People share things like:
 humor
 curiosity
 creativity
 flexibility

12. Secret Two: Establishing Learning Goals
 Step 1: Share the presentation or group
learning goals
 Step 2: Ask people to identify and share
their own learning goals

13. Crafting Questions
 Crafting the inquiry determines the outcome
 Avoid asking “Why are you here?”
 Instead invite learning by asking “What do
you want to get out of this session today?”

14. Prompt Questions
When you think about what you want to get out
of our time together, what comes to mind?
 If you imagine our training is over and you’ve
gotten something valuable, what have you
learned?

15. Sharing Personal Learning Goals
 Have them write down one of their personal
learning goals first to make it easier
 Have people share their learning goals in
pairs, with the table, or with the whole group

16. Step 3: Respond
Does what you have planned
align with what people want?
 If not, can you adjust?
 If you can’t adjust, develop a
plan for getting people what
they want at a later time.

17. Usually…
 What people want is aligned with what is
planned.
 When it is not, it is best to get this surfaced
in the beginning.

18. Why it Works!
 Every person has
 identified something they want
to learn,
 shared it with others,
 heard what other people want,
and
 are clear about what they’ll
get
 You’ve just invited them to be
present, be positive, and as a

19. Back to Your Evaluation
Presentation
 Think about the next evaluation presentation
you will make with clients, stakeholders, or at a
conference?
 What might you try or do differently?

20. Summary
 How does this create readiness to learn?
 Engages participants in learning about
evaluation processes & outcomes
 Creating an environment that fosters flexible
thinking
 Clarifies goals and prepares participants to
engage with evaluation findings

21. Resources
 Pause Cards and Book
 www.inspiredmastery.com
 Books on Appreciative Questions
 Appreciative Teambuilding
 The Encyclopedia of Positive Questions
 For more information:
http://www.wholonomyconsulting.com/

22. Contact Us
 Cassandra O’Neill
cassandraoneill@comcast.net
 Amy Schaller
aschalle@email.arizona.edu