How to Set the Stage Right for Your Workshop
Let’s encourage participants to participate through their motivation & sense of agency – instead of treating them like kids.
I cannot tell you how many times I had a trainer on Trainer the Trainer (or even on Advanced Facilitation Training) ask “How about calling out participants directly, by their name? Would that be a good way to keep them engaged?”
Even worse, more than once I heard experienced trainers recommending to “keep people awake” by calling out their names during the workshop.
To which I say, if you need to call them out by name in order to “keep them awake”, something is inherently wrong in your workshop setup.
So…Let’s tackle this one once and for all.
I am a big believer that most things in training come with pros and cons.
There are no definite answers.
As long as we are aware of the pros and cons, as trainers we get to choose what approach and the tools we use.
And, yes, I confess, there are some pros to calling out people by name.
And I can respect that for some trainers that might be a technique that helps them keep people focused (in lack of better techniques 🤪).
And here is why I personally am NOT a fan of calling out names:
Because it is in direct clash with adult learning principles & values.
Calling out people by name:
- Takes away ownership over their process and responsibility to be active from the learner, putting them in a bit of a “listener and follower“ position
- It puts them in more passive, “compliant” shoes, not inviting them to engage proactively or to think with their own head, but inviting them to respond to being called out
- It might build emotional resistance, as people are being called out when perhaps they didn’t want to share
- If they don’t know the answer or are insecure, it builds negative emotion (and emotion is hugely important for learning! More on that topic here)
Think about it for a moment:
- What kind of emotions do you wish to create with your learners?
- And what kind of emotions do you think calling out their names creates?
Yes, it might make them more attentive & alert, which in small doses can be positive – but what is their motivation and emotion around this “being attentive”?
It’s alertness caused by discomfort!
I understand that calling out names can be the last resort when the room is silent and no one speaks up… but let’s seek to build engagement in more constructive ways.
So what can we do instead of calling out names?
How about we use more constructive, positive tools to make the learners attentive?
Let’s build true, deep engagement and motivation in our learners, and not just behavioural compliance.
Don’t worry, I am well aware that it is not enough to just show up and ask people to share.
We can’t expect to “get lucky” and for everyone to feel talkative today.
For an active conversation to happen, we need to set the right stage:
We need to build the right motivation (cognitive) and right emotions (sense of safety, belonging, curiosity, and confidence) for sharing & meaningful interaction to happen!
First of all, the foundations for meaningful engagement need to be built much earlier than the moment that you need to choose to call them out or not. It should start before the workshops (how you describe it, how you communicate with them in advance), and especially at the very beginning of the workshop.
We need to start by designing workshops in a way that creates more motivation and engagement.
Then we have to facilitate engagement and motivation as a priority, at all times.
(Not sure how to put these ideas in practice? That is something that we train in a practical way on Train the Trainer course – if you wish to get better at it, do join us.)
If we start our workshop by building up:
- motivation & trust that the workshop will be relevant & useful for them
- clarity when & how to engage (e.g. should they raise their hand or just speak up, are we using chat etc.),
- planning with effective tools & processes to ensure that the participants remain active,
there will be no need to call them out by name.
There are three crucial steps to create ownership and engagement in training:
- Build the right mental & emotional environment right from the start of your workshop
- Create participation by enhancing personal motivation, interest in the topic and care for the group
- Don’t let them get away with slacking and being too “lazy” to think.
If you would like to discover more tips like this and keep on learning how to make your workshops more engaging & impactful – make sure to subscribe to the Trainers Toolbox newsletter (coming up 2-3 times/months).
The Tipping Point in Every Workshop
Now, once you set the stage right in terms of workshop opening, there is one crucial moment that makes or breaks the active engagement.
It is the first time when you ask the group a question.
That first time, will you endure the silence until someone answers?
Will you keep holding the space, encouraging them to step in with your body language and subtle nudges, until someone speaks up?
(“Who would like to share? Cmon, who ever has an idea, simply unmute, and jump in”)
If you don’t handle this moment right, they will realize that they don’t need to answer and that they can easily get away with it – you just showed them you will continue talking if they are silent!
With it, you practically encouraged their silence, and demonstrated that their inputs are not that important to you.
Wait for them to answer that first question as long as it is necessary (even if the silence got a bit uncomfortable…).
At the same time, keep on removing the obstacles by making it clear why the question is relevant, adding more clarity and offering ways in which they can answer.
Now they know that there is no escape, but they also feel safe and supported – and they better get into speaking!
Most importantly, I am not talking about scaring or forcing them into speaking up – instead, I am talking about true willingness and encouragement and curiosity to hear them.
Truly valuing their input – not including them just to “keep them awake”, but because we genuinely believe they have something valuable and insightful to contribute.
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Wondering how the emotional experience of participants during workshops influences their learning process?
Download the free ebook “Emotions best for learning – and how to create them”
Facilitation is truly an art – but one in which we can leverage a lot of science.
But it’s one thing to read about how to facilitate better.
It is a whole other game to put it all into practice – finding your answer on this question of how to build more engagement, as well as recognizing your weak spots through meaningful feedback from other trainers.
This is exactly what you get at Train the Trainer (foundational course for trainers) and Advanced Facilitation Training.
Join me at Train the Trainer or the Advanced Facilitation Training – and your workshops will never be the same.
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