We’ve all had that 3pm feeling right? It’s an interesting scene when you enter a room with 20 teenagers, who have already been in 3 workshops that day and are beginning to peak!
I had the good fortune of running their 4th session of the day. By this time I was kind of buzzing after running the same session 3 times previously and kept on having that Déjà vu feeling. It reminded me of when I used to work in the West End, the Saturday matinee is finished and then you get that big rush because its the last show of the week. Unfortunately, my group didn’t exactly feel the same way.
I bowled on in there and could see the anticipation on their faces when I mentioned the words ’study skills’ and suddenly felt compelled to get things moving, literally. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the fastest way to create energy is to get your body moving, asking a bunch of tired teenagers to jump up and down though isn’t going to cut it.
I’ve found the best way to entice them is to get them curious quickly – give some simple instructions – create some meaningful silence and ask a question that makes them go, “what does he mean, why is he looking at me… stop him? stop him doing what!?”.
There is a bunch of stuff you can do and you have to gauge it to the room but one of my favorites is the ‘chair game’, it’s probably got a better name but I don’t know what it is.
So I see their eyes closing and I say, “Grab your chairs and find a space but leave this chair alone”, usually it requires a small bit of geeing up. Long pause, then catch the eye of the one you know wants to start heckling and walk away towards the door. “Stop me from sitting down, GO!”. Now depending on the area (country wise), you have to be a bit careful, luckily I’m still a bit nimble. The heckler catches on and jumps to the chair I’m aiming for, leaving no one on his chair which I take, ya ha! Eveyone else wonders what has happened, the heckler makes a joke, the penny drops, everyone gets it (Just in case you don’t, they basically have to stop me from sitting down on a chair).
Now we’re cooking, everyone is engaged. I try again and the room starts to move (teenagers that is, not the actual room…) – this time it takes me 30 seconds. The heckler wants a go, suddenly everyone is an expert at this game, he eventually sits down – couple more goes the room is buzzin’ and I’m ready for the Saturday night gig (so to speak). What’s great is they are now excited and ready to do some really cool stuff. All I have to do is setup the outcomes, keep it moving and make sure the heckler (who is now a good friend) doesn’t get too over excited.
I guess the point I’m making is that whatever you’re presenting it’s important that the people in the room are at an energy level which will keep them engaged. As a trainer, presenter or facilitator its up to you to find some cool ways of doing that.
