Top 3 Distractions of Group Learning Programs
Facilitator Tips Episode 26

Remove These Top 3 Distractions to Maintain Focus

This week’s Facilitator Tips episode shares a series of simple yet very powerful tips that will help you identify and remove the top three distractions of group learning programs.

<< Go to Episode 25   Go to Episode 27 >>

There’s nothing worse than working with or presenting to a group that is distracted.

This episode reveals four common reasons many groups choose to disengage, and all of them can be easily managed, as described in this short video.

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Useful Links & Resources

• GRABBSS – this is a really useful checklist of group characteristics that will help you make better decisions as a group facilitator, some of which also assist to keep your group’s attention.

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Video Transcript

Hi there and welcome to Episode 26 of the Facilitator Tips video series. My name is Mark Collard. I’m an experiential trainer and author, and today I want to focus on what I call “looking into the sun”. It’s actually just about how do you manage distractions.

Now, this is what I mean, and it’s those times when perhaps many people have spent inside four walls we like the opportunity because we enjoy going outdoors if it’s a pleasant day. But in one case, it might be those times when you’re outdoors and you find that you’re actually being distracted by the sun. So the issue is who looks into the sun. My recommendation is that you avoid the distraction for the group and you look into the sun.

Now I can appreciate that can be difficult, but that is a better problem to manage than it is a whole group of people finding it difficult to see you because the sun is directly behind you or there’s a lot of backlight, or alternatively it is because they get disengaged. So because that happens that becomes more of a problem for you.

So shade your eyes, maybe turn your body slight angle so that you could direct more carefully to the group, but remove the distraction. So in this case, put the sun behind the group so effectively you’re looking into it.

It also means that maybe if you’ve got gorgeous scenery behind you, they’re going to be looking at that more frequently than they’re looking at you, or maybe there’s another group that’s behind you. So think about how you position yourself in regards to where your group is at and where their attention needs to be focused.

And that relates to the orientation. Think about where your group needs to be, and if you need to, think in advance about what might be happening further on down the track so that it would be important for the group to be able to maintain their focus.

So that’s just a quick tip that I have found. I’m calling it “look into the sun” but really it’s about understanding what those distractions would be so that you can maintain the focus of your group for as long as possible.

For further notes, information, and links go straight to the show notes for this episode at www.playmeo.com Episode 26.

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I will look forward to seeing you in the next episode.

Bye for now.