Send Leanne a messageWouldn't it be cool if you could say to your client: "We'll practise those skills at Sir Elton John's Oscars party!". Today's guest has done that :)  Here's one of my #bestof episodes! I'm in deep work mode, working up a new program and busy attempting to pick my own brain.  My guest today is Steve Sims and he runs the coolest workshops I’ve ever heard of, no joke. And how does he embed learning at the end of these workshops? By making people practice the skills they’ve learn, when they rock up to Sir Elton John’s Oscars after-party. Steve is the man who created Bluefish, a company that makes once-in-a-lifetime events happen for the rich and famous reveals to the rest of us his trade secrets for making things happen.  With his help and expertise, his clients’ fantasies and wildest dreams come true. Steve is the author of the Bluefishing: The Art of Making Things Happen, and he has a podcast of the same name. Steve has spoken at Harvard and the Pentagon, twice.  Getting married by the Pope in the Vatican, being serenaded by Elton John, and connecting with powerful business moguls like Elon Musk are just a few of the many projects he has worked on.   I really wanted Steve on the show to talk about a few key things - the assumptions we have about asking for things, how confidence; and your approach can take you far and (literally) open doors.  We also talk about the perfectionism beast. If you’d like to join the conversation when the show is over, join The Flipchart, a free community on Facebook for First Time Facilitator listeners. About our guest: Steve Sims Steve Sims Steve is the visionary founder of Bluefish: the world’s first luxury concierge that delivers the highest level of personalized travel, transportation, and cutting-edge entertainment services to corporate executives, celebrities, professional athletes, and other discerning individuals interested in living life to its fullest. Resources mentioned in this episode: Steve Sims Website The Art of Making Things Happen Podcast Steve Sims on Instagram The Distillery Grant Cardone & Tai Lopez rant video Like this show? Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally. Click here to let Leanne know your number one takeaway from this episode! Click here to tweet your thanks to Steve Every day in 2025, Leanne is podcasting on her new show, Leanne on Demand.Tune in over here!(Otherwise, enjoy the back catalogue of First Time Facilitator episodes).Support the show

Send Leanne a messageYou’ll often hear how facilitation is used in the context of workshops and meetings on this podcast. However, today’s guest, demonstrates how it’s an incredibly handy skill for life in general, to. In fact, she used the tool of facilitation alone to build an entire Learning and Development department at the company she worked at. She’s a tremendous example of how you can define what you love, and have the courage to go after it. If you want to build a facilitation career but have no idea how to take the next step, I hope that this conversation will help you find your courage to seek opportunities where you are. My guest today is Maria McDonald. As a Learning & Development consultant (as well as the L&D Manager for Geocaching), Maria is dedicated to helping leaders, businesses, and entrepreneurs intentionally shape effective, impactful, and empowered company cultures. In this show, we also discuss how her yoga teaching practice combined beautifully with her facilitation growth, how to demonstrate value-add for teams, how she used facilitation to create a role in her organization (that never existed before!), and how she deals with unpredictable moments in her workshops. Maria uses facilitation skills to demonstrate the value of continuous learning, improve collaboration across the company, clarify mission & goals, improve individual & collective communication skills, enhance brainstorming sessions, guide retrospectives, and mediate conflict.  About today’s guest: Maria McDonald As a Learning & Development Consultant, Maria is dedicated to helping leaders, businesses, and entrepreneurs intentionally shape effective, impactful, and empowered company cultures. Through customized consulting practices, Maria’s innovative and energizing techniques support you in achieving your business goals while proactively developing your people. Her vision is to shift each business into effective paradigms that inspire people at every level of your organization. Maria is also the Learning and Development Manager for Geocaching, where she formulates learning and development strategy based on organizational needs, and creates a culture in which continuous learning and improvement are encouraged, and where employees are equipped with the tools for self-help and empowered to teach and learn from each other. Resources Visit Maria McDonald’s website Connect with Maria on LinkedIn and send her a message, letting her know your favourite takeaway! Geocaching: Join the world’s largest treasure hunt Join The Flipchart community on Facebook Support the show and shout Leanne a coffee! Every day in 2025, Leanne is podcasting on her new show, Leanne on Demand.Tune in over here!(Otherwise, enjoy the back catalogue of First Time Facilitator episodes).Support the show

Send Leanne a messageHere’s the scenario: You’re working with some new clients, and they haven’t used Zoom before. You pull together some slides, videos and helpful pointers and send them these beforehand. During the session, you dedicate the first few minutes to sharing features, and getting them to feel comfortable using Zoom. You’re happy with what you’ve created but then, BAM, Zoom delivers another upgrade, which means screenshots have changed.  As we know, it takes time and effort to update your Zoom onboarding calls.. UNTIL this week! Previous guest of the show, Jan Keck has pulled together an incredible resource for anyone who uses Zoom. As a facilitator, you can share this with your clients prior to your workshops - it will save you so much time! This week, I hopped on a quick fireside chat and brought Jan back on the show to talk through this cheat-sheet, how it will help us as facilitators, how his team put it together, and more. Don’t forget to reach out to Jan to say thanks for this piece of gold dust he’s brought us!! About today’s guest: Jan Keck Jan Keck is a community addict. He is the creator of ASK DEEP QUESTIONS, which started out as a deck of cards to help his friends connect on a camping trip and is now being used to facilitate meaningful conversations through sharing personal stories on every continent around the globe. Jan’s mission is to help people feel less alone, so by creating experiences, workshops and programs he is fuelling the movement for deeper human connection. Growing up as an only child he found his soul family at summer camp, in sports clubs and even politics. But when he moved from Germany to Canada in his twenties he had to re-create his community from scratch and learned that the fastest way to make deep connections is through meaningful conversations and experiences.  Jan now lives in Toronto with his wife Natalia (aka Cookie), his son Mika and you can often find him hanging out with his mastermind group, attending community events, or camping up north. Resources Grab it! THE ULTIMATE ZOOM GUIDE FOR PARTICIPANTS IN 2021 Visit Jan Keck’s website Connect with Jan on LinkedIn  Follow Jan Keck on Instagram Like his page on Facebook Listen to our previous conversation on Episode 156: Let’s have a conversation that matters Join The Flipchart community on Facebook Support the show and shout Leanne a coffee!  Every day in 2025, Leanne is podcasting on her new show, Leanne on Demand.Tune in over here!(Otherwise, enjoy the back catalogue of First Time Facilitator episodes).Support the show

Send Leanne a message“It’s mandatory” - I hear those words, and I involuntarily shudder. Is that what we want our participants feeling before they arrive to our workshops? No! We really can’t control whether someone decides to come along to our workshop, or not, however we can absolutely do our best to influence whether someone wants to come along, and how they feel about joining our session. In this week’s episode, I share 15 tips and strategies you can use as preventative strategies to bolster your workshop attendance rate. It’s problematic when people don’t show up. We know it affects group dynamics, the way you’ve structured your session. If you’ve booked an in-person event, you’re paying for facilities/catering that no longer applies. If you’re external, you might even have to reschedule your dates, which can delay other business for you. I’ve also been the participant who hasn’t shown up. And while life happens, there are numerous other reasons I haven’t showed up to events in the past: I don’t have skin in the game, the session isn’t relevant for me right now, I’ll watch the recording later, I just don’t feel like it… The list goes on! What can we do about it? Listen in. But my #1 tip is to have a Marketing mindset in the lead up to your workshops. It’s an event, treat it like one! These strategies are applicable whether you work internally, you’re part of the Learning and Development team, or you’re an external consultant. Resources Episode 159: How to win friends and influence your online colleagues Episode 114 with Dr JJ Peterson from Storybrand Join The Flipchart community on Facebook! Love the show? Buy the host a coffee! Subscribe to Leanne’s curated newsletter Every day in 2025, Leanne is podcasting on her new show, Leanne on Demand.Tune in over here!(Otherwise, enjoy the back catalogue of First Time Facilitator episodes).Support the show

Send Leanne a messageWhen did I realise I loved talking about group dynamics? When I was 16, at a netball camp, we did a team-building high ropes course together. Btw - I hate high ropes, but I loved the debriefing part afterwards! The reason I share this, is because this week’s guest Phil Brown works for an adventure company called High 5 Adventure, and he joined the High 5 team as a lead trainer in 2015.  Phil will  get you thinking about a lot of things:  What happens when we graduate from being a first time facilitator, where’s the career progression?  How do we define what we do to people who are outside our industry?  And he also shares a really great way of explaining work related to teams, and breaking these into three categories: Team bonding, team building and team development. Clever! Originally from England, Phil first came to the US in 2008 working as an Outdoor Educator and Challenge Course Coordinator at the New York YMCA Camp. It was here that his love for the Adventure Education field was ignited, discovering the joy and rewards playing and teaching inside and out alongside such a varied range of people, all who benefit from the experience.  His work in the realms of summer camp, outdoor education, and physical education give him an invaluable perspective for working with of High 5’s varied clientele.  Phil believes that each experience with every group member is a learning opportunity for him, no matter who he’s working with. He also has a podcast called Vertical Playpen, sharing tips on adventure and experiential learning. Connect with Phil Brown! Email Phil at pbrown@high5adventure.org Visit High 5’s website Listen to Phil’s podcast - Vertical Play Pen Other helpful links: Click here for show notes Join The Flipchart community on Facebook (it’s free!) Support the host’s ideas and buy Leanne a coffee Connect with Leanne Hughes on LinkedIn Every day in 2025, Leanne is podcasting on her new show, Leanne on Demand.Tune in over here!(Otherwise, enjoy the back catalogue of First Time Facilitator episodes).Support the show

Send Leanne a messageThings that are easier said than done: “Just be yourself!” Why is this so hard? Here are a couple of reasons: It’s sometimes hard to see the label when we’re inside the bottle and this creates so We’re scared to share who we really are with the world, in case we get rejected... My guest this week, Leslie Ehm helps people discover their uniqueness and release it into the world.  As a Former TV host and advertising Creative Director turned training guru, Leslie Ehm has spent decades travelling the globe with her award-winning company Combustion, working with executives and teams from top organizations like Google, Disney, Pepsico, TD Bank, Uber, HBO, Lenovo, and more.  Fuelled by her unrelenting passion for developing human potential, Leslie is now a Swagger Coach, author of Swagger – Unleash Everything You Are and Become Everything You Want, and a keynote speaker.  She’s turned technologists into creative forces, bankers into storytellers, and has brought a serious dose of badass-ness to boardrooms everywhere.  Tune in to Episode 160 of the First Time Facilitator podcast to hear how you can up your confidence and swagger!  P.s. Oh and that other easier-said-than-done-phrase, “Fake it ‘til you make it?” Leslie thinks that’s baloney! In this episode, you will learn how to: See people’s truth to help them to manifest who they really are The difference between self-belief and confidence Fundamental drivers of swagger How to discover your own swagger Resources Swagger: Unleash everything you are and become everything you want Visit Leslie Ehm’s website Connect with Leslie on LinkedIn Tweet Leslie to let her know you watched this episEvery day in 2025, Leanne is podcasting on her new show, Leanne on Demand.Tune in over here!(Otherwise, enjoy the back catalogue of First Time Facilitator episodes).Support the show

Send Leanne a messageDo you rely on your colleagues to provides input and decisions to move a project forward? Do you find that you're constantly chasing people to get things done, and finding it hard to build relationships because you can't catch up with people in person? Then, this episode is for you. When we used to do things face to face, and I had to chase a colleague for information, I'd head out for a coffee. It was semi-strategic. I’d sit at the coffee shop outside of my company’s office. It was a fantastic way of saying hi to people when they were in a good mood (with caffeine, outside, day hadn’t really started), you could easily sneak in a quick question about your project, get an answer, and feel like you’d already won the day. In a virtual world though, it’s hard to orchestrate these conversations… Or, is it? In this episode, I share the tactics I’ve used to build relationships and influence people I’ve never met before. You’ll find this helpful if you’re: Having to get people’s time/attention and you’re struggling because they don’t respond to your emails / you don’t have direct authority (you’re influencing / in a dotted line relationship) Partnering with an organisation to achieve goals, and you need to work with leaders/subject matter experts, but they’re too busy to give you the input you need to move forward. Click here for show notes Join The Flipchart community on Facebook (it’s free!) Support the host’s ideas and buy Leanne a coffee Connect with Leanne Hughes on LinkedIn or Instagram Subscribe to Leanne’s YouTube channel Every day in 2025, Leanne is podcasting on her new show, Leanne on Demand.Tune in over here!(Otherwise, enjoy the back catalogue of First Time Facilitator episodes).Support the show

Send Leanne a messageDigital transformation is so hot right now! And isn’t it amazing that  my guest today suggests that our superpower of facilitation can help create this transformation in organisations?! Mike Knapp believes there is a better way for business owners and leaders to build their businesses and achieve their big goals. In this conversation, he shares how he transitioned from the IT guy, to someone who led digital transformational projects, leveraging facilitation to make the change effective. “Mural Mike” also creates incredible templates using Mural, and he structures these in a way to create stories and contrast in his sessions.  He also shares the importance of energy and how his practice in meditation allows him to create a welcoming space for his groups. This is a great conversation to listen into if you work in complex organisations implementing change, or you want to step into the world of change management. Click here for show notes Join The Flipchart, a free Facebook group for First Time Facilitators Tweet Leanne your number 1 takeaway! Support the ideas behind the show: Buy Leanne a coffee Every day in 2025, Leanne is podcasting on her new show, Leanne on Demand.Tune in over here!(Otherwise, enjoy the back catalogue of First Time Facilitator episodes).Support the show

Send Leanne a messageMove over virtual workshops, let’s talk about virtual marathons - more specifically, online events that can span over a couple of days. It’s a different game, with longer interaction, so how do you maintain your energy, and keep your participants wanting more, too? This week’s guest is the perfect person to answer this question because she’s been running online events since 2007! I'm joined by Suzi Dafnis, the CEO of HerBusiness, a collaborative online community of women who are growing and scaling a business. For over 25 years HerBusiness has provided mentoring and training to help women grow a sustainable business. Her big passion is helping women business owners to create the impact, the income and the results that they want through their business and to do what they love, every day. She has grown multiple multimillion-dollar businesses, and that hasn’t been by accident. What struck me from chatting to Suzi is how strategic and intentional she is with all of the things: Having a background in Events, she cleverly uses her workshops to drive incredibly powerful word of mouth marketing opportunities for her business. Facilitators, solopreneurs...okay, ANYONE organising workshops and virtual experiences, you’ll love this one! About today’s guest: Suzi Dafnis Suzi Dafnis is the CEO of HerBusiness, a collaborative online community of women who are growing and scaling a business. Her BIG passion is helping women business owners to create the impact, the income and the results that they want through their business and to do what they love, every day. For over 25 years HerBusiness has provided mentoring and training to help women grow a sustainable business. Suzi started her first business in the spare room of her home, in her late 20s, with no savings and no business degree, and built that into an $18million business with 45 staff and offices in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Learn more at HerBusiness.com Request an invitation to join the HerBusiness Network at herousinessnetwork.com Resources:  Join our community of facilitators from all over the world on our free Facebook group, The Flipchart Love the show? Buy Leanne a coffee! Click here for show notes / to watch the video interview Every day in 2025, Leanne is podcasting on her new show, Leanne on Demand.Tune in over here!(Otherwise, enjoy the back catalogue of First Time Facilitator episodes).Support the show

Send Leanne a messageIn case you can’t tell, I love conversations. If my life could involve having morning coffees with interesting people, then chatting with other cool people over an afternoon champagne by the water, rinse and repeat every day x 5 days, my life would be complete. What’s interesting is that I’m really not the best (or interested?) in small talk. I don’t love going to the dog park, because the chitter chatter generally seems to go around in circles, talking about our dogs. That’s cool for a few minutes but we talk about things like what they eat and how they sleep…   I think I’d enjoy a conversation with today’s guest in a dog park though, because his tagline is all about having conversations that matter. His name is Jan Keck and he is a self-proclaimed community addict. He is the creator of ASK DEEP QUESTIONS, which started out as a deck of cards to help his friends connect on a camping trip and is now being used to facilitate meaningful conversations through sharing personal stories on every continent around the globe. You can check out what he does over at http://www.askdeepquestions.com and http://www.jankeck.com In this conversation, we chat about relationships and which ones we invest in, if it’s possible to create a sense of belonging in an organisation. We dive into chats about redesigning virtual calls, scaling connections online, and btw Jan also has a kick-butt youtube channel, so he shares his tips for camera confidence, as well as advice for first time facilitators. About today’s guest: Jan Keck Jan Keck is a community addict. He is the creator of ASK DEEP QUESTIONS, which started out as a deck of cards to help his friends connect on a camping trip and is now being used to facilitate meaningful conversations through sharing personal stories on every continent around the globe. Jan’s mission is to help people feel less alone, so by creating experiences, workshops and programs he is fueling the movement for deeper human connection. Growing up as an only child he found his soul family at summer camp, in sports clubs and even politics. But when he moved from Germany to Canada in his twenties he had to re-create his community from scratch and learned that the fastest way to make deep connections is through meaningful conversations and experiences.  Jan now lives in Toronto with his wife Natalia (aka Cookie), his son Mika and you can often find him hanging out with his mastermind group, attending community events, or camping up northEvery day in 2025, Leanne is podcasting on her new show, Leanne on Demand.Tune in over here!(Otherwise, enjoy the back catalogue of First Time Facilitator episodes).Support the show