Unstopped and Unstoppable - A Mini-Workshop
Toastmasters provides an excellent forum for developing material, while many of SRT’s members regularly accept offers to do so. Accredited Speaker Ron Chapman has been using this approach for a number of years. So when the Metro North group of Marietta, Georgia asked Ron if he could deliver a mini-workshop for their open house event, he seized the opportunity. “I’d recently been using a new framework with some of my professional clientele, and the timing was too good to miss,” Ron recounts. “Anytime I can use SRT’s experimental speaking space, or any other club offers an opportunity, it’s perfect for developing new material.”
Ron uses a standardized approach to a new engagement regardless of the circumstances or setting. Here it is encapsulated for this occasion based on conversations he had with Metro North leadership.
What does this audience or client need? - Metro North is always wanting to learn new things, and they like to be stretched.
What is the occasion? - An open house to recruit new members. We’ll use Ron as the attraction, and offer a light dinner afterward.
What is the setting? - A church classroom with room for up to fifty. There’s a whiteboard if needed.
Then Ron transitions to questions for himself.
What material do I have that will match the need? - A framework for deepening understanding for transformation called The Ladder of Inference.
How best to portray the material for this audience? - Story, anecdote, and a graphic would be really helpful since the material is dense.
What strategies will support this best? - Semi-circle set up so everyone can see each other. Take advantage of the whiteboard.
How to tailor it to the setting? - High interactivity to engage them and address their desire to be stretched.
Other considerations? - Just how much can I stretch them? Leadership told me to really push it.
“Since this was new material, I decided to keep it pretty fresh and organic. I wanted to learn as much as they did, so I didn't overdevelop the content,” Ron confided to us. “Instead I picked out my end point, the take home I wanted them to receive, and then the key elements that seemed essential. After that I drew out a centerline graphically with each of my elements, kind of like a roadmap. After that, I gave a lot of thought to how I would start, knowing full well the pathway. Getting the right launch at the beginning is critical. Once I arrived and chatted with a few people, I decided to tweak a few things to cater to some individuals.”
What you’ll see in the video is a work in progress though well-delivered because of Ron’s professional expertise. He’s refining his approach based on that experience and he’s also developing a graphics package. We asked Ron what he thought about the experience. “It was pretty cool, though I was afraid afterward that I’d gone too far outside the box. But a few of the attendees told me it had been really stimulating, and had stretched them. Better still, they told me the graphic and the stories had really helped them understand better. That’s a win as I see it. Whenever I can take challenging material and aid people in really getting it, I’m a happy guy.”
You can learn more about Ron at RonaldChapman.com, or see much of his transformational material at SeeingTrue.com/blog