First Time Facilitator

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Okay, we all know it's important to get a good night's sleep, switch off, clarify your vision, and deal with stress.

But like most things in life - these things are much easier said than done.

The best part of my conversation today with my good friend, Warren James is the pragmatic approach is takes to all of this important life and work stuff (including development our careers and preparing for the dreaded annual performance review!).

Warren is a Brisbane-based coach and mentor providing online mentoring, coaching and training to some of Australia’s most talented graduates and employees early in their careers.

He also released his first book this week called: Further Faster: The ultimate guide to accelerating your career.

Warren has developed his career from the ground-up and has worked with some of the most respected businesses in the industry including BG Group, Shell, QGC, Alinta and Arrow Energy.

As an engineer and later, a project manager, he has faced and overcame challenges that many projects managers face. He has managed projects in excess of $50M, overcome competing deadlines and overcome adversity time and time again.

Having lived and breathed this industry for more than 10 years, he understands what today’s graduates need to not only survive but thrive.

Today, as the founder of Rapid Mentoring, he partners with businesses across Australia who are genuinely interested in the development of their staff. 

• How to handle stress, that feeling of overwhelm and exhaustion from work
• How to get started writing a book
• How personal life, career goals, bucket list and finances are important in accelerating your career
• Creating balance by planning ahead and creating a vision of what you actually want 
• Switching off, sleeping better
• Accelerating your career during Covid

• Click here for show notes
• Join our community of facilitators on our free Facebook group called The Flipchart
• Get on the waitlist for Virtually Possible 2.0

Your name can feature on Leanne's Wall of Work Fame.

Just pre-order her book by 30 Sep 2026; and follow the details to claim your star.

Also, there are a ton of bulk order incentives as well!

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It’s always fun to deliver a project but as we all know as facilitators, many of the lessons learned are discovered in the reflection!

Joeri Schilders and I met a few months ago and in space of a few weeks, created a concept for a project, launched it, welcomed members in, created the program and delivered it.

In this episode, Joeri and I debrief the first, online collaboration project we delivered together called Virtually Possible. We debrief:

• Benefits and advantages of co-facilitation

• Process of building, creating the Virtually Possible facilitation program

• Virtually Possible platform - the channels, activities, and fun challenges

• SIFT - Stuff up, Insights, First times and Transformation

• Virtually Possible 2.0

Join the Virtually Possible 2.0 waitlist!

Sign up to The Flipchart, a free facilitator Facebook group

Your name can feature on Leanne's Wall of Work Fame.

Just pre-order her book by 30 Sep 2026; and follow the details to claim your star.

Also, there are a ton of bulk order incentives as well!

Support the show

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Today, I’m chatting to someone who also shares my love for the Clifton Strengths tool.

It’s all well and good to find a tool you love, that echoes back what you think + feel about yourself but more importantly? It’s what you do with it that matters!

Today’s guest, Charlotte Blair from The Strengths Partners shares how we can apply and activate our strengths across various contexts: In the way we facilitate, the way we show up to strengthen our network, how we build our business, and how we apply what we learn.

Charlotte  has a passion for helping others maximise their potential.  She’s a a highly experienced Gallup-Strengths Certified Coach, consultant and facilitator with over 20 years proven success managing relationships and developing business in highly complex sales environments.

At the end of our conversation, she also shares her favourite workshop activities that you could pretty much design a workshop from, they cover all the key elements!

What I admire about Charlotte is the way she demonstrates her love for connecting, serving and helping others. 

• Click here for show notes
• Join The Flipchart, a free group for facilitators on Facebook
• Watch our conversation on YouTube

Your name can feature on Leanne's Wall of Work Fame.

Just pre-order her book by 30 Sep 2026; and follow the details to claim your star.

Also, there are a ton of bulk order incentives as well!

Support the show

Send Leanne a message

We’ve been delivering in-person workshops for years. We’re comfortable. Give us a marker pen, some butcher’s paper and some decent catering: We’re good to go!

When Covid hit earlier this year, many of us had to shift gears and deliver workshops online. We had to adjust to new technology, new ways of experiencing workshops, a range of energy levels. We all started feeling like First Time Facilitators!

That’s the conversation I have with today’s guest, Marcus Crow.

Marcus has an insane amount of in-person workshop experience. He’s also the co-founder of 10,000 HOURS. They design and deliver content for Training, Conferences and Offsites, and they have been honing their craft for more than 20 years. Prior to starting 10,000 Hours, he co-founded, built and sold Phuel / Oxygen Learning to John Singleton's STW (now WPP).

• What it takes to adapt a face to face workshop, and move it online

• How you can build your flexibility muscles as a facilitator

• What to do when you encounter resistance from someone in your workshop

• Good tips for timing for your virtual sessions

• Key considerations if you’re thinking of dropping your job and starting your facilitation business

Click here for show notes

Join our free Facebook called The Flipchart

Get on the waitlist for Virtually Possible 2.0

Your name can feature on Leanne's Wall of Work Fame.

Just pre-order her book by 30 Sep 2026; and follow the details to claim your star.

Also, there are a ton of bulk order incentives as well!

Support the show

Send Leanne a message

Ever since I spoke to Jacinta Cubis on the show, I've started noticing more facilitation lessons around me, every day.

In this week's episode, I share the story of my return to a group fitness class at the gym, and what I learnt about virtual facilitation as a result.

• Click here to view the show notes.
• Get on the Virtually Possible 2.0 waitlist

Your name can feature on Leanne's Wall of Work Fame.

Just pre-order her book by 30 Sep 2026; and follow the details to claim your star.

Also, there are a ton of bulk order incentives as well!

Support the show

Send Leanne a message

Mark Bowden is back!

It sounds weird to say this: But this guy makes you feel at home when you chat to him. Yes, I know we’re all at home already — he’s curious, he uses your name when he talks to you, he asks questions, he nods, he does all the things to make you feel safe and ready to contribute.

I spoke to Mark in Episode 102 of the First Time Facilitator podcast, and it’s the #1 most downloaded episode of all time!

So, I brought Mark back on the show, to share how we can use our body language to create engagement and connections quickly, in the virtual world.

The answer is more reassuring than you think.

From my perspective - he’s been there, done that but my favourite thing about Mark is how funny, down to earth and comfortable he is to be around. 

With our Virtually Possible community opening last week, I also decided to hand over the microphone to the group, and let them ask Mark some questions.

A big thanks to those from VP who joined live and felt comfortable coming off mute to ask Mark a question, you kept the fabulous group interview going, I salute you!

Voted the #1 Body Language Professional in the world for two years running, Mark Bowden is passionate about giving your audience the most influential and persuasive communication techniques to stand out, win trust, and gain credibility every time they speak. Inspiring, energetic, engaging, and entirely entertaining, Mark’s memorable talks and training programs not only educate but have proven life-changing in helping people and organizations grow across all industries and sectors.

Join The Flipchart community on Facebook

Click here for show notes

Your name can feature on Leanne's Wall of Work Fame.

Just pre-order her book by 30 Sep 2026; and follow the details to claim your star.

Also, there are a ton of bulk order incentives as well!

Support the show

Send Leanne a message

Have you been running webinars but finding it difficult to get people through the door? This week’s guest is great at tuning in to topics that people actually want, and he’s figured out a pretty neat system to do this!

Ken Burgin works with foodservice operators to assist them to be more popular & successful. He is a former cafe and restaurant owner in Sydney, and started the online management platform Profitable Hospitality. He now works for hospitality finance company SilverChef, focused on educational content and events for business owners.

In this conversation, we flip between talking about the virtual facilitation side of things, and providing value to our people; then we hear how Ken really grew his business and sold out his workshops on weekends; how he connects with people, how he adds value.

Ken has many years of experience providing training and content to help transform the hospitality industry. He likes finding out the 'why' of business success, and the 'why not' of business problems, keeping track of the latest technology & presentation techniques, and updating his photography skills.

Click here for show notes

Continue the conversation on our free Facebook group, The Flipchart

Your name can feature on Leanne's Wall of Work Fame.

Just pre-order her book by 30 Sep 2026; and follow the details to claim your star.

Also, there are a ton of bulk order incentives as well!

Support the show

Send Leanne a message

Are you zipping around from one virtual meeting to the next? Clicking Exit on a call, then clicking a new link to jump on the next without getting space in between? I am!

How can we facilitate an experience, where our participants arrive into our virtual workshops with renewed energy and focus?

That's the conversation I have with today's guest, Wade Brill.

Wade is a Mindfulness Coach, Podcaster and Speaker who helps busy professionals experiencing stress and overwhelm be more present, productive and energized. Wade devotes her life’s work to helping others connect to their own inspiration.

In this conversation, we discuss virtual centering and wellbeing techniques, and how to build our facilitation skills, as we move virtually to help support team wellbeing.

Wade also shared her ideas on how we can use team video calls to work on team connection, listening and attention skills. 

• Click here for the show notes
• Join the Flipchart community on Facebook

Your name can feature on Leanne's Wall of Work Fame.

Just pre-order her book by 30 Sep 2026; and follow the details to claim your star.

Also, there are a ton of bulk order incentives as well!

Support the show

Send Leanne a message

Anytime you’re live - whether that’s presenting a webinar, or a face-to-face workshop, you’re essentially exchanging your time for money.

Today’s guest, Sarah Cordiner has helped over 132,000 students from all over the world. You don’t do that by running workshops, you do it by scaling what you offer through digital programs and courses.

Where do you start if you want to scale? That’s the conversation I have with Sarah today.

Sarah Cordiner is a Qualified Course Creation Specialist, trusted by over 20,000 Course Creators & Educators in 146 countries.  She helps you turn your expertise into profitable digital products and programs.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to start, how to build an audience and how one idea from a video, can be used to market in so many different ways.

More than that, it’s an inspiring episode looking at failure and how all that matters with failure, is deciding what to do next.  If you’ve ever held yourself back, or have reasons to not do things, I think you’ll also be inspired by what Sarah shares in this conversation.

Show notes for Episode 133

Join The Flipchart community on Facebook

Your name can feature on Leanne's Wall of Work Fame.

Just pre-order her book by 30 Sep 2026; and follow the details to claim your star.

Also, there are a ton of bulk order incentives as well!

Support the show

Send Leanne a message

Panel discussions! You see some great ones, you see some ordinary ones.

A few years ago I was really into the ABC TV show, Q&A with Tony Jones. Some people didn’t enjoy his style. I loved it. He was direct, funny, great at segueing the conversation and getting panellists to add, argue, contradict each other, which created fantastic drama.

It’s really funny, over 131 episodes down and today we explore a topic we’ve never discussed before: The skill of moderating.

That’s what we talk about with today’s guest, Kjell Lutz

In this one, you’ll hear how Kjell got his start with moderating panels and MCing, how he creates a dynamic conversation between panelists and audiences; how he gets large audiences interacting with content as well.

Kjell is fascinated by how people learn. During his studies in organizational psychology, he immersed himself in the theory of knowledge transfer, how can you help people learn. He first applied this with small groups during training, then online with e-learnings and then with large groups during meetings.He further immersed himself in the psychology of making choices, how do we make choices and especially how can we make better choices.

Kjell as a chairman is full of energy and enthusiasm. With an appropriate dose of humour and the right interaction, he connects the participants to the theme of the day and the current topics. He loves to lead different work forms that contribute to the learning process of the participants. Let people experience something meaningful in a playful way.

As a speaker, he ensures that the dialogue session is properly initiated with an appropriate keynote. As a moderator, he facilitates the rounds of conversations to create the space that is needed.

• Doors for Virtually Possible close this week. Use the code PODCAST to grab 15% off!
• Join our global facilitator community on The Flipchart
• Click here for show notes

Your name can feature on Leanne's Wall of Work Fame.

Just pre-order her book by 30 Sep 2026; and follow the details to claim your star.

Also, there are a ton of bulk order incentives as well!

Support the show