First Time Facilitator

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In this week's #fromthevault episode, I talk to Neen James. 

Neen is a sought-out, high-energy keynote speaker in the States who challenges her audiences to leverage their focus and pay attention to what matters most at work and in life. 

In this episode you’ll learn: 

• How a happy little Aussie wound up killing it on stages in the US
• The differences between Australian and US audiences
• Why it’s important to change your focus and stand in service (and how this helps with overcoming nerves)
• Understanding the importance of the three types of attention and how you can apply that to your facilitation
• Her speaker role models (and the mad genius they focus on)
• How the three types of attention drive profitability, productivity and accountability
• Tips and tricks on how to contextualise your training content and marketing collateral
• Strategies on how to engage with your audience.

About our guest
Neen James is the author of Folding Time™ and Attention Pays™. In 2017, she was named one of the top 30 Leadership Speakers by Global Guru because of her work with companies like Viacom, Comcast, and Abbot Pharmaceutical, among others. She earned her MBA from Southern Cross University and the Certified Speaking Professional designation from National Speakers Association. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Neen James' website
• Neen's latest book, 'Attention Pays'
• Attention Pays Sample Chapters (a gift from Neen)
• Neen's speaking kit
• Scott McKain
• Matt Church
• https://marksanborn.com/
• Jay Baer
• Tami Evans
• Judson Laipply
• Tamsen Webster - Red Thread
• Connie Podesta
• Sally Hogshead

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 about your number one takeaway from this episode! (or, leave a comment below)
• Tweet your thanks to Neen.

Quotes of the show:

• “I want to make sure that every interaction they have, they feel like they are getting the attention that they want and need and deserve.”
• “It's not about you and it's not about them, it's simply about a conversation you're going to create in the room.”
• “One of the best engagement techniques is to keep it really practical. So as soon as they leave your workshop, they can share with someone else what they learned and they can implement it in their everyday life.”
• “There’s always the next opportunity, the next level of performance, the next skill to develop, the next way to challenge an audience”

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

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What can I say that hasn’t already been said?

There’s a temptation because it’s the last show to try to share something that’s the most valuable thing, that summarises the last 200 weeks of my life. 

Then perspective hits and I realise, that’s nothing I can really say in “one final episode” to summarise two-hundred weeks of conversations, content creation, Monday deadlines, audio editing, posting on social media, laughs, workshops, travel, Covid, etc.  

Some key things:

• Yes! I will be starting something new, I’m still working my way and deciding what that is. In the meantime, you’ll hear some “From the vault” episodes every Monday (with new intros) 
• The best way to keep in touch with what’s next is to;
  • Sign onto my email list
  • Hit Subscribe to this podcast in your favourite podcast app of choice

Click here for show notes
Email Leanne if you're curious about the Gold Coast retreat in Feb 2022 ([email protected])

Ending a podcast is very different to ending a job. You know when you leave a job, you get all these lovely messages/people who you least expected signing your farewell card?  

The magic of hosting this show, is that as the show continued, every week I’d hear from someone who found an episode helpful, or they discovered the show at EXACTLY THE RIGHT TIME for them in their career.

The show couldn’t have got here without you. It’s been a co-creation process this whole time. I’d like to thank the following people who submitted voice notes and emails for the final episode, in no particular order:

Juan Daniel Sobrado, Beth Wonson, Tom Scantlebury, Prina Shah, Garbiel Furman, Jan Szmanda, Tim Ferguson, Tony Brazelton, Julia van Graas, Kevin Meenaghan, Sally Prosser, Paul McGregor, Sean Lavin, May Lee, Lauren Scholz, Ken Burgin, Joeri Schilders, Deanne Gagnon, Gordon Rhodes, Cathryn Lloyd and Thomas Fry.

A reflection question that’s fitting to ask you now is this: Is there anything you need to stop, in order to progress where you’d like to be?

About your host: Leanne Hughes

Leanne Hughes is an international facilitator, speaker and coach who loves creating unpredictable workshop experiences, that predictably work. 

She combines her experience in Marketing, with her education in Human Resources and Psychology, to help leaders create engaging everyday experiences - that are so contagious they scale across teams, functions and regions.

Leanne has facilitated leadership, onboarding and team-development workshops across Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, and Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development.  She has over 14 years’ of experience across a range of industries including mining, government and tourism sectors.

She’s the host of the First Time Facilitator podcast and is the Winner (External) in the 2021 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.

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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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If I were to think of two words that describe this podcast's main themes, they would be "courage" and "preparation".

Preparation - so that we can feel ready to adapt to what happens in the room, a feeling of, "I/the group have got this -- Whatever happens!" Courage is about taking the opportunity, saying yes to when we feel like we're not just ready yet. 

With the emergence of Clubhouse and launch of audio-only rooms across platforms like Twitter and Facebook, how do you create an environment where people have the courage to come off mute? How can you create an inclusive conversation, when you can't see people and pick up on their body language?

There's no one better to riff on this topic than the CEO of Australia's first audio agency. Yes, he loves audio more than I do!

My guest today is Ronsley Vaz. Ronsley is the reason I started this podcast. I went to his We Are Podcast event in Brisbane in Nov 2017, without any intention of starting a podcast. Three months later, First Time Facilitator was launched into the world. 

This interview was a ton of fun to record, at Ronsley's home studio in Brisbane and I'm so glad I could share a full-circle moment with all of you.

Ronsley has recently started identifying himself as a facilitator but I placed him in that bucket a long time ago.  He has an insane ability to connect, bring people together, and make magic happen.

Ronsley is a keynote speaker, author and business leader. He is the author of the book AMPLIFY – How to raise your voice, boost your brand and grow your
business.

He is on the board for freetoshine.org, an organisation that prevents children from being sex trafficked. His TEDx Talk which was made a TED talk in 2020, “The Perfect Recipe for a Deep Conversation”, touches on his passion of exploring the world through his voice, and the voices of others.

Ronsley has an MBA in Psychology and Leadership and a Master’s in Software Engineering as well as a Diploma in Financial Services.

His show The Psychology of Entrepreneurship, ‘Bond Appetit’ podcast and ‘Should I Start a Podcast? have reached over 4 million listeners in 133 countries.

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

Something I'm pondering right now is how often our ideas are cemented in reality ("How would this actually work?") which can limit our capacity to dream big.

My guest today inspires her guests to go against that inclination, and to start exploring possibilities. We often go through a live role-play on this call to see how we can bring this approach to exploration in our workshops.

My guest today is Shannon Dean Hughes. Yes, you can never have enough Hughes’ in your life!

Shannon  is an experiential trainer with a calling to enliven the innate genius, creative resourcefulness and easeful collaboration in businesses of all shapes and sizes. In her practice, Enlivened Studios, she brings strategic business mentorship and experiential teaching practices to break down cross-team silos and embolden transformational leadership.

With 20+ years of corporate marketing and HR strategy experience, plus a lifetime of proven leadership, performance and creative devotion, her work combines skill + heart into every Enlivened Studios session. Through this work, she’s on a mission to help people live fully, lead consciously and impact the world with joy and collective aliveness.

In this conversation, Shannon shares how she incorporates improv techniques into her work to enliven creativity and collaboration - I like her ideas around making your partner look good. She shares some activities she’s delivered on virtual calls as well - listen in for the activity she delivers using SILENCE.

Click here for show notes.
Click here to leave a goodbye voice note on Episode 200!

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

Oooh… this episode is a watershed moment. I make a big announcement. 

Back in episode 50, I gave the podcast microphone to my colleague and friend Sean Lavin to interview on the show, to reflect on what i’d learnt both personally and professionally from the show.

It’s now 147 episodes (and weeks!) later. I think I’ve grown up a little. My perspective has changed, so I thought it was a fitting moment to sit back into the guest seat and reflect on that journey, while also sharing a pretty massive update (from my perspective!) about the First Time Facilitator podcast.

This time, I invited a listener to jump into the host seat.

When I was planning this episode and releasing “the news”, I wanted to pull it back to my intention of starting the podcast in February 2018.  Back then, I really was a first time facilitator, working in Organisational Development but pulled in to lead workshops with little experience - desperately wanting to get better at creating engaging experiences and group dialogue.

So,  I handed the microphone to a listener who demonstrates the values of this show: An energy and willingness to reach out, a growth mindset, someone willing to say yes, accept opportunities..

I’m delighted to announce your host for today’s episode is Jan Szmanda. Jan is a facilitator, L&D geek, board gamer, new puppy parent, and long time FTF listener. Based out of Madison WI in the US, he currently has the privilege of running workshops on leadership development and team effectiveness and is excited to continue growing in the field of organizational development. 

You can find him most active on Twitter and LinkedIn and he'd love to connect with you! 

Jan’s enthusiasm about this podcast shines through, he’s listened to the show since 2019 and taken great  notes over the years. Most importantly, he’s taken ideas from this show, tried things out.

As I mentioned, there’s a big announcement in this podcast and if you’d like to help me in celebrating 200 episodes of First Time Facilitator, I’d really love to get your voice on the show.

To share what First Time Facilitator has taught you, has inspired from you, or anything really - head on over to leannehguhes.com/200 to share what the show has done for you!

About today's host: Jan Szmanda

Jan Szmanda is a facilitator, L&D geek, board gamer, new puppy parent, and long time FTF listener. Based out of Madison WI in the US, he currently has the privilege of running workshops on leadership development and team effectiveness and is excited to continue growing in the field of organizational development. 

You can find him most active on Twitter and LinkedIn and he'd love to connect with our listeners.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• ATD MAC Fall 2021 Conference: Facilitating the Unnown. It’s on 9 November. 
• Please, please please - jump into action and share how this podcast has helped you out - 200th Episode of First Time Facilitator
• Jump into 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

Send Leanne a message

The magic of this podcast is that I get to connect with amazing facilitators around the world. I met today's guest through the podcast. She also lives in Brisbane and over the last couple of years we’ve hung out at various events, she's hosted some Flipchart meetups at her property and over coffees (and wine!) we've riffed off all of the topics related to group dynamics, learning and facilitation. Her passion simply shines through. So of course, I had to get her on the show!

My guest is Suzanne Rose and she is a Sergeant of the Queensland Police Service, having joined in 1998. She was poached by a spotter in recent years, and landed the perfect role for her personality, running professional development workshops for police training facilitators. This includes her favourite signature three-day facilitation skills workshop - 'Facilitate with Flair'. 

Her role has led her to study the craft of facilitation beyond her organisation, and to learn what is best practice based on research from around the world, including studies from the fields of neuroscience and educational psychology. 

We talk more about her Facilitate with Flair experience and how she navigates the mindset of "doing things differently" when working in an organisation which is hierarchical, and where things are done a certain way.

Suzanne is committed to transforming aspects of police organisational culture around training. She hopes to reduce the mortality rate with the cause of death being PowerPoint, and actively inspires facilitators to be brave enough to try more engaging and fun ways to deliver their sessions - even the heavy, dry and serious policing topics. 

Suzanne is a full-time working mum who lives in Brisbane on acreage in koala habitat, with her husband and their two young daughters, a Labrador, pet chicken, and an abundance of wallabies, possums, rainbow lorikeets and kookaburras around their property. She spends any spare time making fun memories with her girls, and can't wait to take them on adventures through far-away lands abroad where nothing is taken for granted.

Click here for show notes

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We all know relationships require ongoing maintenance, you can’t just “set and forget”. And that’s the hard part, right? Continuing conversations, staying present in each other’s lives, getting the space to reach out and reconnect with people you’ve met, and clients you’ve previously worked with.

There’s no one better at connecting and staying front of mind (from a place of service) than today’s guest, Sarah McVanel.

That’s right folks, Sarah is back for the third time on the First Time Facilitator podcast! And guess what? A week after we spoke on the show, I received a birthday card in the mail from Sarah so rest assured, she role models every strategy that she shares in today’s episode.

Sarah focuses on recognition and using it in a variety of ways - for re-engaging your workforce, to re-engaging with clients, and ultimately as a retention strategy.

Over the last 18 months, Sarah’s business has rapidly evolved to meet her client demands and in this conversation, I ask how she helped recognise her healthcare clients (in particular, nurses) by hosting a virtual Nurse’s Week celebration.

Enjoy the listen!

About our guest; Sarah McVanel

Sarah McVanel helps individuals leverage the exponential power of recognition to retain top talent, fuel healthy teams and sustain healthy bottom lines. She speaks nationally on the topic, leads workshops, coaches leaders, and conducts organizational recognition program reviews.

Sarah is a Certified Senior Organizational Development Professional (CSODP), Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and Certified Human Resources Leader (CHRL). She is one of 1500 Certified Professional Speakers (CSP) worldwide and Past-President of the Toronto Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS). She has a BA in Psychology, MSc in Family Relations, and Diplomas in Human Resources and Healthcare Administration.

Helping leaders leverage the exponential power of recognition to retain top talent and sustain healthy bottom-lines. Curating healthy workplace cultures through FROG - Forever Recognize Others' Greatness - through the modalities of speaking, training, coaching and a range of books and products.

Sarah's insights into how to harness the greatness within yourself and your organization will inspire, challenge and focus you...and leave you with a powerful new understanding of your work, your colleagues and your life!

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

I've loved bringing out a private podcast to listeners this week! If you've missed it, listen to this episode and if you want to dive deeper, you need to jump over to bookedoutfacilitator.com to register for the show. It self destructs on 4 October.

In this minisode, I share the three key ingredients to booking out your facilitation business.

This episode sets the stage for the week, highlighting the three key areas you need to focus on.

Doors close for the final, live round of Booked Out Facilitator on Monday 4 October.  Find out more and enrol here.

Booked Out Facilitator: Testimonial of the day:

“I am just starting out in my workshop and facilitation journey and although I was nervous to join experienced people in this space, the group itself was incredibly supportive.

Leanne is incredibly encouraging and it really gave me such confidence to move forward in my business.

I've put myself out there and before the course finished, I had two workshop bookings, and two quite important meetings and I've really focused my service offering.

I will definitely keep returning to the content.  The Booked out crew, really attracts good people. I  can not recommend it enough."

- Jade, Comms Nerd

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

When I dropped out of corporate life three years ago, I remember trying to write social media posts, emails, even website copy and I couldn’t break out of that “be professional” way of doing things.

As a result, my messages came across very vanilla and didn’t really attract anyone (let alone my dream clients!).

I’m honestly still trying to break that mindset, that balance between being myself, showing up authentically, and being confident that by doing that, I’ll attract the right people. 

That’s the conversation I have with today’s guest, Jeffrey Shaw, author of The Self Employed Life.

Jeffrey shares wonderful perspectives on our facilitation business messaging (like “Don’t worry about repeating yourself!"), how he gets into state to deliver his sessions, and he also shares his perspective on why the work that we do as facilitators does take its toll on our energy levels.

Speaking of energy, Jeffrey shares a cool tip on how you can boost your productivity by setting different environments, for different tasks.

He’s a legend in the self-employment game and I’m so delighted to share our conversation with all of you today.

About our guest: Jeffrey Shaw
As a speaker and small business coach, Jeffrey Shaw helps self-employed and small business owners gain control of their business in what seems like otherwise uncontrollable circumstances.

 Drawing on his experience as a renowned portrait photographer, Jeffrey shows business owners how to see business through a different lens and strategies to compose the often-chaotic pieces of life and business into sustainable success.

In this episode your will learn:

• How Jeffrey designs his workshop experiences around 7 fundamental shifts he’d like to create for his participants
• How to consider your facilitation business messaging, using the analogy of stakes (big stake, little stake)
• How to think about writing your email broadcasts in a way, that doesn’t feel inauthentic
• Jeffrey’s productivity hack using different work environments around your house
• How Jeffrey gets into the right energy before he jumps onto stage / in the virtual workshop room
• The responsibility you have on your shoulders as the workshop facilitator
• A very cool activity called the “Up it” activity you can use to dream big!

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

This week, we’re spinning our focus back onto the craft of facilitation with a guest who I so resonate with in terms of her enthusiasm for the work we do, her passion for trying different things and of course, because she throws away those powerpoint slides!

Tricia Conyers from Island Inspirations is a change coach, learning experience designer, trainer, facilitator, meeting designer, remote work strategist and graphic recorder. 

She’s passionate about navigating change, making learning experiences powerful, making conversations visual and helping others solve problems by unlocking their best thinking.

And she’s based on the island of Trinidad. 

In this conversation, Tricia shares ideas around how meetings drive culture - I could not agree with this any more, how she got her start in facilitation, she share’s a facilitation fail - though in fairness, I think she was set up(!).

All her ideas and ways of working really centre around the idea that we are not  in the business of designing a workshop, we are in the business of designing experiences, and our goal is to create active experiences, not passive, and you’ll get a ton of different ideas on how you can do that by tuning in.

About today’s guest: Tricia Conyers

Tricia is the founder of Island Inspirations Ltd., a visual thinking, creativity sparking, graphic facilitation company. She believes that leaders should personify showing Heart, being Human and inspiring Hope in their interactions with others.

Island Inspirations Ltd specializes in facilitation (visual, virtual and in person), graphic recording, meeting design, learning experience design and experiential workshop design. Combing the power of visuals and facilitation to create powerful learning experiences and to accelerate change.

Tricia has 25+ yrs experience in change. She designs and facilitates learning experiences (LE) based on the fundamental belief that the LE is the intervention to unleash the latent capacity and higher potential in others.  For over a decade, Tricia has led and supported teams remotely. 

Tricia holds a Masters of Engineering, Masters of Arts and Bachelor of Arts with Distinction from Cambridge University, England and she enjoys traveling, pilates and photography.

In this episode, you will learn

• Why it’s important to get your meetings right, given their impact on team and company culture
• What Tricia learnt when things didn’t work out in one of her sessions 
• Some of the powerful questions Tricia asks to create new, impactful experiences with her groups (such as, “What can we gain from having virtual sessions?”)
• How Tricia weaves in various types of visuals into her facilitation work
• How to get your participants shifting from passive -> active participation

Resources mentioned:

• Connect with Tricia Conyers on LinkedIn
• Bikablo visuals
• Tricia’s Instagram site - islandinspirationsltd

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