Table of Contents

Make Your Next Staff Meeting Presentation Memorable

Following a recent staff meeting, I sat around a table talking with several co-workers about how to get more engagement and participation during discussion items and project updates. One colleague asked: if we wouldn’t simply talk at an audience during a training session, then why are we talking at our co-workers during items for discussion?

It was a fair question. Perhaps anyone responsible for leading a discussion item or a project update should put together some sort of modified lesson plan – even if they have only been allocated 15 minutes during the meeting agenda. Following are two simple suggestions, based on adult learning principles and the core features of a lesson plan, that can make your next presentation during a staff or team meeting memorable and engaging:

  1. Clearly define what kind of reaction, participation or feedback you want (or need) from your co-workers (for example: do you want feedback on a project you’ve drafted, do you need help brainstorming a solution to a problem)
  2. Create a clear opportunity for your colleagues to offer the participation that you need (perhaps asking: “what does everyone else think?” works for your team, but many teams – especially when meeting via conference call – need something more intentional designed to get everyone engaged during a conversation. Intentional design ideas include breaking the team into small groups for a quick discussion – you can’t just sit silently in a small group; for teams meeting via web conference, using the white board or other writing tools can help dispersed teammates feel closer to the action)

The photo below is an example of a team member taking it upon himself to engage the rest of our team during a project status report. Instead of enabling us to daydream about other things while he presented, he asked everyone to stand up and surprised everyone with an interactive flipchart (!!!) to ensure the team hung on every word of his project update.

Interactive Flipchart

Status updates don’t need to be mind-numbingly boring. And if your team needs a little nudge to give you the feedback you need during your next team or staff meeting presentation, don’t assume that they’ll pay attention to you (let alone give you feedback) just because they’re present in the meeting and you expect them to pay attention or offer input. Make sure you spend a few minutes coming up with a plan to design a presentation that offers an opportunity to your teammates to give you the input you need.

The Train Like A Champion Blog is published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  If you think someone else might find this interesting, please pass it along.  If you don’t want to miss a single, brilliant post, be sure to click “Follow”!  And now you can find sporadic, 140-character messages from me on Twitter @flipchartguy.

Instructor-Led Training Resources

These are some of our favorite resources to support everyone involved with instructor-led training.

Training Delivery and Facilitation Competency Rubric

A rubric is a way to assess performance with a standard set of evaluation criteria. The next time you need to assess the performance of someone delivering training (even if that someone is you), you may find this rubric helpful.

The Role of Co-facilitators

Co-facilitators play an important role in a training workshop. The most obvious benefit is that when you co-facilitate, you get a break from leading the

18 Instructor-led Training Activities

Engaging, intentional, face-to-face and virtual instructor-led training activities can make the difference between a session that helps learners to apply new skills or knowledge and one that falls flat.

Articles Similar to Make Your Next Staff Meeting Presentation Memorable

facilitator competency rubric
ILT & VILT
Brian Washburn

Training Delivery and Facilitation Competency Rubric

A rubric is a way to assess performance with a standard set of evaluation criteria. The next time you need to assess the performance of someone delivering training (even if that someone is you), you may find this rubric helpful.

instructor becomes the pupil with kassy laborie and zovig garboushian
ILT & VILT
Brian Washburn

Turning the Tables: From Trainer to Student

As people who have designed and delivered effective training, Kassy Laborie and Zovig Garboushian know a thing or two about good learning experiences. So what nuggets have they gleaned from a 9-month course that they’re both attending, and that all of us should consider when designing our own programs? Today’s podcast answers that question.

John Crook on role play
ILT & VILT
Brian Washburn

Is this the world’s most effective role play?

When it comes to your training participants, two of the dirtiest, or perhaps scariest, words you can say during a session may be: role play. In today’s podcast, John Crook, Head of Learning at Intersol Global, offers some thoughts on how to make role plays more authentic and robust.

Subscribe to Get Updates from Endurance Learning

Brian Washburn, Author

Brian Washburn
CEO & Chief Ideas Guy

Enter your information below and we’ll send you the latest updates from our blog. Thanks for following!

activities cookbook

Download the Training Activity Cookbook

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the Endurance Learning Activity Cookbook.

training facilitator evaluation rubric - page 2

Download the Facilitator Evaluation Rubric

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the rubric to help you assess the skills of someone delivering training.

Find Your L&D Career Path

Explore the range of careers to understand what role might be a good fit for your L&D career.

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the What’s Possible in L&D Worksheet.

What's possible in L&D

Let's Talk Training!

Brian Washburn

Brian Washburn
CEO & Chief Ideas Guy

Enter your information below and we’ll get back to you soon.

Download the Feedback Lesson Plan

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the lesson plan as a PDF.

feedback lesson plan
MS Word Job Aid Template

Download the Microsoft Word Job Aid Template

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the Word version of this template.

Download the Free Lesson Plan Template!

Enter your email below and we’ll send you a Word document that you can start using today!

free lesson plan template
training materials checklist

Download the Training Materials Checklist

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the Training Materials Checklist.

Subscribe to Endurance Learning for updates

Get regular updates from the Endurance Learning team.