What’s Wrong?

Being a motivated professional with a vision, you’ve no doubt tried or experienced various ways to keep a group engaged, to ‘wow’ them on a substantive level. Some methods worked, others…well, not so much. Along the way, perhaps you’ve learned a few great skills and tricks like:

• capturing eyeballs with technology’s special effects {More…}

  No doubt technology has the power to capture attention and ‘wow’ us. If that weren’t true, people wouldn’t spend the hours and hours they do in front of so many screens, and PowerPoint presentations wouldn’t be the standard format for sharing information with groups.

• entertaining with dancing bears {More…}

  Entertaining folks is another way to get people’s attention, the number of jokes, gimmicks and performers out there are endless.

• channeling Tony Robbins’ presence {More…}

  If you could just be like one of ‘the big guys or gals’, maybe that would work. So you go to trainings on how to speak and act like a power presenter.

• dazzling your audience with a high profile venue {More…}

  What if you dazzle them with a fancy venue? Spend the big bucks on a location that builds up expectation, boosts your credibility & dazzles your audience.

• impressing folks with ‘Expert’ Big Words {More…}

  Some of us have tried the ‘expert’ approach. Learning BIG words and BIG ideas, we attempt to wow our participants into thinking they know nothing and we, the expert, know all. Perhaps we even attempt to craft a bio that would put Leonardo Da Vinci to shame.

• visualizing success while holding a blue crystal {More…}

  From visualization to magical mantras, the number of ‘new age’ approaches to prepare for and engage our groups keep bookstores in business.

• plain old hoping that “It’ll all just work out” {More…}

  Another approach is to simply rely on good intentions, luck and the hope that by just getting started, people will come and automatically like you and what you are doing.

Unfortunately, rarely do these methods seem to get to the essential dynamics of sustained, authentic engagement.

Not all that glitters is gold

All of the above standard approaches tend to have good tips and tricks for getting the attention of groups you work with, however, they usually miss out on the most crucial elements of deep, lasting engagement. They gain eyeballs, but don’t win trusting hearts.

Technology can do some things well –like capturing initial attention or conveying complex ideas more simply –but its impersonal & digital nature fails at engaging the whole person, connecting people to each other meaningfully and enabling participants to fully digest & interact with the material. Adding entertainment can be good and fun, but usually keeps the action “up front” and the learning superficial. As for trying to be ‘The Expert’ or imitating someone else (like Tony Robbins), that’s never a good idea because it hinders the authentic, amazing YOU from shining out and connecting with your group. And besides, most people are excellent at detecting ‘actors’.

Each of these ‘techniques’ is a “top-down” solution to a set of much deeper human needs & interests. In the end, they don’t foster authentic connection & trust, and trust is the foundation of all lasting engagement.

So, how can one fully engage their groups?

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