I was recently asked this question by a couple of women who are doing a project about teachers who have made a difference in people’s lives–not just academic teachers, but anyone who has taught us a memorable lesson. I responded with this:

One of the most influential teachers I have ever had is my younger sister, Becky Abbot. Becky was born with mental retardation, and for much of her childhood was institutionalized, in foster care, or in group homes. Her early life was not easy, and she underwent many experiences I can’t even imagine. But somehow, she has managed to keep her faith that people are good, that everyone she meets is a potential friend, and that there is pure joy everywhere you look, in every experience you have–even the bad ones. She now lives independently, works a regular job, and has an infinitely better social life than I do.

I’m the kind of person who likes to dwell on what-ifs and should-have-beens, and I like to beat myself up over the past. Becky just says, “Oh, my sister Sue, you’re so funny!,” laughs her infectious laugh, and shows me just how rewarding living in the moment can be. She teaches me to trust in people, and in life. She teaches me that whatever happens is what’s meant to happen; it’s up to you to figure out the lesson in the experience and then move on. Or not figure it out and move on anyway. She teaches me that the true test of a person is not in their intellect, or social status, or any of that horse puckey–it’s in how you touch other people as you dance through life. And how you let them touch you. And, of course, that bowling is the ultimate in fun, even if I stink at it.

Another excellent teacher I had was a girl I’ll call Leslie D., who in 7th grade daily threatened to beat me up after school. I didn’t even know her, or her friends, but she hated my guts for some reason. While I lived in fear and never traveled alone for a while, she taught me an important lesson–that it’s not all about me. Sometimes, people will treat me in ways that have nothing to do with my intrinsic worth, or anything at all to do with me. They have their own reasons and motivations that I may never know, or understand (she told me it was because she hated my face, whatever that means).

While I still struggle with this, especially when I get treated in ways I don’t believe I deserve–I seldom complain when I get kudos I don’t deserve, but that’s another story!–it’s important to remember that people come into situations with their own perspective, and none of us see any given situation or person the same way, since we’re looking through different lenses. And that life isn’t fair.

I could go on and on (Mrs. Hermann from 8th grade English–your influence was so profound it would take a book to do you justice!), but I’d rather hear your stories about people who have taught you important lessons for your work, your life, or whatever is important to you. Please drop your story in the comments area and share with the rest of us those who have helped to shape who you are.

I absolutely love this post from Chris Corrigan over at the Parking Lot about how to improve conferences. Ours this week was relatively conventional (so to speak), though we tried to build in some interactivity and create spaces where people could do some of that off-the-cuff talking that gets so much done. But what I’d really like is the kind of thing Chris calls "keynote facilitation":

The keynote facilitator combines the attention and energy of a keynote address with the process care of a facilitator. Instead of giving you great ideas from MY head and experience, as a keynote facilitator I help to set the context for your own learning, and guide process that invites you to turn to those in the room and begin to craft innovation together in collaborative conversation. I have been using World Cafe as a process for doing this recently at a national conference on Aboriginal forestry and a regional gathering on Aboriginal economic development and I believe that it does provide added value for participants who are able to get quickly deeply into the issues and questions they face. The process also helps to develop an emergent sense of what the conference as a whole is thinking about and it provides individuals with an opportunity to reflect on their reasons for attending and to become more intentional about that. With the hour or so assigned to traditional plenary keynote speakers, I can have a conference of people talking to one another, creating connections and seeking out partners.

I’m not entirely sure how this works, but it’s something we’ll learn more about for our 2nd annual Pharmaceutical Meetings Planners Forum!

I absolutely love this post from Chris Corrigan over at the Parking Lot about how to improve conferences. Ours this week was relatively conventional (so to speak), though we tried to build in some interactivity and create spaces where people could do some of that off-the-cuff talking that gets so much done. But what I’d really like is the kind of thing Chris calls "keynote facilitation":

The keynote facilitator combines the attention and energy of a keynote address with the process care of a facilitator. Instead of giving you great ideas from MY head and experience, as a keynote facilitator I help to set the context for your own learning, and guide process that invites you to turn to those in the room and begin to craft innovation together in collaborative conversation. I have been using World Cafe as a process for doing this recently at a national conference on Aboriginal forestry and a regional gathering on Aboriginal economic development and I believe that it does provide added value for participants who are able to get quickly deeply into the issues and questions they face. The process also helps to develop an emergent sense of what the conference as a whole is thinking about and it provides individuals with an opportunity to reflect on their reasons for attending and to become more intentional about that. With the hour or so assigned to traditional plenary keynote speakers, I can have a conference of people talking to one another, creating connections and seeking out partners.

Pharmaceutical Meetings Planners Forum!

There’s an interesting item over at the Passionate Web site that has the intriguing title, “Most Classroom Learning Stinks” (ok, they use another word for stinks, but I’m keeping this G-rated). The author postulates that

The problem with most corporate/adult learning programs is that they’re just like school. And the problem with school is that it stinks. It works against the way the brain wants to learn.

The best learning occurs ina stimulating, active, challenging, interesting, engaging environment…The best learning occurs when you’re actively involved in co-constructing knowledge in your own head, not passively reading or listening.

The author then goes on to discuss a school her child attended, which sounds kind of Montessori. I know these programs have lots of fans, my grammar school was similarly structured (or unstructured), and it didn’t work for me. Then I stupidly went to Hampshire College, which at the time had a similar process to the one she describes, and that didn’t work for me, either. But now, as an adult learner, I crave exactly this type of system. I think kids need a little more structure and direction than we supposedly grown-up types do–or maybe they just didn’t have the knowledge to execute those educational concepts well back in my day.

But now we do. Let’s use it.

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I recently ran across this book chapter (thanks, Patti D!), and it has lots of good info for those who design adult education:

Information is surprises. We all expect the world to work out in certain ways, but when it does, we’re bored. What makes something worth knowing is organized around the concept of expectation failure. Scripts are interesting not when they work but when they fail. When the waiter doesn’t come over with the food, you have to figure out why; when the food is bad or the food is extraordinarily good, you want to figure out why. You learn something when things don’t turn out the way you expected.

I think this concept, which just feels right to me, is really under-used, at least in the adult ed I’ve participated in. The best “teachable moments” happen when we get surprised in some way. Then, we have to make connections to what we already know to see what went off the tracks, and why. And it creates a need to figure it all out. Beautiful.

Except when it’s used for a less-than-good purpose. In her editorial for the March/April issue of Medical Meetings, Tamar Hosansky points out an example of cognitive dissonance being used nefariously by a continuing medical education provider to make docs unhappy with current treatments, so when the sponsor’s drug comes up, it’s the best thing since sliced bread. That’s just nasty.

Planners, use your powers for good, not evil!

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Paul Williams over at Brand Autopsy is planning to open an “ideation destination, a place for people to brainstorm.” He’s going to be building his ideas for the space in public, via the Internet, inviting input and feedback from potential users (count me in!). Here’s what he’s proposing:

Idea Sandbox will be THE space for creative thinking in the Pacific Northwest. One step inside this idea wonderland, you’ll understand how the Idea Sandbox will inspire businesses and entrepreneurs alike to dream the unthinkable and do the impossible.

Work groups and individuals ranging from business professionals, marketing teams, project managers, small group facilitators, and anyone aspiring to think more creatively will visit Idea Sandbox. They will be inspired by the space, mind meld with a BrainTrust of experts, and access the library of problem solving tools and resources. Idea Sandbox will not only appeal to Ideators from companies and non-profit organizations throughout the Puget Sound area, but also attract folks from across the Pacific Northwest - from Vancouver, BC to Portland, Oregon. Its reputation for productive thinking will make it a destination to Ideators across North America.

With three themed rooms, two with the capacity for 30 Ideators and one for groups up to 70, Idea Sandbox will be chock-full of visual, aural, tactile and mental stimulation. Rooms will be outfitted with practical high-touch tools such as white boards, flip charts, Play-Doh and toys… Required-tech tools will include… LCD projectors, DVD/VCR players, Wi-Fi Internet access, and satellite radio. Our kitchen will be stocked with food for thought and creative juices – tasty snacks and crisp drinks to keep the ideas flowing.

Ideators may book single or multiple rooms on a half-day basis (under 4 hours) or for the full day (4 to 8 hours).

The primary way solutions will be generated will be through facilitated brainstorming sessions… Where Ideators are guided through the various stages of ideation - from ‘blue sky’ to the ‘fewer, bigger, better’ list of actionable ideas. Alternately, Ideators may choose free-range sessions and use the inspiring Idea Sandbox space for brainstorming, planning sessions and team building activities.

OK meeting planners, this is your chance to help see the space you’ve always wanted actually come to life. Go on over and tell him what you think.

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Speaker Joel Saltzman sent me some articles today that actually made me stop and think. In one of them, he asks, “How are you having fun today?”

And it did get me thinking. I’ve been so busy all week playing catch-up after vacation, before leaving for a conference next Tuesday, that it’s kind of been like, “Fun? What’s that?” No wonder my brain has had such a hard time adjusting from vacation to everyday life. But he doesn’t ask, “are you having fun today”; he asks how, with the underlying assumption that of course you are having fun–how are you doing it? And I am, actually, having kind of a low-grade fun fever, now that I stop to think about it. Catching up on all my reading is pretty fun, at least some of it. Knowing that you all are reading this babbling is really fun. An e-mail earlier today from my sister made me laugh out loud. And after 10 days on a small sailboats, I’ve gained a new appreciation for hot water showers, flush toilets, cutting vegetables on a non-moving counter, and being able to get drinking water from a faucet, rather than taking all the cushions off a seat to rummage around in the storage area underneath. And, of course, the sight of my nine-year-old dog romping like a puppy in the snow is enough to make me take a quick break and join him.

As Theodore Geisel (aka Dr. Suess) said, “I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.”

So, how are you having fun today?

Oh, and I almost forgot–check out the Washington Post’s annual “word” list, where by adding/subtracting/changing a letter to a word, you give it a whole new meaning. I can’t find it online, but my colleague e-mailed the list over earlier today. My favorites:
sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person
who doesn’t get it.

hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.

osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when
they come at you rapidly.

arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve
accidentally walked through a spider web.

Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your
bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

Oh yeah, how I’ve been having a lot of premature “senior moments” lately. And it looks like I’m not alone. According to this article, all the stress of our downsized, work-three-jobs-in-one lifestyle these days is making us forget more than we used to.

Stressful situations in which the individual has no control were found to activate an enzyme in the brain called protein kinase C, which impairs the short-term memory and other functions in the prefrontal cortex, the executive-decision part of the brain, says Dr. Amy F. T. Arnsten of Yale Medical School.

This is an important thing to keep in mind for meetings–if your participants aren’t relaxed and ready to learn, they probably won’t retain much. How about a little yoga icebreaker, or some pre-course meditation? I know, a lot of groups wouldn’t go for it, but at least make sure they’re comfortable, and try to pry those cellphones, pagers, and PDAs out of their tense little hands if you can. (I’m convinced that all this 24/7 connectivity raises the stress level hugely, at least for people like me.)

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…trying to do something fun and interactive and having it fall flat, or not trying at all and sticking with the boring old PowerPoint talking-head lecture that doesn’t do much in terms of helping people actually learn something new?

I got to thinking about this after reading Rich’s blog on playing George in an Apprentice takeoff at IAEM in December–which definitely sounds like a fun to get people thinking, doing, and learning.

But what about when interactivity falls flat, as it did at a meeting I attended (not participated in) this weekend? They kept promising that “this will be different from last year–it’ll be interactive and fun.” But the interactivity consisted of the presenter presenting, then allowing Q&A, for the most part. What’s fun about that? And this was a meeting for adult educators. The content was fantastic, and kept my butt in an incredibly uncomfortable convention center seat all day, but the way they kept hyping how the next session was going to really shake things up format-wise, then didn’t, raised expectations then didn’t fulfill them.

Honestly, I would have been happier just knowing it was going to be the same old same old, instead of getting built up then disappointed. I don’t know why I felt I had to share this, but there you go.

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I recently received this guest blog from author and speaker Kare Anderson:

Regarding Jeffrey Caufaude’s apt suggestions on balancing content and adult education needs, let me amplify: come back to our senses…all of them, and involve them in the experience.

Not only must there be more interaction, clarity, and time for reflection, but there must be more varied pace and variety in presentation style and forms of interaction.

The memory is in the motion itself. People feel and remember more when in motion. Get them involved in a variety of ways.