You can learn more about The New Learning Revolution and Brain Friendly Learning by reading this paper.
What to expect from your workshop experience
Your whole learning experience will model the philosophy and principles of Brain Friendly Learning. You will experience BFL while learning how to be a Brain Friendly Learning practitioner.
Some of the approaches will make sense of why lots of what you already do works, but we will also blow apart some myths and challenge some of your practices.
The whole experience will be fast-paced and immersive, and you will walk away with hundreds of tools, techniques and tips to make your learning faster, more fun
and more fit for purpose
Masterclasses & Q & A sessions will be scattered throughout the three days. This means that the days could stretch beyond the traditional 5pm finish.
The Five Principles of Brain Friendly Learning
At the core of the Brain Friendly approach, developed by my friend and mentor Kimberley Hare, are five principles that we will explore during the workshop.
The principles are:
Keep it real
Facilitation creation, not just consumption
State is everything (well, almost)
Make it rich and multisensory
Honour uniqueness
I would like you to review this list and make your own meaning and assumptions about what each principle refers to. Then, based on these assumptions, choose which principles will most impact your design, preparation and facilitation.
How to prepare to get the most from your Brain Friendly Learning programme
When we design experiences, we focus on three stages: what happens before the event (set up), what happens during the event (the experience) and what happens after the event (set down)
Here is how to get the most from the programme at each stage.
Set up
Here are the activities and exercises you must do before the face-to-face workshop.
Outcome questions
Please reflect on what will make this whole experience outstandingly valuable. What will you find easier? How will the programme impact on your practice?
What is the single biggest challenge you face as a trainer, facilitator or L & D expert that if we helped solve, would make this experience amazing?
Your design project
Please bring a session, workshop or programme title with you that you need to design or plan. This should be a real project you plan to facilitate over the next few months.
Throughout the face-to-face workshop, you will apply the tools and practices to this design project, so it is crucial that you think about what this will be. Ideally, you will also have a conversation with your line manager about this project.
During the experience
This experience will be fully immersive, so it is important to limit distractions outside the experience as much as possible.
We will challenge some conventional thinking about learning design and delivery, so please come with an open mind. As Dave Meier says in his brilliant book The Accelerated Handbook, "We must all approach learning like a bird approaches flight, with one wing of healthy scepticism and one of openness."
The timing for each day is in the logistics below, but on days one and two, there will be the possibility of additional masterclasses at the end of the day. These will be optional, but to get the most from the experience, please be open to the programme running up to ninety minutes beyond the scheduled finish time.
We will explore emotional states and their impact on learning, but it isn't groundbreaking to say that the better you feel, the more you will get from the experience. So here are some basic ways to set yourself up for success.
Do everything possible to get the best quality sleep before each workshop day. Sleep is vital in the integration of learning
Stay hydrated. The brain is made up of around 70% liquid. The more hydrated you are during the event, the more you will learn
Pay attention to what you eat and drink before and during the experience. Highly caffeinated drinks (Monster, Red Bull, etc) will have a negative impact. As will alcohol (sorry). Eating high-carb, processed food or food high in sugar will also have a detrimental effect on your learning experience
I will encourage you to put your phones away during the event. If there's anything that you need to take care of before you come in the room, do your best to get it out of the way so you can fully focus
Show up as yourself. This isn't a competition or a test of your knowledge or experience. It is a learning journey we will all be on together. Just come as the best version of you that you possibly can
We will provide you with learning materials. You just need to bring something to write on and with.
Set down
There are some clear requests and expectations following the face-to-face workshop. These have been created to give you the best chance to transfer your learning and insights from the workshop into your day-to-day job.
In the month following the workshop, we will all join a 90-minute Teams call to share success stories and learn even more from each other. It is an expectation that every participant joins this call, and we will do everything that we can to make this possible, as it is an integral part of the learning experience.
During the call, we will ask you to share the following:
The progress that you have made with your project, including key elements of your design
The impact that the workshop has had on your number one challenge as a learning and development practitioner
How the programme has met your outcomes
Any questions that you have for the group
We will also ask everyone to share a copy of their session, workshop or programme design as a way to collect and release ideas.
The Logistics
Workshop dates: 16th - 18th April 2024
Workshop venue: The Caravan of Love, Parkdean Resorts Head Office
Timings: Days 1 and 2 - 0900 - 1730, Day 3 0830 - 1545
Dress code: Casual dress is absolutely fine
I really want this to be a positively career-altering experience for you. If there is anything I can do before or during the event, please get in touch with me via richard@twentyoneleadership.com.