Podcast appearances and mentions of Michael Wilkinson

From the 2025 EFCA Theology Conference, ⁠Dr. Michael Wilkinson⁠ delivers his message, "Theological Anthropology and Christology," addressing the question:How does Jesus define what it means to be human?

On European decline and inertia. [For full episode: patreon.com/bungacast] Anton Jäger is back, talking to Alex and George about Belgium's new right-wing government, American hyperpolitics, and the lack of a European future. The radical right has prevailed in Belgium, despite having factors that should impede this, like higher union density, lower inequality and so on. Why? Why is the US particularly 'hyperpolitical'? Are those who say hyperpolitics is over correct? Why is Europe now a pale imitation of authoritarians in the East and the unbridled capitalism to its West? Is it Europe's capitalists – not its workers or pensioners – who are in need of strict market discipline? Links: Things Are Terrible in Europe, and They're Only Going to Get Worse, Anton Jäger, NYT Goodbye, ‘Resistance.' The Era of Hyperpolitics Is Over, Ross Barkan, NYT My Country Shows What Europe Has Become, Anton Jäger, NYT Hyperpolitics in America, Anton Jäger, New Left Review  Is Trump 2 the End of ‘Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome'?, Lee Jones, The North Star /454/ The Last Man at the Euro Tango ft. Michael Wilkinson

forthcoming

In this episode of the Ideas on Stage podcast we spoke with Pedram Parasmand. Pedram brings 24 years of learning design and facilitation experience in the public, private, charity and education sectors. He has designed and delivered programmes ranging from culture change initiatives in Governmental bodies; Exec team development in companies like Kimberly-Clarke and Netflix; soft-skills and creativity workshops for managers in companies like Google and Siemens; to bootcamps for new starters in the digital start-up sector. As an ex-theoretical Physicist who loves systems and frameworks, he developed tools and templates to create a repeatable process to design, develop and facilitate transformational experiences. He now supports consultant coaches, trainers and facilitators to create more sales opportunities and scale their impact. In this episode we talked about the art and science of facilitating workshops. What You'll Learn:- The essential first step to designing workshops that engage and inspire- Common mistakes in facilitation- Why creating key moments in workshops can transform participant experiences- Six activity formats that boost engagement and participation- Tips for guiding activities, managing disruptions and sparking meaningful insights We hope you enjoy it! ———————Pedram Parasmand: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedramparasmand/ - Website: https://www.theskillslab.com/ Recommended books: - Performance-Focused Smile Sheets by Will Thalheimer - The Workshop Survival Guide by Rob Fitzpatrick and Devin Hunt- The Secrets of Facilitation by Michael Wilkinson ———————IDEAS ON STAGE RESOURCES - Books: ‘Confident Presenter’ (https://www.ideasonstage.com/resources/confident-presenter-book/) and ‘Business Presentation Revolution’ (https://www.ideasonstage.com/business-presentation-revolution/book/)- The Confident Presenter Scorecard: https://ideasonstage.com/score - Free Web Class: https://www.ideasonstage.com/uk/masterclass - Free Mini-Course: https://bit.ly/confident-presenter-mini-course #IdeasOnStagePodcast#WorkshopFacilitation#EngagingWorkshops#FacilitationSkills#WorkshopDesign

Show notes forthcoming.

Show notes forthcoming.

Michael Wilkinson, an attorney and adjunct professor at Trinity Law School, joins Jonathan and James for an engaging discussion about his new book, Crowned with Glory and Honor: A Chalcedonian Anthropology. Michael's primary assertion is that Jesus Christ is the definitive revelation of what it means to be human.  Jesus is the only man who was ever purely human in the unalloyed sense of being not corrupted in his mind or his will. In that respect, if we want to look for a blueprint of what is true man and then also what true man ought to be, then he is right, we ought to be looking to Christ for that. – James Dolezal  Michael purports that Chalcedonian Christology offers a unique perspective on human ontology, distinguishing itself from other anthropological models. This episode offers a fresh perspective on human nature, challenging contemporary models and inviting us to look to Christ for clarity. Thanks to the generosity of Lexham Academic, we are pleased to offer a copy of Crowned with Glory and Honor: A Chalcedonian Anthropology by Michael Wilkinson to our listeners. Enter here. 

On the End of History and Europe. [For full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast] LSE professor Mike Wilkinson talks to Phil and Alex about how the history of European integration fits with constitutional theories and ideas of sovereignty. We discuss:  In what way are the conspiracy theories about the EU true? What are the origins of European integration in the inter-war crisis? How did European integration tie into the history of ideas and development of 20th century legal history? How far does European integration overlap with counter-revolutionary theories and ideas? And who is the Last European?  Links: Authoritarian Liberalism and the Transformation of Modern Europe, Michael Wilkinson Political Constitutionalism in Europe Revisited, Michael Wilkinson, Journal of Law and Society The Rise and Fall of World Constitutionalism, Michael Wilkinson, Verfassungsblog

8 Core Practices of Facilitative Leaders by Michael Wilkinson Amazon.com Michaelthefacilitator.com Leadstrat.com What is a Facilitative Leader? Facilitative leaders create organizations where engagement is the norm, collaboration is the vehicle, and higher levels of achievement are the result. Unfortunately, many leaders continue to view their role primarily as one of setting direction, allocating resources, and putting in place rewards, support, and development systems that ensure their people stay focused on achieving that direction. In the changing workplace, this archaic view of leadership is completely inadequate. More and more, employees are seeking to understand where their organization is going and to influence the paths taken to get there. This shift in the workplace requires a new set of leadership skills. Leaders must know how to inspire people around a vision, foster trust, manage group interaction, build consensus, resolve conflict, and adapt their approach to the specific needs of each person they lead. They must be able to facilitate rather than dictate. This new direction calls for facilitative leaders. Praise for 8 Core Practices of Facilitative Leaders "If you want a great book that takes a facilitative approach to leadership, here it is! The 8 Core Practices of Facilitative Leaders offers practical and insightful strategies any leader can apply immediately. Read this book and learn the best ways to create engagement, buy-in, and alignment in your organization." --Ken Blanchard, coauthor ofThe New One Minute Manager(R) and Leading at a Higher Level "Michael credits me with teaching him to value thinking and communication preferences. He has written a practical guide to help you understand the behaviors needed to be highly impactful as a facilitative leader." --Ann Herrmann-Nehdi, chief thought leader and chair of the board at Herrmann, creators of the HBDI Assessment and Whole Brain Thinking

You'll enjoy this rich conversation about the multifaceted challenges UK charities face, from funding and financial stability to technological adoption, data management, human-centered design, and labor issues, with Michael Wilkinson, Product Director of TorchBox.com. Michael brings a global perspective to the discussion, with host Julia Patrick, elaborating on the similarities and differences between nonprofits in the US and UK. Watch on video!One of the main challenges is the "mismatch between funding and project goals." Michael notes that many UK charities struggle to secure funding for new digital initiatives due to outdated funding sources that don't align with modern digital needs. "A lot of charities get their funding from grants, trusts, and foundations, which haven't caught up with the needs of charities in the modern digital era," Michael says. This funding gap makes it hard for charities to support vital digital projects, exacerbated by funders' lack of understanding of digital outcomes and the non-fundability of back-office costs essential for digital service delivery. Another significant issue Michael speaks to is the "financial downturn" impacting charities' abilities to launch and sustain projects. The economic volatility has led to the pausing or cancellation of many initiatives. However, Michael remains optimistic, citing a recent survey where 75% of the UK public reported donating to a nonprofit in the last three months, indicating potential for recovery and growth in charitable giving. The struggle to keep up with technological changes is a universal challenge, but it's particularly pronounced for UK charities with limited resources and leadership knowledge in emerging technologies like AI. Michael says, "Only half of UK charities say they have any kind of digital strategy, and only 14% feel it's embedded in their organization." This lack of strategic direction in digital adoption hampers their ability to innovate and stay relevant. Michael continues, saying that data privacy and security also present unique challenges in the UK, where stringent privacy laws limit how charities can use personal information. Michael contrasts this with the more lenient data usage practices in countries like Mexico, emphasizing the importance of responsible data management for UK charities. Human-centered design approaches are another area where UK charities are leading by example. Torch Box's focus to designing with the user in mind often results in better problem-solving. Michael shares, "When you do manage to persuade people to invest a little bit in researching the people and designing around their needs, the magic happens." Finally, labor issues, particularly post-pandemic flexible working policies, are reshaping the sector. UK charities embracing flexible working see increased interest from candidates, while those using traditional models face hiring challenges, plus the growing competition from socially progressive commercial companies makes it harder for charities to attract talent. Find us Live daily on YouTube!Find us Live daily on LinkedIn!Find us Live daily on X: @Nonprofit_ShowOur national co-hosts and amazing guests discuss management, money and missions of nonprofits! 12:30pm ET 11:30am CT 10:30am MT 9:30am PTSend us your ideas for Show Guests or Topics: HelpDesk@AmericanNonprofitAcademy.comVisit us on the web:The Nonprofit Show

The “Voice of Costume” is the first podcast created between working costume designers sharing stories, inspiration, struggles, and insights into the creative career of costume design. An behind-the-scenes podcast to showcase the voices of Costume Designers around the world. Listen in on this inspirational, one-on-one conversation between Ann Foley and Catherine Baumgardner. Please Welcome Ann - Costume Designer of The Spiderwick Chronicles, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Godzilla vs Kong, The Last of Us, Skyscraper, and Altered Carbon and the first four seasons of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D Topics Include: Moving around as a child First time on set in Georgia Inspired by Julie Weiss Moving to LA with $500 Personality as a child Motivated by being scared Altered Carbon World Building   Talking Spiderwick (min 9) Getting attached The design team chemistry Inspiration for design work Working with the book authors The color Red Easter egg design finds in Thimbletack Costume Design Agents of Shield fanbase reaction to Costumes Learning how to pivot Just keep moving Inspired by Michael Wilkinson for a solution Spiderwick creature design The pedal dress origins Proud moment(s) A real Thimbletack for fittings Favorite Movies Favorite places to visit Pirates House Chasing your dreams    

The “Voice of Costume” is the first podcast created between working costume designers sharing stories, inspiration, struggles, and insights into the creative career of costume design. Please comment and leave a 5-star review to help get the voices of these Costume Designers into the world. Listen in on this inspirational, one-on-one conversation between Michael Wilkinson and Catherine Baumgardner. Please Welcome Michael - Costume Designer of Garden State, American Hustle, and Babel, Man of Steel, 300, Tron Legacy, Watchmen, Terminator Salvation, Twilight's Breaking Dawn, Andor and sci-fi series 3 Body Problem Topics Include: Growing up in Sydney A Dresser at the Opera Going to a theatre school NIDA A designer that has powerful impact on him Constant communication of ideas The actor - costume designer collaboration A good challenge with lighting clothes on Tron 3 Body Problem - starting at zero Mindset needed 3 Body Problem (min 16) Diving In with “Science Realism” Where do you begin? The Magnitude of multiple worlds The end product reaction Panama Canal buzz Creating a completely unique character Going from small scale designer to large scale designer Zack Snyder giving Michael that opportunity 300 experience Working on American Hustle David ORussell's process “Humanity” How to choose projects Being an influence  Favorite pair of shoes Favorite movie to rewatch Favorite place to visit

Q&A with costume designers LouLou Bontemps (The Gentlemen), Gianni Casalnuovo (Ripley) and Michael Wilkinson (3 Body Problem). Moderated by Mara Webster, In Creative Company.

Welcome to another episode of Insights with NetSupport! The Insights series aims to provide an interesting and relevant topic, and a special guest who can shine some expert knowledge onto the subject so we can all learn something new!In this episode, we were delighted to welcome the Managing Director of ClickView UK, Michael Wilkinson.With a career in education and EdTech spanning many decades, starting with work in Community Learning Centres (CLCs) exploring effective technology use to support and enhance teaching and learning, entrepreneurial work creating his own EdTech company, and subsequent roles working with EdTech companies, Michael has an enviable amount of knowledge and insight into the education and EdTech space.In this episode, we explored the many ways video can be used in education with a specific focus on areas such as:·         safeguarding young people when using video·         ways in which subtitles can improve literacy·         research into effective approaches with the use of video...…among many others. Video is a media which is continues to engage young people and, in our conversation, we dig deep into how teachers can use it effectively whilst helping reduce workload, time spent finding the right video, plus how this can be done safely. We are also proud to share that ClickView is now a connector in our multi-award-winning classroom management and safeguarding tool, classroom.cloud. To connect with Michael, you can find him on LinkedIn and on Twitter.Learn more about ClickView here and on social media via the ClickView Twitter account.

Episode 53 kicks off our 2nd year of our Podcast! We have Name That Country, bakc by popular demand and Michael Wilkinson's Final Part of his 3 part Interview!Hello to the new subscribers, this podcast is light hearted and hopefully here to give you a laugh and brighten up your day :)

Fight the Empire! In this week's special "Star Wars Month" bonus episode, Andor costume designer Michael Wilkinson joins The Art of Costume Blogcast. Listen along as Wilkinson explains the process behind designing the costumes for Cassian Andor, a protagonist who prefers not to be seen. Then, travel to the distant planets of Coruscant and Narkina 5 for a galaxy full of fascinating costumes. May the force be with you. Follow Michael Wilkinson on Instagram: @michaelwilkinson Podcast Merch Store: TheArtOfCostume.com/PodStore Follow Us on Instagram: @TheArtofCostumePod --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theartofcostume/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theartofcostume/support

Fight the Empire! In this week's special "Star Wars Month" bonus episode, Andor costume designer Michael Wilkinson joins The Art of Costume Blogcast. Listen along as Wilkinson explains the process behind designing the costumes for Cassian Andor, a protagonist who prefers not to be seen. Then, travel to the distant planets of Coruscant and Narkina 5 for a galaxy full of fascinating costumes. May the force be with you. Follow Michael Wilkinson on Instagram: @michaelwilkinson Podcast Merch Store: TheArtOfCostume.com/PodStore Follow Us on Instagram: @TheArtofCostumePod --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theartofcostume/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theartofcostume/support

In Episode 51 we have part 1 of our interview with Mike Wilkinson where we talk about his growing up years, High school sports, and March Madness. The interview will be played in 3 parts :)Thanks to everyone who follows our podcast and supports us! We will be announcing our 1 Year Anniversary happening in the next podcast!

This week my guest is the fantastic Michael Wilkinson, a Sports Performance Chef. Michael tells us about the sports performance chef world, and what he does when working with athletes. After chatting sporty food stuff, we take a wander down memory lane, where he tells us all about the great family meals he had growing up and the love of food. We also have a chat about his pet peeves when going to eat at restaurants. We also have a good laugh about the eating habits of dates we've been on. Haha! Why do people do weird things on dates?! Beats me. And...I do some eves dropping on two builders' lunchtime food requests while I was walking through Birmingham city centre. Haha, their conversation just made me laugh so had to share it with you! Get your ears into Menu, the feel-good food podcast. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/karen680/message

ASCL's Primary Specialist Tiffnie Harris talks to Michael Wilkinson, Managing Director of ClickView UK on issues (and solutions) related to accessing and using online content and videos in primary schools.

The Art of Costume Blogcast is back, and we are heading to Jeronicus Jangle's toy shop to watch the CDGA-nominated film, Netflix's Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey. Listen along as Elizabeth and Spencer get into the holiday spirit and discuss the incredible costumes designed by Academy-Award-nominated costume designer Michael Wilkinson. Want more episodes of The Art of Costume Blogcast? Become an official costume maven at our Patreon for exclusive episodes and highlights just for Patreon members: Patreon.com/TheArtOfCostume Podcast Merch Store: TheArtOfCostume.com/PodStore Follow Us on Instagram: @TheArtofCostumePod --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/theartofcostume/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/theartofcostume/support

The Art of Costume Blogcast is back, and we are heading to Jeronicus Jangle's toy shop to watch the CDGA-nominated film, Netflix's Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey. Listen along as Elizabeth and Spencer get into the holiday spirit and discuss the incredible costumes designed by Academy-Award-nominated costume designer Michael Wilkinson. Want more episodes of The Art of Costume Blogcast? Become an official costume maven at our Patreon for exclusive episodes and highlights just for Patreon members: Patreon.com/TheArtOfCostume Podcast Merch Store: TheArtOfCostume.com/PodStore Follow Us on Instagram: @TheArtofCostumePod --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/theartofcostume/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/theartofcostume/support

How RNID went fully remote and agile We chat with Michael Wilkinson, Associate Director for Digital and Innovation at RNID Going fully remote, and agile, is a big ask of any organisation. It inevitably brings risk as much as opportunity. What do charities need to do to make this a success? Back in 2020 RNID (or Action on Hearing Loss as it was then known) announced its plans to sell its office and go fully remote. Not long after that, it decided to rebrand. That's a lot of change, but RNID has seized the opportunity to do things differently and embrace disruption. Michael Wilkinson, Associate Director for Digital and Innovation at RNID, tells us how their team has thrived through remote working, establishing new ways of working, removing core working hours, and taking an agile approach to leadership and strategy. Zoe and Paul discuss what's happening at Twitter after staff walkouts and share their advice on how to plan for whatever the future holds for the platform.   Notes: Find out more about RNID   RNID's hearing test   Read Michael's blog about his blueprint for digital transformation   Read Roger Swannell's blog about RNID's project opportunity canvas   Email us with your questions and ideas for future episodes startsatthetop@gmail.com   And please leave us a review if you enjoy what you hear!   Editing and production from Syren Studios and Paul Thomas   Music by Joseph McDade https://josephmcdade.com/music   Full transcript of episode 38 with Michael Wilkinson (.txt file) - transcript also available through your podcast app.  

This is another very special episode of Talking Bay 94, to celebrate the finale of ANDOR. A few weeks ago, thanks to Lucasfilm, we got to participate in roundtable interviews with the crew of the upcoming Disney+ series, ANDOR. We got about 30 minutes each with composer Nicholas Britell, Supervising Sound Editor David Acord and Visual Effects Producer TJ Falls, and Production Designer Luke Hull and Costume Designer Michael Wilkinson. It was a huge thrill, obviously, and I hope you all enjoy as much as I did. All episodes of ANDOR Season 1 are now streaming on Disney+. Other panelists included: Jedi News Skytalkers Star Wars Explained Triad of the Force Skywalking Through Neverland That Gay Jedi Ahch-to Radio Friends of the Force Around the Galaxy Tatooine Sons Fantha Tracks Blast Points We have some cool episodes coming up next week, including my interview with the great Kristin Baver. If you're enjoying the show, please head to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to these episodes and leave us a five-star rating and review! It means the world. Transcripts of previous episodes are available over at talkingbay94.com. For more behind-the-scenes stuff, as well as a link to some of our other in-depth interviews, check out: Website: www.TalkingBay94.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/TalkingBay94 Instagram: www.instagram.com/TalkingBay94

Michael Wilkinson leads the digital forensics and incident response team at Avertium. The team is dedicated to helping clients investigate and recover from IT security incidents daily. Wilkinson talks about threat research, the threat of Vice Society, how K-12 cybersecurity can improve and much more. – Get your FREE cybersecurity training resources: https://www.infosecinstitute.com/free– View Cyber Work Podcast transcripts and additional episodes: https://www.infosecinstitute.com/podcast0:00 - Digital forensics and incident response 3:12 - Getting interested in computers6:00 - How had digital forensics changed over the years9:03 - Handling overwhelming amounts of data12:53 - The threat of Vice Society 17:20 - Why is Vice Society targeting K-12?19:55 - How to minimize damage from data leaks24:25 - How schools can improve cybersecurity25:54 - What schools should do if cyberattacked 31:36 - How to work in threat research and intelligence34:42 - Learn more about Avertium36:40 - Learn more about Mike Wilkinson37:08 - OutroAbout InfosecInfosec believes knowledge is power when fighting cybercrime. We help IT and security professionals advance their careers with skills development and certifications while empowering all employees with security awareness and privacy training to stay cyber-safe at work and home. It's our mission to equip all organizations and individuals with the know-how and confidence to outsmart cybercrime. Learn more at infosecinstitute.com.

How do you find the look of a galaxy far, far away? This week, we welcome Andor production designer Luke Hull and costume designer Michael Wilkinson, who break down the series' lavish looks and stunning sets (as we once again drool over Mon Mothma's gorgeous apartment). Plus, Dalton, Lauren, and Devan break down the penultimate episode of Andor — and make our predictions for the upcoming finale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The prison on Narkina 5 was based on some real world philosophies that Star Wars has drawn from before. Here is how the Empire used psychology to keep their inmates in line. AND included is a discussion about the prison and the other design elements of Andor with production designer Luke Hull and costume designer Michael Wilkinson! https://twitter.com/djolder/status/1587985936314519552 Around the Galaxy: https://www.atgcast.com/ Triad of the Force: https://linktr.ee/triadoftheforce That Gay Jedi: https://linktr.ee/thatgayjedi Skywalking Through Neverland: https://linktr.ee/skywalkingpod Talking Bay 94: https://www.talkingbay94.com/ Jedi News: https://www.jedinews.com/ Fantha Tracks: https://links.fanthatracks.com/ Ahch-To Radio: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ahch-to-radio-a-star-wars-podcast/id1459562434 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are still shaking from ANDOR's “One Way Out.” So much to discuss! So get “On-Program” and join us as we share our current thoughts on episode 10, as well as a hugely informative roundtable interview with Andor's production designer, Luke Hull, and costume designer, Michael Wilkinson. What went into the productio design of Coruscant vs. the Prison vs. Luthen's Antiquities? How do you create a character's personal space? How close did you want to get to the original Star Wars? Why the white on white color scheme for the prison? Luke Hull's production design sketches:       We have our other Roundtable participants to thank for some amazing questions beyond our own:  Jedi News; Fantha Tracks; Triad of the Force; That Gay Jedi; Star Wars Explained; Skywalking through Neverland; Talking Bay; Around the Galaxy; Ahch-To Radio.   Today in Star Wars History, Part 2 NOW AVAILABLE     Autographed Edition with bag, bookmark and limited edition button     Check out these SKYwalking NETwork Podcasts:   Classic Marvel Star Wars Comics - Delving into each issue of the Star Wars comic series 1977-1986 The Max EFX Podcast - Chronicling the 35-year Special Effects film career of Max Cervantes Neverland Clubhouse - Two sisters, and best friends, sharing Disney adventures Talking Apes - focusing on the original Planet of the Apes films and TV shows Totally Tell Me Everything - Two ladies, one topic, three questions. Sarah Woloski and Bryn MacKinnon learn, share and grow. Star Warsologies - A podcast about Science and Star Wars   SPONSORS   Small World Vacations is an official sponsor of Skywalking Through Neverland. Contact them for a no obligation price quote at www.smallworldvacations.com. Tell them Skywalking Through Neverland sent you.   SUPPORT THE SHOW   Find out how you can become a part of the Skywalking Force and unlock bonus content.   CONTACT US   Instagram: http://instagram.com/skywalkingpod Twitter: https://twitter.com/SkywalkingPod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skywalkingthroughneverland Send emails to share@skywalkingthroughneverland.com and follow us on Facebook.   If you dug this episode, click over to iTunes | Stitcher | YouTube and leave us a review!   Never Land on Alderaan!  

Fantha Tracks were invited to sit in on two virtual roundtables with Production Designer Luke Hull, Costume Designer Michael Wilkinson, Skywalker Sounds David Acord and ILM's T.J. Falls to discuss their work on Star Wars: Andor. Listen as Mark Newbold asks questions along with friends from Ahch-To Radio, Around the Galaxy, Blast Points, Jedi News, Skytalkers, Skywalking through Neverland, Star Wars Explained, Talking Bay 94, Tatooine Sons, That Gay Jedi and Triad of the Force on this special episode of Making Tracks. Remember to tune in to Good Morning Tatooine, LIVE Sunday and Thursday evenings at 9.00pm UK, 4.00pm Eastern and 1.00pm Pacific on Facebook and YouTube and check out our Fantha Tracks Radio Friday Night Rotation every Friday at 7.00pm UK for new episodes of The Fantha From Down Under, Planet Leia, Desert Planet Discs, Start Your Engines, Collecting Tracks, Canon Fodder and special episodes of Making Tracks, and every Tuesday at 7.00pm UK time for your weekly episode of Making Tracks. You can contact any of our shows and send in your listeners questions by emailing radio@fanthatracks.com or comment on our social media feeds: www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ7LZotr3rQhVJwpO3b2ELw www.instagram.com/fanthatracks www.facebook.com/FanthaTracks www.twitter.com/FanthaTracks www.pinterest.co.uk/fanthatracks/ www.fanthatracks.tumblr.com/ www.tiktok.com/@fanthatracks

We are still shaking from ANDOR's “One Way Out.” So much to discuss! So get “On-Program” and join us as we share our current thoughts on episode 10, as well as a hugely informative roundtable interview with Andor's production designer, Luke Hull, and costume designer, Michael Wilkinson. What went into the productio design of Coruscant vs. the Prison vs. Luthen's Antiquities? How do you create a character's personal space? How close did you want to get to the original Star Wars? Why the white on white color scheme for the prison? Luke Hull's production design sketches:       We have our other Roundtable participants to thank for some amazing questions beyond our own:  Jedi News; Fantha Tracks; Triad of the Force; That Gay Jedi; Star Wars Explained; Skywalking through Neverland; Talking Bay; Around the Galaxy; Ahch-To Radio.   Today in Star Wars History, Part 2 NOW AVAILABLE     Autographed Edition with bag, bookmark and limited edition button     Check out these SKYwalking NETwork Podcasts:   Classic Marvel Star Wars Comics - Delving into each issue of the Star Wars comic series 1977-1986 The Max EFX Podcast - Chronicling the 35-year Special Effects film career of Max Cervantes Neverland Clubhouse - Two sisters, and best friends, sharing Disney adventures Talking Apes - focusing on the original Planet of the Apes films and TV shows Totally Tell Me Everything - Two ladies, one topic, three questions. Sarah Woloski and Bryn MacKinnon learn, share and grow. Star Warsologies - A podcast about Science and Star Wars   SPONSORS   Small World Vacations is an official sponsor of Skywalking Through Neverland. Contact them for a no obligation price quote at www.smallworldvacations.com. Tell them Skywalking Through Neverland sent you.   SUPPORT THE SHOW   Find out how you can become a part of the Skywalking Force and unlock bonus content.   CONTACT US   Instagram: http://instagram.com/skywalkingpod Twitter: https://twitter.com/SkywalkingPod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skywalkingthroughneverland Send emails to share@skywalkingthroughneverland.com and follow us on Facebook.   If you dug this episode, click over to iTunes | Stitcher | YouTube and leave us a review!   Never Land on Alderaan!  

We are so excited to present to everyone this double whammy of interviews! For these roundtables we were incredibly fortunate to speak with Beau Willimon (writer) and Sanne Wohlenberg (executive producer), and Luke Hull (production designer) and Michael Wilkinson! These were such amazing conversations! Special shout-out to Lucasfilm for this amazing opportunity. We hope you enjoy these interviews as much as we enjoyed participating in them! We were very fortunate to share the round-table with some of our community friends, among them: Pink Milk, Talking Bay 94, Star Wars Explained, Skytalkers, That Gay Jedi, Tatooine Sons, Friends of the Force, Blast Points, Ahch-To Radio, Around the Galaxy, Skywalking Through Neverland, Jedi News, and Fantha Tracks. TIMESTAMPS: 0:26 Intro 6:45 Beau Willimon + Sanne Wohlenberg 40:25 Luke Hull + Michael Wilkinson 1:15:27 Outro • • • Please consider donating to any of the organizations listed below if you're interested in helping Puerto Rico after the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona. Please remember: DO NOT SEND SUPPLIES OR DONATION TO THE GOVERNMENT, they've proven time and again they mishandle and waste resources. Only grassroots movements and communities have proven their worth. If you are willing and able please donate at the following links: Brigada Solidaria del Oeste: https://www.bsopr.com/?fbclid=IwAR3KwTf_FRy1GC5uGsCF0GFwIQQ9rQmIrCY7jkUTSHek1aNZOoajCwfedB8 Enlace: Venmo: GabrielaGuerra Sin Límites: https://www.sinlimitespr.org/donar Colectiva Feminista PR: PayPal: Colectiva.Feminista.PR@gmail.com ATH movil: /ColectiveFeminista • • • Triad of the Force is a channel which was featured on the Podcast Stage at Star Wars Celebration 2022, featuring Nani, Gus, and Moe, three lifelong Puerto Rican friends who after years of discussing the media they love, came together and created their show. Triad of the Force focuses their discussions on Star Wars, but their love for media spans everything from sci-fi, fantasy, CBMs, and beyond. From films to TV, from books to comic books, Triad of the Force looks at all media critically, from a Latine/x perspective. Joins us! Follow Triad Of The Force at: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TriadOfTheForce Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/triadoftheforce/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TriadoftheForce/ If you like us, get some merch and help the channel: TeePublic: https://www.teepublic.com/user/triad-of-the-force • • • Acknowledgement: The Intro and Outro music is the Triad of the Force Theme, composed and performed by Grushkov with full permission for use by Grushkov (https://linktr.ee/Grushkov).

Join us for a special media for Star Wars podcasters speaking with the behind the scenes visionaries for the hit new Disney Plus series, Andor. Around the Galaxy joined more than a dozen other podcasters and spoke to TJ Falls (visual effects), David Acord (sound editor), Luke Hull (production designer) and Michael Wilkinson (costume design).www.ATGcast.comPatreon.com/ATGcastYouTube.com/ATGcast@ATGcastTJ Falls is Vice President of Visual Effects at Lucasfilm. Having previously served as the primary VFX Producer on a number of Lucasfilm projects and a VFX Executive on others, he now oversees visual effects production for all of Lucasfilm's slate of feature films and live action series, while still maintaining a hands-on role producing specific projects.David Acord is an American sound editor and voice actor best known for his contribution as a supervising sound editor of the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Acord received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing and British Academy Film Award for Best Sound for his work on The Force Awakens, with fellow sound editor Matthew Wood.[1][2] He also provided the voice of several characters in the film, including the stormtrooper FN-2199 (often known as TR-8R). Though the voice role is minimal, the character gained considerable attention on the Internet following the film's release. Acord also had minor voice roles as an Imperial Male PA and two stormtroopers on episodes of Star Wars Rebels. In 2015, Acord was one of the sound designers for Disney Infinity video game.[3] In 2020, he received his second Academy Award nomination for Best Sound Editing for 2019 film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, shared with Matthew Wood.Michael Wilkinson is a costume designer known for his work with Zack Snyder and the DCEU. Wilkinson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design for the 2013 film American Hustle.Luke Hull wasproduction designer on ‘Chernobyl' where he won an Emmy for Outstanding Production Design and the Art Directors Guild award for Excellence in Production Design on a Television Movie or Limited Series.

Join James Burns on episode 91 of RADIO 1138 where we had the opportunity to talk some of the creatives behind the first ten episodes of the Disney+ Andor series. First up was Production Designer Luke Hull and Costume Designer Michael Wilkinson with fellow Star Wars podcasts in this order -- Around the Galaxy, Triad of the Force, That Gay Jedi, Star Wars Explained, Skywalking Through Neverland, Talking Bay 94, Jedi News, Fantha Tracks, and Ahch-To Radio. Our second, and final, roundtable was with Vice President of Visual Effects at Lucasfilm TJ Falls & Supervising Sound Editor David Acord, and taking part in this order was --Tatooine Sons, Talking Bay 94, Skytalkers, Jedi News, Fantha Tracks, Blast Points, and Around the Galaxy. Four of us got to ask another question -- Tatooine Sons, Talking Bay 94, Skytalkers, and Jedi News. Thanks to everyone at Lucasfilm, ILM and Skywalker Sound for making these roundtables happen, and thanks to our fellow podcasters too (in alphabetical order) -- Ahch-To Radio, Around the Galaxy, Blast Points, Fantha Tracks,  Star Wars Explained, Skytalkers, Skywalking Through Neverland, Talking Bay 94, Tatooine Sons, That Gay Jedi, and Triad of the Force.

Emmy award nominee Christine Bieselin Clark is a Los Angeles-based Costume Designer with over 20 years of experience designing for film, TV and theater. Her work on Paramount+'s Star Trek: Picard earned Christine her first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes as well as a Costume Designers Guild nomination. Her TV credits further include costume designing AMC's Into the Badlands; and the TV movie Marvel's Most Wanted. In additional to TV, Christine has served as the Costume Designer for numerous feature films including Spy starring Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law and Jason Statham; and Ender's Game starring Harrison Ford, Viola Davis, Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld. In 2010, Christine worked alongside Michael Wilkinson as Co-Costume Designer of Disney's TRON: Legacy. Their innovative use of technology in costume design garnered them a Costume Designers Guild nomination for Excellence in Fantasy Film. As an assistant costume designer, Christine has worked on notable films such as Disney's live-action feature Jungle Cruise starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt; Shall We Dance, starring Jennifer Lopez; Zach Snyder's Watchmen and 300; and Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Babel.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our expert hosts, Gwera Kiwana and Ewan Silver, are joined by some great guests to talk about the most notable fintech, financial services and banking news from the past week. This week's guests include: Polly Jean Harrison, Features Editor, The Fintech Times Michael Wilkinson, COO, Everything With soundclips from: Dimitris Kalavros-Gousiou, Partner, Velocity Partners We cover the following stories from the fintech and financial services space: Klarna: ‘buy now, pay later' firm to launch card in the UK - 4:10 Bank of America Says a Digital U.S. Dollar Is ‘Inevitable' - 16:25 Everything Raises €2M to Re-Invent Premium Bonds in the UK - 27:45 JPMorgan agrees to acquire 49% stake in Greek fintech Viva Wallet - 38:55 Huawei turns to Curve for NFC payments in the wake of Google ban - 48:40 Tanzanian fintech NALA raises $10M seed to build Revolut for Africa - 50:05 Pakistani Digital Banks Finally Able To Get a Banking License Following SBP's Announcement - 51:53 Bolt CEO called Y Combinator and Stripe 'the Mob' in a fiery Twitter thread - 53:50 This episode is sponsored by Fintech Meetup. Join Fintech Meetup, the world's largest fintech meetings-only event! That's right - no speakers or content….just 30,000+ double opt-in online meetings that result in Deals, Partnerships and Funding. Meet 3,000+ participants from Fintechs, Banks, Credit Unions, Community Banks, Investors, Networks, Solution Providers, Tech cos, Retailers & Merchants and many others! Online, March 22-24. Learn More & Get Your Ticket (https://fintechmeetup.com/) Fintech Insider by 11:FS is a podcast dedicated to all things fintech, banking, technology and financial services. Hosted by a rotation of 11:FS experts including David Brear, Simon Taylor and Jason Bates, who are joined by a range of brilliant guests. We cover the latest global news, bring you interviews from industry experts or take a deep dive into subject matters such as APIs, AI or digital banking. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/fintechinsiders where you can ask the hosts questions, alternatively email podcasts@11fs.com! Special Guests: Ewan Silver, Michael Wilkinson, and Polly Jean Harrison.

Steve, Ace and Erik play the new crowdfunded game "Psycho Killer" and speak with the creator Michael Wilkinson with Escape Tabletop Games

For our Season 2 midseason finale, we come to you with an interview with Dr. Michael Wilkinson, Assistant Professor of trombone at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Wilkinson has extensive performance and teaching experience in both classical and jazz, throughout many different age groups and many different instruments. Exemplifying versatility at its finest, he is an outstanding player and educator that has some funny stories and down-to-earth advice to share. For this interview, he walks us through his early life and how he got into so many scenes, his experience and thought process behind his 2016 solo album, and some interesting accounts of his weirdest freelance gigs. -- Transition music: Can I?, Michael Wilkinson Intro/Outro music: I Will Go Sailing No More, Randy Newman, Lawson Gardner Instagram: @8thposition @dabaldwin903 @lawson.gardner2

Oliver Garner interviews Michael Wilkinson on his latest book "Authoritarian Liberalism and the Transformation of Modern Europe" (Oxford University Press 2021)

A mortgage relationship between member and lender can last for decades. Credit unions can also completely divest themselves from both financial and servicing responsibility almost as soon as the deal is signed. We're talking with Michael Wilkinson, Vice President of Dovenmuehle about mortgage subservicing options which put the monthly administration in the hands of specialists, and what to consider when evaluating the structure of your mortgage operations.

Many of us feel a pressure to be a "proper" Pilates instructor - whatever the heck that is. Here are our thoughts on why - and how, you can be yourself. linksHip displasia https://europepmc.org/article/med/18483804 (here) Claudia being herself on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cloudsways/ (here) Spotlight effect https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2000-13328-002 (here) Masterclasses https://breathe.edu.au/masterclass/ (here) Michael Wilkinson 78 year old Pilates instructor https://breathe.edu.au/belong-michael-wilkinson/ (here) FeeFee's Rockn'Roll Cocktail Bar https://www.feefeesbar.com/ (here) Learning is more effective when we copy people who are similar to us https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jsep/9/3/article-p249.xml (here) Connect With Us On InstagramCloe https://www.instagram.com/cloebunterpilates/ (@cloebunterpilates) Raphael https://www.instagram.com/the_raphaelbender/ (@the_raphaelbender) Come Study With UsOur training is 100% online - you can study from anywhere in the world Certificate IV in Pilates Matwork and Reformer https://breathe.edu.au/certificate-iv-pilates/ (here) Diploma of Clinical Pilates https://my.captivate.fm/here (here) This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: AdBarker - https://adbarker.com/privacy

Join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores gardening on Earth... and beyond! Emma's guest on this week's show is Michael Wilkinson, a teacher who's bringing astrobotany into classrooms with Magnitude.io. Michael talks about the ExoLab series of experiments, which 'leguminaut' is blasting off in 2021, and how a Bitmoji teacher will be able to tag along for the ride!

“You already have this constellation internally that is very capable, and you and me and everyone we know. But some of it is burdened. And so it has intense emotional charge that hasn't been released, or it has belief systems that are old and archaic and need to be discarded. But then once they're unburdened, the energy and the natural expression of that aspect of you is just available.” Sunni Brown   In this week’s episode of the Control the Room podcast, I’m delighted to speak with Sunni Brown, founder of Deep Self Design and Sunni Brown Ink. Sunni has been named one of the 100 most creative people in business and one of the 10 most creative people on Twitter by Fast Company. She is a best selling author, speaker, and expert meeting facilitator. We talk about the fallacy of using buzzwords in value statements, Cobra Kai, and the tango of co-facilitation. Listen in to find out what The Karate Kid remake can teach us about the complexity of people.   Show Highlights [8:23] The proven power of taking notes by hand [15:45] What is authenticity? [21:27] The fallacy of buzzwords in value statements [27:38] Cobra Kai, the more naive Karate Kid [36:47] The tango of co-facilitation [45:28] Dusting off your inner mirror   Links | Resources Sunni on LinkedIn Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers The Doodle Revolution SB Ink Sunni’s TedTalk, Doodlers Unite!   About the Guest Sunni Brown, founder of Deep Self Design and Sunni Brown Ink, is a best-selling author, speaker, and expert meeting facilitator. Fast Company has included her in “100 Most Creative People in Business” and “10 Most Creative People on Twitter.” Sunni, author of Gamestorming and The Doodle Revolution, leads a worldwide campaign advocating for visual, game, design, and improvisational thinking. She lists empathy, emotional intelligence, collaboration, and effective communication as some of her most sought-after leadership skills.   About Voltage Control Voltage Control is a facilitation agency that helps teams work better together with custom-designed meetings and workshops, both in-person and virtual. Our master facilitators offer trusted guidance and custom coaching to companies who want to transform ineffective meetings, reignite stalled projects, and cut through assumptions. Based in Austin, Voltage Control designs and leads public and private workshops that range from small meetings to large conference-style gatherings.  Share An Episode of Control The Room Apple Podcasts Spotify Android Stitcher Engage Control The Room Voltage Control on the Web Contact Voltage Control   Intro: Welcome to the Control the Room Podcast, a series devoted to the exploration of meeting culture and uncovering cures for the common meeting. Some meetings have tight control, and others are loose. To control the room means achieving outcomes while striking a balance between imposing and removing structure, asserting and distributing power, leaning in and leaning out, all in the service of having a truly magical meeting. This episode is brought to you by MURAL, a digital workspace for visual collaboration. At Voltage Control, we use MURAL to facilitate engaging and productive meetings and workshops from anywhere. MURAL gives teams the means, methods and freedoms to collaborate visually. Use their suite of facilitation superpowers to control the virtual room and solve tough problems as a team with their pre-built templates and guided methods. To see for yourself why companies like IBM, Atlassian, and E* Trade rely on MURAL, start your 30 day trial at mural.co. That’s mural.co Douglas: Today I’m with Sunni Brown, founder of Sunni Brown Ink and the Center of Deep Self Design, where she helps people design their best selves.  Welcome to the show, Sunni. Sunni: Can I call you D? Douglas: As long as you don’t call me Doug— Sunni: Dougie Fresh. Douglas: —I think I’ll be okay with it. Sunni: Okay. I might slip up and call you D. Douglas: D’s perfectly fine. So, how did you get started? How did Sunni Brown become Sunni Brown Ink? Sunni: Well, there were many roads that led to that incarnation, but first was that I could not keep a job. So I was fired many times. So there's, like, the shadow side of it, and then there's the accidental, you know, serendipitous aspects of it, and then there's the origin story, like the conditioning-from-family stuff. So there's all wrapped up in that, you know? But first and foremost, I could not—I got fired a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean definitely over 13 times. And so I was good at getting jobs, but I wasn't good at keeping jobs, which is a hallmark of entrepreneurism, but I didn't realize that at the time. I just thought that everyone was an idiot, and somehow I didn't belong in a cage or whatever. I was very unruly as an employee. It was actually legitimately hard for me to keep a job. Even though I was good, I was insubordinate. And so eventually I just recognized that, oh, I need to be my own boss. I didn't know the boss of what.  But serendipitously and sort of circuitously, I ended up in the Bay Area, which is rife with ideas and opportunity and innovation and potential, and that was a great place for somebody like me. And so I ended up working at The Grove, which is a visual-thinking company, and that was my introduction to visual literacy and visual thinking. I only worked there two years, and then I left and I started my own company, which again, I think—I mean, I think unless you have entrepreneurism in your family, it's almost always accidental. And it’s not— it's accidental and on purpose, but it's not necessarily something—it's, like, something that finds you and you find it, you know? There was a lot of ingredients that made that thing come to life. Douglas: So, tell us about the experience at The Grove. How did that shape what you're doing now? Sunni: It was a great experience in the sense that I was from—like, I had just graduated with a master’s in public policy, which always surprises people. But I was kind of working in the public sector, and I didn't even identify as a creative at that time. I didn't like the term creative. I didn't like the term artistic. I was very pragmatic and practical. And so I was not looking for anything of the sort, in terms of ending up at The Grove, and so I was very skeptical.  So when I was first there, I was just hired as the executive assistant because I had been other people's assistants, but I didn't always mention I’d been fired a lot. So I was very questionable about my job-acquisition ethics. But I did always end up getting jobs. And so eventually I was working for the president, which was David Sibbet, who's, like, the grandfather of visual thinking in the United States. And I was very lucky because I was mentored by him and then eventually mentored by Dave Gray and other kind of like—he wouldn't want me to call him a grandfather, but another godfather, if you will, of visual thinking. Douglas: Sort of a luminary.  Sunni: Yeah, absolutely. So those were events happenstantial. But when I first was at The Grove, I was really skeptical about visual thinking, and I thought it was kind of silly, to be honest. Douglas: So what was the thing that really changed for you? You said you used to think “it was kind of silly.” What really connected the dots for you to realize, like, “Wow, this is something deeper”? Sunni: Well, so, it was like application. I was first a graphic recorder. I don’t know if you know that about me, but I started as a graphic recorder. So a person would go and do live large-scale visualizations of auditory content. And what I observed in the process of learning how to be that, which did come naturally to me—it was a skill that kind of mapped itself onto my own skills readily, which was surprising—but through that process, I recognized that there was a lot of benefits of visual thinking that were happening to me cognitively. So I was remembering content really well. I was organizing it in my mind and on paper really skillfully. I was comprehending it and sort of like getting insights. And when you’re a graphic recorder, you go and you listen to every topic imaginable. So I noticed that my relationship with the content was really rich and really substantive. And I had to attribute it to what I was doing visually because it wasn't like I was special, you know? It was like, “Oh, my god, there's something meaningful to the brain about this way of thinking.” And that's when I became a convert. You know, I was converted. Douglas: That's incredible. It makes me think about something that I've been talking with a lot of folks about lately, this notion of multithreaded meetings, where when we're in MURAL and everyone is Livescribing and at the same time—now, it's certainly not at the level of proficiency and craftsmanship that, you know, you were taken to the job as a graphic recorder—but if we're all visually working in the meeting through MURAL or Mirro or any of these other tools and live capturing what we're hearing, we are unsynthesizing on the fly, we're adding nuance to what we hear because it's our own, like, filter. Even if we are attempting to be purist as possible, something's going to happen there. And when you look across the room of what everyone wrote down, you get this really rich picture of what was said, because it's, like, not only what was said, but this diversity of thought layered on top of it. Sunni: That's cool. That's cool that you're doing that. And absolutely. It makes complete sense, right? It's like this beautiful display of insight that is unique to each person. But it's not a thin relationship. It's a really thick relationship between you and what you're trying to understand. And that's why it's so valuable. And so, then, of course, I became an evangelist about that, and that was in a different chapter of my journey. And I'm really grateful for that, because at this point, I don't do anything without having some visual-thinking component. It’s just how I work and how I think and how I explain things to people. So it just changed everything about how I function. It's really grateful.  Douglas: That's really cool. You know, it also makes me think about active listening and how one of our skills as a facilitator for active listening is paraphrasing. And if you think about it, only one person can paraphrase at one time because if we were all doing that, it would be cacophonous insanity and the whole power of paraphrasing would be diminished because we're all talking over each other. But if someone's Livescribing or if the whole room is Livescribing, everyone's essentially paraphrasing but in a non-auditory sense, right? Sunni: Mm-hmm, yeah. That’s why I teach it to educators and then they teach it to students, because when you're typing—I mean, there's a lot of research about typing versus writing in terms of notetaking, and the research is very clear that when you use visual notetaking instead of typing on your laptop and just trying to, like, bang out as much as you can based on what the teacher’s saying, and similarly with handwriting, the knowledge and the insight is much, much deeper when you're using visual networking because you're synthesizing. So you're actively distilling content on purpose, and you're discerning what to believe and what to put on the page, and then you map it to some kind of icon or image so it comes to life. And so I think that that experience is true for everybody. I mean, I taught it all over the world, and it's not ever been somebody who was like, “No, I prefer my laptop typing in terms of knowledge acquisition.” Like, I’ve never met that person, you know? Douglas: Yeah, absolutely. You know, it also dawned on me. Has the research explored the notion of the spatial aspect of— Sunni: Uh-huh. Douglas: —handwritten notes? Because if you think about typed notes, it’s direct to linear; it’s always left to right; it’s up, down— Sunni: Yeah, totally. Douglas: —it’s squares; it’s edges. Sunni: There’s no structure. Douglas: Yeah. You have that structure is enforced upon you. Sunni: Right. Douglas: And if you're having to think through that structure or just flow through it and even move your hand to the upper right and over here and down, it's not so liberal—it's more liberating, maybe. Sunni: Yeah, that’s right. And Tony Buzan has this great page where he talks about that most kids perceive notetaking as punishment. They refer to it as punishment because that's how it feels, because they're confined and constrained by what you can do. And so when you make the page like a blank space, it's basically a field to plan, and then you can show relationships between things, and you can show spatial content that has an architecture that is inherently not in listing or in writing lists. And so there's, like, nine other things that he—He has a great book, Mind Map that he’s original. But it just describes how it’s like a black-and-white versus a color television. It's just a whole different world. And so it's universally impactful in that way.  So it was easy for me to fall in love with it after I got over myself, you know? I was like, “Oh, shit, this is like a power tool, and nobody knows it.” Like, very few people were interested in it or thought it was worth exploring, and it was sort of something you put on the side, like you go to art class and do that, or you be weird and do that. Like this guy— Douglas: Or these geeks in the corner of the conference just plugging away. Sunni: That’s right. And so I was, like, well, I would like to normalize the shit out of this. And so I was very passionate about it for a long time. And at this point, I've exhausted that passion. But I don't need to have it because other people have it now. So I’m like, “Cool. The torch has been passed, and more power to all of you.” Douglas: And we talked a little bit about that earlier in kind of the preshow chat. We both have books coming out on the non-obvious press, and I was asking you about— Sunni: Mm-hmm. Yeah. You’re writing the one I wanted to write, you old buster. Douglas: You know, you were writing a book on graphic recording. Sunni: Yeah. It was, like, rapid doodling. Yeah.  Douglas: Yeah. And I was curious to hear about that. And you said, “Oh, I wasn't inspired.”  Sunni: Yeah. Douglas: I mean, you were explaining how you kind of lost the flame a bit— Sunni: Right. Douglas: —because you've been doing it for a while— Sunni: Yes. Douglas: —and you know it in and out.  Sunni: Yes.  Douglas: And it's hard to take that kind of new— Sunni: Yeah. Like, the beginner’s mind. It’s such an important state of mind and that my relationship with that is not in that state. So I couldn’t strongarm my way into writing that book. Douglas: And I love how meta that experience for you and going through the conversation with the publisher was in relation to the topic you're actually going to write about, because you talked about not being part of your being or your state right now, the passion right now. And so it must have felt inauthentic. Sunni: It did. Yeah, it did. It felt forced, for sure. And I told him that I could do it. It's like, it's not that I don't have the ability to sit down and type some shit on a page that makes sense. Like, I can do it. But why would I do that? What is the value of a factory? Like, I'm not a factory. And I mean, I can be, but I don't want to be. And I just was like, fuck it. I'll just—you know, he can get mad at me. I mean, I literally woke up that morning. I was like, what if he sued me? I was like, I don't know what he's going to do. No idea what he was going to do. Because he had the whole—all of our books were going to be published in a certain time, remember? Like, all together. So I didn’t— Douglas: And then COVID happened. Sunni: That's right. And I was hoping that he would have considered that and that some of his other off—because you turned yours in on time, did you not?  Douglas: Yes. And— Sunni: Well, that's what I mean. So it didn't affect you. Ugh, god. Douglas: Well, we’re not on time. Sunni: Yeah, but you’re— Douglas: We turned it in, but then there was a lot of edits— Sunni: Right, right. Douglas: —so we’re still hard at work on it. But it’s great.  Sunni: That’s awesome. Douglas: I found working with them to be really fantastic from a— Sunni: Oh, good. Douglas: —get it right—let’s take the time to get it right. Sunni: Uh, yeah. He’s awesome, and he really impressed me that day. And so it was nice to arrive at the topic that I am interested in, I have something to say about. And for me, the most energetic time when I'm learning something is where I'm completely convinced that it's valuable. I have internalized quite a bit of it, but I haven't, like, reverse engineered what it is that I did. So it's like when I was a graphic recorder, I was doing that. I had some training, but I basically trained myself. And then I studied what I was doing. And then I was like, oh, wow, that's really interesting. So for me, it's like that was similar with the deep-self-design stuff. It’s like I've been applying and practicing this stuff for, like, 13 years, and now I'm studying what I'm doing because I want to teach it. So I apparently have these cycles of that. And I was not in that cycle with rapid doodling for problem solving. And I was like, why would I fake this? This is just completely not true for me at all. So thankfully, Rohit was awesome, and he was, like, “Great. I don't want you to write that.” And I almost kissed him through the screen. I was like, “God bless you,” because it was getting painful. Douglas: And what’s the title of the new book? Sunni: Well, I don't know yet exactly. It's still in process, but it's something about the “non-obvious guide to being confident,” or maybe “to enter confidence.” And then the subtitle is “without being arrogant or inauthentic,” something like that. Douglas: Yeah. And I love this notion of confidence is really important when it comes to facilitation. That’s why we both run facilitation practices just to get people experience with the tools and with new ways of doing things. And I also feel that authenticity matters so much. The authenticity allows us to be confident and vice versa. They kind of have this interesting dual purpose or this kind of linked connectedness. Sunni: And I’ve always been confused by, what is authenticity? What does it even mean? And it’s similarly with integrity. So this is just like a sort of weird question philosophically, which is, if you're authentically being manipulative, like you're totally committed to that activity, then that's not inauthentic. It's un-optimal. It's suboptimal for who you're dealing with. But, like, Trump is authentically an asshole. Do you know what I'm saying?  Douglas: Mm-hmm. Yes, I do know what you’re saying. Sunni: So I don’t even know when people describe—because I do often get described as authentic. My mother-in-law—well, she’s family so she could be blowing smoke up my ass—but she’s often like, authenticity is just your engine. And it took me a while. I was like, I don’t even know what she's talking about. But then finally, I came up with this definition, so I want to run it by you and see what you think. So what it is, maybe, is—and I’m sure there are people who’ve done this research, so I'm right on the edge of doing all this great research—which is your internal experience is matched to your external expression. So in other words, what I'm feeling internally—so if I'm feeling disappointment because somebody didn't respond to my text—when I talk to them, I say, “I'm experiencing disappointment about your lack of responding to me, and I'm interpreting it.” So I'm just saying what's true for me. I'm just speaking what— So I think that's what it is. And that's really hard for people, apparently. What do you love about it? Douglas: Well, you know, it's the same thing as like I think people as a society, we have been primed to not disappoint people and to avoid conflict, and so that forces people to be inauthentic— Sunni: That's true. So true. Douglas: —because they’re in pursuit of this vibe or this experience or to avoid. It’s like to minimize your— Sunni: Yeah. Conflict avoidance is huge, yes. Yes.  Douglas: Yeah. And it's the same thing as you get a birthday present you don't like, and you’re, “Oh, I love it.” Sunni: Right. Douglas: It’s like that incongruency of what you're saying and what you’re feeling.  Sunni: Yeah. Right. Douglas: And imagine you walk into a room and you know that you need to pump up that room and get everyone excited.  Sunni: Right. But you're not feeling it yet. Douglas: You're not feeling it. And there’s a pit in your stomach that you are not that is you're not being authentic. Sunni: Well, that, I think, creates anxiety, though, right, because when we’re trying to defy our actual internal experience, that is anxiety provoking. So that’s problematic. And it’s not like I nail it every time, but I definitely have a high fidelity to what my experience is and what my truth is, and then I share that. But I'm not undiplomatic.  So it's interesting what you're saying about the gift. When somebody gives you a gift and you don't really love it, but you're honoring that they gave it to you, that can still be an authentic experience because you may not love it, but you love that they gave something to you, that they thought of you, right? Douglas: Right. So why not? Why is it not customary that we say that? Sunni: I don’t know. I don't think our culture is skillful. I think our culture is really immature in a lot of areas. And communication and conflict is one of them, a big one. Douglas: Yeah. In our facilitation training, we often work with folks to think about how they can tap into their inner self. And you go much deeper into the internal family-system stuff. The stuff that we're saying to do is at least just check in. Sunni: Yeah, totally. Douglas: Does your foot hurt? Sunni: Right. Douglas: Does your stomach hurt? Sunni: Yeah. Connecting to your body. Douglas: Does it feel hot? Is there a tension in the room? Are you bringing that tension? Are you noticing it? Is that tension impacting you? Sunni: Yeah. Right. That’s so helpful, though, Douglas. People are so oblivious to their own states. And that is also anxiety provoking. When you’re divorced from your own experience, how could you not be stressed? How could that not be stressful?  To your point, I do go deep, and I love that. But it's also, what you're doing with people, that's a revelation for a lot of people. Just like, oh, oh, I do. I am hungry. Oh, I have no idea. Or oh, I am disappointed that I wasn't seated with my friend. You know, just anything. And then I often do at the beginning of sessions, I will have them name something that's true for them. And just that simple act of checking in, becoming aware of your state and yourself, and then declaring it, it's like returning to yourself just for a second. And it brings you into the present moment, and it's really helpful. Douglas: Yeah. Any time we can have some sort of presence-ing activity in an opener, it's really powerful. Sunni: I know. And you know what’s funny, talking about authenticity? I think I was with you one time when we—I have people often draw, like, just in virtual facilitation, they’ll draw some emotion on a sticky note. And I will just ask, “What is your state of emotion right now?” and then draw an emoji. And then, you know, the ones that are permissible, right—there's permissible, social, emotional experiences. So it'll be like, the craziest one might be that someone's frazzled, but they would never be like, “I’m depressed,” you know? Douglas: Mm-hmm. Sunni: No— So there's social norms in that. And again, it’s like, is that inauthenticity, or is that caretaking of the group, or is that not even knowing maybe how you feel? It's like, just, it’s complex, you know? Douglas: Yeah. It’s interesting because if you're intentionally trying to deceive you being authentic—there's different levels, are you being authentic to yourself? There is intention. And then someone else could perceive you as being inauthentic because you're like, wait, he's totally lying to me. So, yeah. Sunni: Mm-hmm. Yeah. That’s right. Douglas: And integrity, I think, is easier for me because I always define integrity—because it shows up on so many companies’ values statements, and I don’t even know—I think most of the time they don’t think about what it means. It’s like, oh, yeah. It needs to say integrity. Sunni: They don’t even know what it is. Douglas: Resourcefulness.  Sunni: They’re like, everybody wants that, for sure. Douglas: Integrity is just you do what you say you’re going to do. Sunni: Say you’re going to do? So, okay, what if I say I’m going to throw water on Chet when he’s sleeping?  Douglas: That’s integrity. Sunni: And then I do it. Douglas: You follow through. But if you say you’re going to build a wall and you don’t build a wall, that’s not a lot of integrity. Sunni: But that means that Hitler had integrity, right? So it’s like if you say—and it’s controversial, but based on that definition, that would mean that, that he followed through. Douglas: Yeah. But that’s the thing. I think people that take these words and they glorify them as being good qualities. Sunni: Yeah, they don’t mean anything. Douglas: And sure, if you have good intent—like, you had to combine them with other things because—that segues nicely into something that we were getting excited about during the preshow chat. And this is just good versus bad, and in binary thinking, how dangerous it is. Sunni: Yeah, it is. It's one of the thinking distortions. So there's a really great list of thinking distortions that has, like, eight on it. But this also segues into Zen practice, which is central to my entire life. But one of the thinking distortions is making things binary. And it's so tempting. And I do it even though I have a devout practice around not doing that, where I'm seeing the nuance. It's still, it's the brain. Like, we are wired to summarize very quickly for survival purposes. It’s not like we’re bad if we do that. That is just biologically, it's like a biological imperative. And so in order to soften that inclination to just label somebody as, like, stupid or smart; or a desirable, undesirable; or deplorable and undeplorable; or whatever, we have to practice. You actually have to activate the antithesis of that way of thinking by purposefully seeing the shades of gray. It is a practice, and it's super powerful.  And so I like that you're interested in that, too, because as facilitators, I gamify this stuff. I try to teach people that in gaming. That one in particular always blows people's domepieces off because they're like, “Oh, my god, I completely thought my boss was a jerk just by definition.” And I'm like, “Did you consider all the other facets of your boss?” And they're like, “No.” I'm like, “Why would you? It’s not a practice you have.” Douglas: You know, I think that it applies across the spectrum, too, right? A lot of times, especially folks that are brand new to facilitation, they're so curious. Like, how do I deal with difficult people? And that, first of all, is binary thinking. The fact that you’re asking that question means that you’re thinking there’s non-difficult people and difficult people. Sunni: You’re assuming. Right, yeah. And it’s funny because when I started facilitating, I never asked that question. I wasn’t worried about it. And I think that has to do with conflict avoidance, too. So if people are asking that question, underneath it is a fear that they're going to have to deal with conflict or perceived conflict. And conflict avoidance was not my family strategy. So I usually turn toward it and address it, depending on the depth of the wounding or whatever. But it's like, it's not fearful for me.  And also, I haven't encountered these “difficult” people. I know there are people that can talk over other people, and there are people that want to ask a lot of questions and sort of can derail some of your activities. I know there are people that try to sidle up to you and make alliances with a facilitator. But I don't think of them as difficult. I think of them as people, just human people. Douglas: What about the people that are desperately trying to help you? Sunni: Oh, I love those people. It’s always—that's so, so sweet because it’s like, how do you say “No, thank you. You're going to make it way harder on me if you try to help”? Right? Because when I was a graphic recorder, I used to always carry these big walls, you know? You got to carry these 32-square-foot walls everywhere, and you would not believe how many people tried to help me because I was 5’5” and they’d be like, “She can’t carry that up four flights of stairs.” And I’d be like, “It weighs two pounds. It's not hard.” But I would always just very gently be like, “No. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your interest. But it’ll go smoothly if I just do it because I've done it so many times.” But there are all those types in meetings.  But to your point, what does it mean if they're difficult? Maybe they just need something, and they need you to be aware of it. And you just look for the need, the underlying need, and see if you can support that or not. Douglas: You know, I really liked Michael Wilkinson's framing on this. I think in his book—I forgot. It’s so many secrets of facilitation. I can't even remember how many there are. There might be, like, let’s just say, so many secrets of facilitation. Sunni: They’re secrets? Douglas: Yeah, well, he's unveiling the secrets of facilitation. Sunni: What?! The secret teachings? Douglas: Yeah. It’s amazing. So, his whole thing is dysfunctions. How do you deal with dysfunctions? And so I liked that framing a lot better because there’s all sorts of them, and how do we think about addressing them as they happen? And the individuals aren’t dysfunctional. Sunni: Right.  Douglas: Maybe eliciting a dysfunction at that moment. Sunni: Yeah. Or like a malfunction, yeah. Douglas: Yeah.  Sunni: You know? A little breakdown.  Douglas: A little short circuit, which is an amazing— Sunni: And I have those, too, you know? Douglas: I mean, when are they going to come out with, like—so they've done E.T. with Stranger Things. They've done Karate Kid with Cobra Kai. When are they going to come out with the Short Circuit, like the modern Short Circuit? Sunni: Oh, dude. How can they top the original? It’d be so hard. It’d be impossible. Oh, my god, I’ve got to watch that tonight. It’s Friday night. Thank you for picking my movie. Douglas: There’s something about Cobra Kai that I was— Sunni: Dude. Douglas: —thinking about earlier. But— Sunni: Oh, my god, yes. Douglas: —I think it’s just this notion of this good versus bad. Sunni: Yes. Douglas: You know, I was thinking about that when we were talking about good versus bad.  Sunni: Yeah. Douglas: And it's really interesting to me how the more naive Karate Ki— even though, like, look, let's face it. Cobra Kai is like a series that is not really any kind of profound wisdom. But it's funny that the more naive version of Karate Kid was, like, Danny’s just like, and Miyagi, are just like the source of good. Sunni: Yes. Douglas: And now, the more modern portrayal, as they're older, they're much more complex, you know? Sunni: Right. Douglas: They’re both doing things that you’re like, why? Sunni: And that’s the truth about people is that we’re complex. And that’s what people don't want to grapple with, because it requires an awareness of things that can't be tucked into a box really neatly. And the brain, it does not like that. The brain is—I mean, sometimes it's stimulated by it. But ultimately, it needs a summation. And so it's like that's why you have all these characters that are easy to hate, like in Inspector Gadget. What’s the dude, Claw? He doesn't even have a face. He's just the bad dude behind the desk, without a face. And then when you look at comic books or graphic novels, they always go into their backstory. I mean, Black Panther, they nailed it by making those characters so complex. That, to me, felt relatable. So it's, like, so fascinating how that starts from storytelling when you're five, you know? Even Star Wars. But I love Star Wars because, dude, I don’t— Douglas: Hero’s journey.  Sunni: Yeah. Douglas: I mean, you kind of can’t go wrong with the hero’s journey. In fact, that's something Daniel Stillman and I talk about a lot, using that in your workshop design. Sunni: Mm-hmm. Hm, interesting. Like, taking each person through some transformational experience related to the content? Douglas: Yeah. Basically, from start to finish, we're going to go through this hero's journey, where we go into the abyss and come out together with the elixir. Sunni: Oh, that makes me just want to weep, it's so beautiful. And it's like even if you don't choose—because part of the journey, you have to answer the call. So life will probably summon you. But if you don't answer, then you don't go on the journey, you know? And I've always been fascinated by people that are not available for the journey, because it's just not safe. I mean, it's not, by definition. But for me, it's always worth it to step into challenges. And I think that is also a quality of entrepreneurs, is that we are kind of thrilled by freaking ourselves out. Douglas: Uncertainty, ambiguity. Sunni: Yes, dude. We’re like those people that like it. We're kind of into it. And over the years, I've had to temper my own instinct to do that. And I know you have too. I mean, I've been a workaholic for a long time, and I'm, like, in recovery. But it's also just because I like being challenged, and I like not knowing everything, because it's such a thrill when you get some new insight or knowledge. It's like, I feel like I'm like the Hulk. I'm like, whoa, I’m growing muscularly. I'm huge. But you could get addicted to that, so it's like every now and then I'm always, like, on a weekend I'm like, girl, you don't need to, like, read 40 sutras this weekend. You can just be an idiot, just be an idiot, you know? Douglas: Yeah. Just give the brain a little break. Go on a nature bath. Sunni: Yeah! You know, I told you I’m going to install my hillbilly hot tub. Is that okay to s—? You got—I know. I want— Douglas: My sauna’s getting installed right as we speak. Sunni: Oh, dude. That’s amazing.  Douglas: It’s important.  Sunni: It is.  Douglas: Yeah. As you were talking about this, some metaphors were coming up for me, around we're taking people through this risky kind of thing, and there is risk that you're taking. And it reminded me of rapids, right?  Sunni: Yeah.  Douglas: So whitewater rafting. And you always hire the guide so that you don't go kill yourself.  Sunni: Yeah. Douglas: Facilitation’s like the mental equivalent of the whitewater-rafting guy.  Sunni: Yeah, yeah. Douglas: If we're going to go on this risky mental journey, let’s make sure we have a shepherd or that guide to make sure that—we're going to wear helmets, of course, but we're going to make sure that we don't bash our heads on the rocks even if we have helmets on. Sunni: Well, and that’s why the facilitator is so important, because they have to trust you completely. And I don't mean they have to, meaning you can't conduct a meeting, but for a successful experience, they really need to trust you. And you, the way that I think about it, is that I demonstrate how I want them to be. So if something goes wrong, I will name that and own that, you know? If I don't have the answer to something, I will not pretend that I do. If I want somebody to collaborate with me, then I will invite them to come and collaborate with me, and then mimic that in their group. So it makes you more human in some ways if you're—I mean, there's every kind of facilitator under the sun, so it’s not like there's some gold standard or whatever. That's just my style, is I want them to understand that perfection is not what we're up to. We’re up to being humans. And so— Douglas: I think that’s authenticity, right there. Sunni: Yeah. Yeah, that’s true. But I could be being, like, what if I had an inner—because I have an inner perfectionist. I'm actually working with this part of me that is authentically perfectionistic, you know?  Douglas: Well, I meant the vulnerability you're talking about. Like, if you don't know the answer— Sunni: Yeah, let’s just name it. Douglas: —we’re going to talk about it. Sunni: Yeah. And I've been making so many bloopers. Douglas, you would not believe the bloopers on the United Nations project, because I'm learning as I go. And I told you that. It’s like we're leaping, and we're building our parachute while we’re falling. And the client’s not that aware of it. That is an internal awareness that Jessie and I both have. But for me, it's like, oh, my god—it's like I'm back to being a newbie, like, the stuff I do. Like, the other day, I just flung everyone into breakout rooms, just because I impulsively pushed the fucking button. It was like, what do you do? And then— Douglas: Well, that’s the world we’re in.  Sunni: I know. It’s so crazy. Douglas: It's going to happen, even—I've run the breakout rooms in Zoom daily— Sunni: Yeah, I bet. Douglas: —and I still hit things accidentally. And that’s partially because—here’s the thing. I don’t know if you've seen the book, The Design of Everyday Things.  Sunni: Uh-uh. Douglas: Oh, man. It's a classic design book. So great. Sunni: I know. I’ve heard of it. I don’t have it, though. Douglas: In fact, the doors that are poorly designed are actually named Norman Doors, after the author. Sunni: Aw. Douglas: Well, because he points out, don’t blame yourself because the door is poorly designed. Sunni: Right. Douglas: If there is a giant—like, you ever gone up to a door that has a giant handle on it? Sunni: Uh-huh. Douglas: And you’re supposed to just grab the handle and pull it toward you? Sunni: Yeah. Douglas: And you pull it, and then it doesn’t move because you’re supposed to push it? Sunni: Push it. Douglas: So on the push side, there needs to be a push plate, and on the pull side, there needs to be a pull handle. Sunni: Right. Like, you’re not the dope here. Douglas: Yeah. Exactly. You’re not the dope. He said, never blame yourself for bad design if someone designed it poorly. And so that's what everyone does. Like, my mom always tells me, I don't understand computers. I’m like, well, that means they didn’t design it so that you could understand it. Sunni: Aww, that’s very nice of you to say that. Because it does make people feel stupid when they can’t do things. Douglas: Yes. People always say they’re stupid when it’s like, man, someone did a poor job of getting you there. Sunni: Yeah. Douglas: And I think Zoom breakout rooms have a lot of room for growth. Sunni: Yeah. And I think they're working on that, and I know they're making new features and changes to how it— Douglas: Yeah. Sunni: Like, they just did the Gallery View. You can shuffle it around. Douglas: That’s right. Sunni: That's another thing, too, though. It's like all these new things constantly coming, so there's capabilities you don’t even know you have, and then there's some that fall off. So it's just a constantly changing environment. And so I've just made mistakes left and right, and then I remember what it's like to be a beginner. And thankfully, I have this foundational practice and that confidence about facilitating and making mistakes and just knowing that it's okay. But if I were a beginning facilitator, it would be so stressful. It’d be super stressful to try to step in. Douglas: Absolutely. And the thing is, you just found—in a way it's almost like fracking—you hit the depths of what's possible. You would become an expert in facilitation. And then this new fissure opened up because of remote, and now there is a new area to play in and a new area to fail in. But at the same time, you weren't building a parachute while falling. You know what I mean? You were in the squirrel suit, already at terminal velocity— Sunni: I was already in my gear. Douglas: And as you’re floating down, you’re like, “Oh, let me assemble a parachute, because then I’m going to float down even slower.” Sunni: That’s right. Yeah, that’s right. Douglas: So I think there’s something beautiful in that, right, because you can lean on the experience you have to then go into new, uncharted territory. Sunni: Yes. Douglas: And that uncertainty, while it’s scary, also leads to a lot of opportunity. Sunni: Totally. And that's why I love facilitating with expert facilitators, because we all know that. A lot of the stuff, a lot of the terrors and the weird delusions and the distorted ideas you have about the practice when you first go are gone. They're just burnt off by experience. And then, so, it's just, there's a lot of joy for me, because I online I always have a co-facilitator if it's longer than, like, an hour and a half. You know what I mean? And I love trusting the capacity of that person, because it's crazy, because the other day, Jessie and I were like, I could tell she was looking for something in the back end of Zoom, and I could see from her body language that she had no clue where it was. And so I just started talking. I was like, “Here's why we're doing this, and this is the value of it. And I ask the people questions.” And I was just doing it to fill in the gaps so that she could—because I looked at her again. I was like, “Okay, she found it,” and now I'm going to close. But that's like a tango that we have because we work together so often. But it's just, it’s very sweet. It's a very sweet process to have. Douglas: What you're describing is so much harder in the virtual space, too, because of the signals we have. When we're in the room together— Sunni: Totally. Douglas: —and vibing, whether it's Daniel or John or Eli or any of the facilitators I’ve facilitated with quite often, it's like you can feel it almost in the air. Like, we don’t even have to make eye contact necessarily. It's just like, “Oh, I know they're still riffing.” And then, you know, it's almost like when you can tell someone's looking at you. So when they're done looking at you and ready, like, better if you just got the— So I feel like what you were doing is a pro move to be tearing through the tools and trying to revisit the vague signals we do have in virtual. Sunni: Yeah. It's so funny you're talking about this because Jessie and I were talking about this this morning. When you're asking about my origin story, so part of my early conditioning had to do with hyper vigilance. So I was very aware of what emotional state people were in and what their next move was likely to be. So I'm really attentive to body language. And that, for me, is still very available in Zoom. I mean, I can tell—and Jessie was making fun of me this morning. She was like, “Oh, my god, girl. You name people that they have a question before they have even unmuted themselves or even know they have a question.” But it's because I'm watching their body language. When people are about to ask a question, they do things. They move forward. They lean toward the camera. They kind of, like, gesture in these bizarre ways. Sometimes they stop and start. And so for me, that visual and gestural information is still there. So I’d just be like, “Hey, Frank, it seems like you want to say something.” And then Jessie was just like—she was making fun of me, because she was like, “That is so weird that you—” but I’m so sensitive to it, you know? And I thought that was normal, but then I realized, oh, yeah, no, that's my trauma. Basically, that’s the gift of trauma. Douglas: You know, that was one of the things that really jumped out to me when you were telling me about internal family systems and giving me the whole low-down there, and I found it really fascinating that things that were previously traumatic or these—I can't remember the Internal Family Systems parlance—but these guards, these managers, that were created because of old wounds are part of yourself. And they can be, they can sometimes be disruptive, but they can also serve a function. They can give you superpowers that other people don't have. Sunni: Yeah, they do. Absolutely. They’re 100 percent really powerful. And that’s one of mine is I have a manager who's very watchful, and so it is a super power. Now, the problem is I can't turn it off. So, like, if I’m, for example, in mediating between my husband and his mom, it will kind of be exhausting for me because I know that they're going to have an argument 10 minutes before they do, because I can see where the tones are changing and what the language, how the language is changing. I can see them turning, body language turning away from each other. I can see a color of their skin gets redder and redder. But they're not, like you were saying, people are not aware of what's happening internally to them. So they're not yet aware. So for both of them, the energy, the intensity has to be a certain threshold before they even notice. But for me, I notice it way early. And it's exhausting because I'll just be like, “Dudes. I'm going to walk out now. Five, four, three, two. Okay, your mom's pissed.” It’s funny. But as a facilitator, it's really useful. It's a really useful skill, and I'm grateful for the spontaneous—like, going back to IFS, the spontaneous creation of these skill sets based on—and it’s not always from trauma. It’s just from navigating life, you know? But there is a spontaneous creativity that the body and the mind does to meet whatever circumstances are there. And that's why I have such gratitude for how wise and skillful all of our systems are. So even if a person is “difficult,” I respect that there's some aspect of what they're doing that is a protective function and that that's quite healthy for their system. So I just have a deeper, a kind of an abiding appreciation for malfunctions and for strategies that people have, because I'm like, dude, I am the same way. We're designed the same way. I get it, you know? And I just respect it. Douglas: Yeah. It's amazing to see what strategies other people use and which ones that we can authentically borrow versus things that maybe I don't want to touch that. Maybe that's not such a good tool for me. Sunni: Yeah. I wonder how many you can borrow, because there are qualities that other people have that I wish that I had. And I kind of admire that they have them, but I don't personally have them myself. Like, what example? Douglas: From an internal family systems, I doubt there's much borrowing we can do unless we do some deep, long work. I was thinking more from the surface level of, that's an interesting strategy. Ooh, I like the way that they're asking folks to… Who haven't we heard from next? I think there’s a lot of fun little prompts and questions and things that we can borrow from folks. But it's critical that we do it authentically. If it doesn't feel comfortable in your belly when you're saying it, maybe leave that one at home. Sunni: Right. Aww, I know. It's so insightful what you're saying about you can't really borrow them, because I always think about coaches and coaching and why would that work in terms of if you're trying to say, like, if somebody hires a coach to be more assertive, it's like, well, you could hack it. You could put on an assertive demeanor. But it wouldn't really be born of your essence. You wouldn't really be the source of it. So I always think it's interesting, the methods that coaches use to attempt to get great things from people. For me, it has to be natural for them. So you just want to unlock their natural strength. Douglas: I like that word natural. I think that's very similar to how I think about authentic, is of being natural.  I want to talk about the coaching thing for a second, though. You know, I think part of it is people not taking a robust definition of greatness. They've found some thing that they think is greatness, and then they're glommed onto it, and they're like, teach me how to… I think you were talking about, like, being more confident or whatnot. But what if people more generally said, “I just want to improve. And what does that mean to improve? And let's explore things more openly.” I think that kind of coaching can be really, really interesting, right? Let's see how I can explore where my strengths create weakness. In some of the coaching work I've done, it's about how I figure out what I'm not good at, and then is it something that I can improve on? And if not, if it's truly a deep-seeded weakness, let's delegate that. But let's let that be a part of my self-awareness. Coaching should be about becoming more self-aware. Sunni: That's right. And unburdening some of the parts of you, because you already have this constellation internally that is very capable, and you and me and everyone we know. But some of it is burdened. And so it has intense emotional charge that hasn't been released or it has belief systems that are old and archaic and need to be discarded. But then once they're unburdened, the energy and the natural expression of that aspect of you is just available, which is crazy because that's what Zen practice is all about too. Zen practice, there's the metaphor they use is like wiping dust from a mirror. So your mirror is already there. You can't change that. It's just who you are. It's part of the natural emergence of an incarnated being, is that you're like a reflection of the universe. And it just has dust on it. So the practice is about getting some of the dust off.  There was a big reversal of the way I grew up, which was, like, oh, you're born in sin. And I was like, wait. So I'm just fundamentally fucked up? I was like, oh, I can't relate to that. But people do, you know? And so I think the approach of assuming beauty in the person and then just helping them release some of their inherent capacity is just a really benevolent way to approach coaching. But it's not that common. Douglas: Sunni, it’s been a pleasure chatting with you today. And just want to give you a chance to kind of close out, leave anyone with any final thoughts. Or I know that we've probably got a lot of folks that are really interested in how they can find out more about your work and what you do. So anything they should keep in mind? Sunni: Well, I was thinking about your audience. They’re mostly facilitators, right? They’re people who are interested in that practice? Douglas: Yeah. Our listeners are facilitators as well as leaders that are interested in these techniques and how they can improve their meetings and their employee experience. I think, generally, the audience are growing into just a general appreciation of how meetings could be better. Sunni: Yeah. You're so good at what you do. If people are interested in a lot—I mean, you and I covered so many great topics that I'm like, “Oh, is our time up? It's so sad.” But deepselfdesign.com has some good resources on it. And my other business that is the original venture is sunnibrownink.com. Those are both resources. And you can find me all over the Internet. Outro: Thanks for joining me for another episode of Control the Room. Don't forget to subscribe to receive updates when new episodes are released. If you want more, head over to our blog, where I post weekly articles and resources about working better together, voltagecontrol.com.

“Whoever said, do what you love, the money will come, they got that right. Lots of work, mind you, in between. As we like to say, your passions determine your purpose. But it's your decisions that determine your destiny.” - Michael Wilkinson I’m pleased to have Michael Wilkinson here with me today for Episode 9 of the Control the Room Podcast. Michael is the CEO and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, the largest provider of professional facilitation in the country. Michael, who grew up in the projects as what his sister described as a “Sesame Street Gangster,” eventually found himself at a New England prep school through an opportunity found through his job as a paperboy. After turning down an acceptance to Harvard Business School, Michael abandoned his 10-year plan to become undersecretary of Housing and Urban Development to begin a “faith-walk” that ultimately ended in his founding Leadership Strategies. In today’s episode, Michael and I talk about his path to the International Association of Facilitators Hall of Fame, what makes a facilitator great, and the six P’s of preparing for a meeting. Listen in to find out how Michael identifies and trains facilitators with great potential and how to ask the right questions in meetings. Show Highlights [1:38] Michael’s childhood in the projects of D.C. [5:39] Michael’s path to facilitation [10:30] What makes a great facilitator [17:17] Human connection in a virtual environment [26:07] Generating engagement when facilitating virtually [28:58] The only 3 reasons people disagree [35:16] The Six P’s of preparing for a meeting [40:56] Kumbaya facilitators [42:45] Asking the right questions [50:03] Leadership Strategies’ resources for facilitators Links | Resources Michael on LinkedIn Leadership Strategies Website About the Guest Michael Wilkinson is the CEO and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, a leadership training and strategy consulting firm that specializes in group facilitation. He is also the author of books such as Secrets of Facilitation, Facilitating Strategy, and CLICK: The Virtual Meetings Book. In 2016, Michael was awarded a place in the International Association of Facilitators Hall of Fame. About Voltage Control Voltage Control is a facilitation agency that helps teams work better together with custom-designed meetings and workshops, both in-person and virtual. Our master facilitators offer trusted guidance and custom coaching to companies who want to transform ineffective meetings, reignite stalled projects, and cut through assumptions. Based in Austin, Voltage Control designs and leads public and private workshops that range from small meetings to large conference-style gatherings.  Share An Episode of Control The Room Apple Podcasts Spotify Android Stitcher Engage Control The Room Voltage Control on the Web Contact Voltage Control Intro: Welcome to the Control the Room Podcast, a series devoted to the exploration of meeting culture and uncovering cures for the common meeting. Some meetings have tight control, and others are loose. To control the room means achieving outcomes while striking a balance between imposing and removing structure, asserting and distributing power, leaning in and leaning out, all in the service of having a truly magical meeting. Douglas: Today I'm with Michael Wilkinson. Michael is the CEO and managing director of Leadership Strategies, Inc., a leadership training and strategy consulting firm specializing in group facilitation. Michael is the author of the bestselling The Secrets of Facilitation, and most recently, Click: The Virtual Meetings Book. Welcome to the show, Michael. Michael: It is my pleasure, Douglas, and thank you for introducing me to your audience. Douglas: Absolutely. It's a pleasure to have you. And I guess, speaking of the audience, I think they'd love to hear how you got started in this amazing work of facilitation. Michael: Well, as you know, because you've been there, and many who are facilitators know, there is no front door to facilitation. It's not like you can go to college and go, “I want a degree in facilitation.” Most people enter through the back door. The major entry ways, many come through H.R. Others come through the processing-quality side. Some come through the I.T., the consulting side; from the D&I, diversity-inclusion side. I was on the I.T. side. So I was one of those kids—in fact, if you back up my story a little bit, I'm a projects kid. I grew up in the projects of D.C.. So for those who know D.C., back in the day, Anacostia, the worst neighborhood in D.C., and I have to confess, at six, I was one of those bad kids, where we’re stealing from the local grocery store. Remember the corner grocery stores that used to exist? We would—and this is really bad—we would, at six years old, we were tying kids to trees and leaving them out all night. I mean, it was before gangs were gangs. My sister called this the Sesame Street Gangsters. It was just not good. And by the time I got to seven, we moved from what I call lower-lower class—the projects of D.C.—to lower-middle class, out in what’s today is Suitland, Maryland. And at that time, and people who believe that place doesn't matter, place absolutely matters. The kids in that neighborhood, they were building clubhouses. They had a chess club. And so me and my brothers, we started doing what they started doing. Even got a paper route, if you can remember the old paper boys, where you deliver papers. Had two paper routes, making money for my family. And the change, the big change, in life came when, at 14, the Post building, the Washington Post, sponsored interviews for private schools, and any of the carriers could come for an interview. I got interviewed, got accepted to a couple of the really big private schools in New England, started going to this New England prep school. My graduating class, 50 people, 50 people in the graduating class, including—and you won't know these names unless you were into that movement—but the Wares of Long Island, Paula Ware; General Patton's grandson, the Stacks of Greenwich is—do you remember all superlatives in the yearbook, “first to make a million”? Well, we had a superlative, “already has a million,” and there were two names. These are trust-fund kids. But I had gotten pulled into that environment. And as a senior, I did a study of grades and test scores. I was a psych major at the time. So a correlation in prep school of the—and I got the grades and test scores of my graduating class. Of course, the registrar stripped off the names, but he left them in alphabetical order, Douglas, so it was too hard to find Wilkinson. And to say my test scores were lower would be true, but an understatement. I was so much lower than the next lower person, I clearly took someone's place. Talk about affirmative action, they reached out and got me. They were looking for a black kid, and I was the only black kid in my graduating class. But I graduated fifth in the class, which means it wasn't really fair that I took someone's place. But it also wasn't fair that I hadn't had the preparation that all the other kids did. So once I got it, I just excelled. Went off to a New England prep school, and I came out. I was going to be undersecretary of Housing and Urban Development. I had a 10-year plan—even back then, Douglas, I was a planner—a 10-year plan to become undersecretary of Housing and Urban Development. I was going to go back to Harvard Business School. I’d gotten accepted. I’d asked for a two-year deferment. Decided I wanted to work for two years in D.C. so I could see how Washington worked and how the different agencies worked. And somewhere along the line, got the spiritual thing. So I'm a son of a minister, so I got really clear on getting directed from the Spirit, and had that what we call the bathroom experience, the second major shift in life. So they’re actually the third. The first, of course, was moving out of the projects. The second, getting the scholarship to go to New England boarding school. The third was hearing in the shower, from out of nowhere, “Michael, if your most important relationship is your relationship with Me, how is going to Harvard Business School going to help you do that?” There you go. There's 10-year plan down the drain, Douglas. So ended up, I quit my job, I told Harvard I wasn’t coming, and went on a six-month faith walk, where just—and things are great when you do a faith walk, Douglas, where these things are great 29 days out of the month. It's when that rent is due, that’s when things get really hairy. But it was one of the most important times of my life and learned some really important lessons. And the most important one, because I was asking, “Okay, God, you don't want me to do this 10-year plan. It was clearly my plan. Well, what do You want me to do? You want me to become a minister? You want me to go off on a mountain and contemplate my navel. Do You want me to stand on the corner and say, ‘Have you asked, talked about, thought about God today?’” And I got that direction, and a really important direction, that each of us is called to ministry. Ministry is service. That's what it's called for. Some people, it takes the form of the pulpit. For other people, it takes another form. Facilitation is my ministry. I ended up facilitating, 1985 is my first official facilitated session, in a session where we were doing requirements analysis, and it was going south. Vendor was presenting, just going all over the place. I was the youngest kid in the room. We have, you know, the consultants. I was with Ernst and Young, the youngest consultant on the team, but nobody was stepping up. So I just got up and said, “You know what, let’s structure this a little differently.” And so here with the client people, with our own consultants, and with this vendor, restructured the conversation and led it for that three hours going forward. Afterwards, someone said, “That was a great facilitated session.” Douglas, I was like, “What? What are you talking about? What's this thing called…” I had no idea. And then when they explained it to me, I said, “Oh, yeah. It's easy. Everybody is good at it.” And that's where I learned everybody was not good at this thing called facilitation that I had been gifted with some natural talents that made me instinctively good at it. And so I started doing it, started facilitating for my church, started facilitating for the nonprofit associations I was a part of. And then the fourth major shift in life came. This is the call that actually changed my trajectory again. Connie Bergeron—I remember. It was March 1991. She called and said, “Hey, we're looking for a facilitator. I've just been named head of Meeting Professionals International for the Atlanta chapter. I'm getting my officers together for a retreat. It's going to be on this particular weekend. Would you facilitate it for me?” I looked over my calendar, Douglas, and said, “Sure. I'd be glad to.” And, again, she said the words that changed my life, “And we’ll pay you.” Really? I mean, I was willing to do it for free because it’s fun. So she paid me. It was great. Two months later she called me back. Mentioned the pay word again. Three months later called me back. It was November of 1992, 1992, yes. I was, at that point, 18 months from becoming a partner at Ernst and Young. I turned to them, Douglas, and said, “I'm having way more fun on the weekends than I'm having during the week,” and left and started Leadership Strategies, the facilitation company. Do you like to say world headquarters, our second bedroom, which is great. Big plans, but just getting started. And it has been an amazing blessing. Today, we're the largest provider of professional facilitation across the country. We have 600 facilitators under contract. We have a core team of 27 facilitators. We've trained 28,000 people in facilitation skills; written six books on facilitation, the two you mentioned and four others. It is crazy. Here's this kid from the projects, and it's been just amazing blessing. Whoever said, do what you love, the money will come, they got that right. Lots of work, mind you, in between. As we like to say, your passions determine your purpose. But it's your decisions that determine your destiny. And so it was just a bunch of decisions that helped me along the way. And it's been just a tremendous blessing. Anyway, long story, but thought your listeners might enjoy understanding, how did I get here? because it's been a crazy, crazy ride. Douglas: Yeah. I mean, wow, impressive. And, you know, I think most facilitators can relate to this kind of moment of—well, kind of two moments that you described—the moment where you start to—these kind of natural talents start to click. You know, for me, it was always, I always found myself in meetings where people were disagreeing, but really they were saying the same thing but just in different ways, or they thought they were agreeing but they were saying different things. And I always had to interject and say, “Hold on for a second. I think you're saying this and you’re saying this,” and they're both nodding their heads. And then they stop for a second and realize that they were saying different things. And that happened enough and enough and enough that I realized that, man, that's something that I'm not seeing enough out of other people. And so I think that's something that's a hallmark of a facilitator, when you realize that in meetings, there's something about what you're observing or the way things are unfolding that really align with this ability to help move things forward in a natural and productive way. So I think— Michael: You really have touched on something that’s really important, and many facilitators may know it or not know it. When we were doing training early on, I was recognizing that there were people who were learning the techniques but missing some things that were going to make them a great facilitator, even though they knew all the same stuff that others knew or that we were training other people in. And I realized, and you put it well, that we talk about now seven key characteristics to look for. And people ask us, “Hey, we've purchased your training class. We're going to have a training for 16 people. How do I choose the 16 people in the class?” And we tell them, “Here's some target characteristics to look for.” We talk about seven, and we tell them, “Really it's three that's really important. And oh, by the way, the first two we can do nothing about.” So those three, just quickly, one is you got to like people, right? If you don’t like people, this is not something you should be doing, because people give you lots of reasons not to like them. So you really have to have a starting point, where you really like people. Two, you have to be able to process information quickly because there's so much coming and your mind has to be listening and processing at the same time and being able to differentiate, yeah, this is the same as that. This is different from this. This is…while you're listening, being able to process that. And if you can't process quickly, really, all you're going to be is a meeting manager. And great facilitators are way more than meeting managers because they're able to capture the spirit of a group; help engage them; and help guide them; can see down the road and around the corner, see the car or the truck that's coming that they're about to crash into, long before they're getting there, because they're processing while stuff is going on. So clearly, you have this skill, and then could recognize, a lot of people don’t, “Well done, sir. Applauding you. Well done.” Douglas: Well, yeah. You know, it's funny. I don't know how many times you've been speaking with someone that's maybe interested in learning facilitation or even a prospect or whatnot, and it turns out they're conflating facilitator and moderator. And I think that's maybe the big—and I think when you say meeting manager, it's all in that same bucket of, like, not facilitator. Michael: Yes. And it really, I mean, it really is because there are some people, people who are great speakers, think, “Okay, I'd be a good facilitator.” People who are great trainers, “Wow. I could be a good facilitator.” And we say, okay, let's separate this, because, as you know, facilitation has got convoluted with a bunch of stuff. So ATD, the Association for Talent Development, uses the name facilitator for trainers. And that's fine. Training facilitators, that's good. We can infer very much. But we are more group facilitators. In our business, it’s kind of interesting because what we find is in general, this isn’t completely true, but in general, our best trainers are extroverts. Our best group facilitators are introverts. One of my people who worked for us many years, she said something to me one day, and it's like, this capsulizes it well. She said, “You know, Michael, I like facilitating, but I really love training.” I said, “Okay, Leslie, I'll bite. Why do you really love training?” She said, “Well, when you're facilitating, you really have to listen to them.” And there you go. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. You get where I get that? Really rings the bell of why introverts, who are, really, they value listening and processing a lot more than extroverts, who generally like expressing. And so if you generally like expressing, you may find that training is way more your passion than facilitating, where you're really listening, contemplating, and helping a group move in a direction and so on. Interesting, yes? Douglas: Yes. And, you know, I can find that really fascinating because usually we like to pair up someone who’s kind of a classical trainer— Michael: Yes. Douglas: —and has that air, that performance aspect with a facilitator in these training sessions, because then that person can put on the dog-and-pony show while the facilitator is making sure that learning's integrated, because if you're not listening and working with them, you don't know if it stuck. Michael: And so what's interesting, I’m going to take you a step further, and I'm really biased here, that I really think we figured out in our company or we'll wait to think about how to make training work, because we don't hire trainers to train people in facilitation. We hire facilitators to train people in facilitation because they understand and role model all the techniques. But then we teach them about how important it is, with one of our eight principles in our facilitation course, all has to do with energy and keeping the energy high because that's one of the hallmarks of our practice. So we have to be able to, we call it show time. As an introvert, I get my energy from within, and people often are surprised when they see me do my thing, and then at the end of it, it’s like I’m the thumb in the mouth. I need a blankie. It happened twice before I realized this was a bad idea, Douglas. Clients who, when I was about, I was going to facilitate a two-day training session. Let’s say it started on a Tuesday. The client said, “Hey. Why don’t you fly in Monday night, meet with the team, they’ll get to know you, and then we’ll get started Tuesday morning?” Douglas, I did that twice. I’d never do that again, never, ever, ever, because what happens is, because I'm a natural introvert, when they meet me Monday night, the side conversations. “This is our facilitator? Really?” because— Douglas: We got a meeting with this guy all day? Michael: —I’m quiet. I’m just, that’s who I am. But once I—I'm glad we meet with them Tuesday night, because after that, they've already seen me. And now they're asking me the questions, not looking for me to entertain them, because I'm not an extrovert. I’m an introvert. So very different. So it's what we do in order to make it work. Douglas: Well, and nowadays we're in the midst of a pandemic. So all the team dinners are a thing of the past. Michael: Well, actually, actually, think about it. It really is. We still need—the social engagement is central. And so we as facilitators have to recognize, how do we make that happen, even in a virtual environment? And so we do that. So we may have this session from eight to five, and then we have a virtual cocktail hour for everyone. We break for 30 minutes, everyone grabs their favorite drinks, and we have a virtual cocktail hour for 30 minutes, an hour, as we would if it was a real session. But it's an important piece, so we can't miss it. That's for sure. Douglas: Yeah. And the human connection is so, so critical. Michael: How are you all doing it in your business? How are you keeping the human connection going during this? Douglas: Man, you know, I think it's always been a part of the design. And I think as long as it's a focus as a guiding principle, when you're designing an agenda for a session, it'll find its way in. I think it's important to start there first, right? Michael: Oh, it always helps. Douglas: Yeah, yeah. And I love this notion of the cocktail hour. Everyone has demanding schedules in this virtual space, right? And so they might have kids to run off to— Michael: Absolutely. Douglas: —or they’ve slotted it in. And it's a lot different than, you know, having taken the effort to drive somewhere and like, “Okay, I’m here. Maybe I’ll just stick around for a little bit longer.” We always just make it clear that, okay, the plenary is done; we're going to be around a little bit longer because I know some people like to stick around. Because I like to refer to it as, you know whenever you're cleaning up the supplies, people stick around and ask you questions? Michael: Yes, yes, yes, yes. Douglas: In virtual, there are no supplies. You can just shut MURAL and Miro or whatever off, and we’re done. Michael: We’re done. Bye. Douglas: So I like to tell people, “All right. Well, now we're cleaning up, and we'll be around for a little bit longer. If you want to ask any questions, we'll be here. But don't feel like you have to stay if you have places to be.” Michael: That’s a great idea. Douglas, I’m writing that down. “Hey, we’re going to have a clean up or stick-around time for those who…” I like that. You’ll see a blog about that soon. I like that. Courtesy of Douglas. Douglas: I love the cocktail-hour notion, too. It's like, I'm just making sure we reserve that time for people. In fact, it was BBC released a report, and the headline was quite hilarious. It was like, “Research Finds That Most Meetings Are a Form of Therapy,” or “Most Meaningless Meetings Are a Form of Therapy.” And the point was, and you hear that and you're like, “Well, that seems kind of crazy,” but it's kind of interesting because it's like people gravitate toward having these meaningless meetings, these meetings that nothing comes out of them because they have this need to have connection. And so if you think about it, if we get really intentional about our connection during meetings and plan them in, then people don't have to plan these extraneous things that then waste time. Michael: Well done. Well done. And we think that the pandemic has changed a lot of things. Unfortunately, one thing it hasn't changed is poor meetings. In fact, they've gotten poorer in the sense that with this virtual thing that people actually think that, well, because it's a virtual meeting, it takes less preparation or because it's—and we are finding, just as in our training work, we've converted virtual sessions where maybe 5 percent, 4 percent of our business prior to the pandemic, now it’s 95 percent. And our facilitators are finding it’s way more work, whether it’s a virtual meeting or virtual training, way more work to prepare for it. Way more. And the key is, we call it the virtual details, that where before you would have, okay, let's say we have a process-improvement session. And so we're going to start with (a) introduction; then section (b) we're going to talk about how does that process work today? Let's say we're trying to fix the hiring process in the company; (c) we're going to talk about the problems and causes; (d) we're going to brainstorm potential solutions; (e) we're going to reformat the process; (f) we're going to put together implementation plan; and so on. Well, that's what we'd do if it was face to face. We'd go, okay, (b) here's what I'm going to do with the flip charts. I'm going to set them up. And we know instinctively to do that. Virtual, whole different world. We say with each of those agenda items, do what you normally would do. But you also have to figure out the virtual details. So (b) you know what, I'm going to do a poll; action (c) I'm going to use the whiteboard; action (d) I'll do annotations; (e) I'm going to use a breakout group with…and then we… So we teach a course now called the Zoom Plus. And what that is, is everyone is now using Zoom, and you know wow. All those people, Zoom meetings, they're not even using all the basic Zoom stuff. Annotation, whiteboard, breakout groups, and so on. So we show them. And we like to say, “We are going to play with the technique so that you do it. You’ll play with them. Then, we're going to take the camera and put it behind the facilitator so that you can see how the facilitator creates the polls, how the facilitator creates the breakout rooms, and then you're going to do it.” So that’s using the basic stuff. And then, Zoom Plus, the plus part of that is we then show them what our facilitators do. And these are 15 virtual-engagement strategies, things like rotating flip charts. How do you use—how do you have the groups rotate through? Last person standing, dump and clump, and all these other advanced engagement strategies, using them, doing them, and doing them virtually. All cool stuff. So we first tried to get them using the basics, which most people aren't using. And then we're showing them, here’s how you use the advanced strategies that will make your meetings absolutely stand out. And people, as we like to say, you know you've gotten there when you hear people go, wow, that was the best virtual meeting I ever attended. And unfortunately, as you can imagine, Douglas, it's easy to be the best, because most are so poor and boring. Douglas: The bar is so low. So low. Michael: It is. Exactly. You’ve had the experience. Douglas: So. Yeah. And, you know, I think there's so much—early on, folks were asking, “Oh, do we get a discount for virtual?” And I’m like, “Man, I’m thinking about charging a premium,” because it's not only the prep time, but, you know, having an assistant facilitator is so much more critical because someone has to manage the tech. Michael: Absolutely. And what we're finding is frequently—I would put it in the 20 percent time—the facilitator has an issue. So as an example, one of our rules is for client sessions, client sessions, you never underscore underscore. Use your microphone on the computer. You always call in over the phone. The reason is if something happens to one of the two, you still have the other. So for some reason, you lose Internet connection, you can still talk to them. Or some reason the audio goes out, you can convert to what's happening. So you actually want to have redundant backup. We often suggest that you have another computer connected. So you have two sessions going, one is the participant computer. So if something happens, you can transfer over quickly to make it seamless. So it's almost like you run out of flip-chart paper. You run out of flip-chart paper, you always have a spare right there. Well, how do you do that virtually? Douglas: Planning on the redundant systems, having the activity by activity, having what is the virtual equivalent of all of this? Have I taken the time to proof it and make sure it's good? I mean, that is a lot of extra work, and not to mention just the fatigue of these environments. And, you know, I recently spoke with someone. They were telling me that—I'm not sure where the research came from, so this is all anecdotal—but they were saying that any time we're typically working in a three foot kind of context, it's typically a fight or a mating scenario. Michael: Wow. Douglas: Because you don't get three feet in someone's face inside the meeting room. That would be awkward. But now we’re doing that with these computers and is very sometimes mostly charged, political, like, we're talking about some really intense stuff. And we go in, and we try to—one mistake we made early on was, let's have an eight-hour session virtually. And, you know, you can't do that virtually. Michael: Yeah, it’s much harder. Douglas: You have to do it much shorter. And so I think there's some training of setting expectations for clients, too— Michael: Absolutely. Douglas: —even ones we've worked with in the past. Michael: Yeah, yeah. And so I'm going to go a step further, because this will be—because you are correct that the virtual sessions, by their nature, the dynamic is very different. And I want to—everyone knows—not everyone knows—many are aware, and it comes out in our polls, when we ask people, what is the biggest challenge in virtual meetings? And we've asked this to thousands of people now through our webinars and so on. It always comes up with the same thing, and it's not even close. It's engagement, keeping people engaged, because people are multitasking, doing other things. And so as facilitators, that's got to be our number one focus. How do we keep people engaged? And here is something that we ask people to consider. We as a company, we do have, we have what we call the PDI Difference—Practical, Dynamic, Interactive. And the way we do that in face-to-face sessions is we ensure that if we're training people or having a facilitated session, there will be significant engagement every 20 to 30 minutes. Thirty minutes will not go by without significant engagement, and mostly 20 minutes. So somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes. Douglas, when you go virtual, cut that bad boy in half. You’ve got to have significant engagement every 10 to 15 minutes. So if you’re getting people together, if you are going 90 minutes between breaks, do the math. Even if you say, “Well, the beginning, there's obviously engagement. People are going.” And the end of that 90 minutes you have engagement, so that means you've got to have at least four others, at least four other engagements. And if all you know is the classic engagement question-answer, question-answer, man, that meetings will wear people out. That's why it's so important for people to have all these other engagement strategies—dump and clump, last man standing, rotating flip charts, all this other stuff, to help put in people's toolbox. And so really important for facilitators to recognize that it takes a lot more if it's virtual. And as you said, training our clients that, “Listen, you know, normally I would charge a day of prep for this, but it's virtual. And so therefore,…” Yeah. And making it clear it's extra. Douglas: Absolutely. Let's talk a little bit about the Secrets of Facilitation. Michael: Oh, my favorite book. Yes. Douglas: You have over 60 secrets in that book. Michael: It is. And really good stuff, I think, personally. Douglas: Yeah. I'm a fan. I have it on the bookshelf behind me. And, you know, beyond the basics, things like preparing and managing for dysfunction, what do you think the biggest secret that most people don't know? Like, what's the one that you’re just like time and time again does no one just…? Michael: There are a couple that come to mind, but let me focus on this one. And I'm about to make a statement, Douglas, that when I say it in our training classes—I mentioned we trained over 20,000 people—there are always people who go, “No, that can't be right.” And by the end of the teaching, they go, “Yeah, that's really true.” Here is the statement: there are only three reasons people disagree. Huge secret. There are only three. Every disagreement in the entire freakin’ world, there are only three reasons people disagree. Only three. Now, that's the good news, and that's really good news. But here's the bad news, and it's really bad news. If you have a level-three disagreement and you try to solve it with level-one techniques, you're going to fail. Level-three disagreements can't be solved with level-one techniques. Likewise, you have a level-one disagreement, try to solve it with level-two techniques, you are going to fail. Can't happen. So we as facilitators have to understand the three reasons people disagree. Have to be able to diagnose which reason it is and have strategies for addressing each one. Now, while that's a teaser, I probably should take a minute to say what are those three reasons people disagree. So let's break it down really quickly. So you probably have figured out one, two, or three of them. You want to take any guesses, Douglas, or you want me to reveal? Your shot. Douglas: Why don't you—well, you do the reveal. You do the reveal. Michael: Okay, I’ll do the reveal. So number one, and it's most disagreements, level-one disagreements, and you actually implied it when you were talking about learning that you were a great facilitator. That is, people disagree because of information. One has information that the other doesn’t have, and they’re arguing, bumping heads, even though once they realize and the information is put on the table, they'll realize they weren’t in disagreement at all. Level-one disagreements always end the same way. “Oh, is that what you meant?” There you go. And as we like to say, when you hear those words, your job is done, because they really weren't in disagreement. In fact, the book Crucial Conversations highlights that, they give it a name, violent agreement. They really are in agreement, but they were arguing. They were just using different words or one had information that the other didn't have. So you saw level-one disagreements, pretty simple. We as facilitators have to understand the difference between advocacy and inquiry. If you ever watched two people arguing, it's like they're fighting back and forth. Statement, statement, statement, statement. Each person is trying to advocate for theirs. If one of them would just step back and just ask the question, “Well, why do you say that? What do you mean by that?” they’ll then would clarify, and you would hear those words, “Oh, is that what you meant?” There you go. Resolved. So we have to move people from advocacy mode to inquiry mode, and you do that yourself by asking questions. In a business environment, there are specific questions we train facilitators to ask, because most level-one disagreements or business are based on either cost, time, who’s involved, or how it’s going to happen. And so we get the questions. Level-two disagreements are different. If the level-one disagreements are about information—again, we find most disagreements are level one—level-two disagreements are about values or experiences, that they have different values or had had different experiences that prefer one alternative over the other. They understand each other perfectly. They just value different things. Well, you can solve a value disagreement simply by identifying and isolating the key values. What are the key values that each person has? And then creating solutions, brainstorming solutions, that combine those values. It's not a compromise activity. It is a creativity activity, where, as we teach it, you can come up with some pretty novel solutions once you isolate those key values. It just works. In fact, we get more letters about that technique than any others because it really does work when you understand what you're looking to do. Level-three disagreement is different. It's not about information. It's not about values or experiences. It's about personality, past history with one another, or some outside factor that has nothing to do with the disagreement. It's not about the disagreement. They basically don't like each other. Can you solve a level-one disagreement by asking questions about the issue? No, because it's not about the issue. Can you solve a level-three disagreement by asking about the values? It’s not—yeah, you solve level-three disagreements differently. Take it to a higher source. You're not going to solve it at this level. You've got to take it up the chain. And so we talk about strategies for doing that. But most facilitators, that secret of understanding there are only three reasons people disagree, and so when you're listening to a disagreement, we train people to say, “Hey, next time you're listening to a disagreement, just say under your breath, ‘level two. Yeah, level one. Yeah, level three,’ so that you can get used to diagnosing what type of disagreement it is so that you keep that mindset of, okay, here's the technique I want to use to adjust this disagreement. So it's cool stuff and really one of those fun secrets out of the 60. Douglas: Yeah. I love frameworks like that, that can—are very actionable and we can kind of lean on them in the moment pretty easily. Michael: Well, you know, I find that the best facilitators are process oriented, Douglas. And I'm just going to give your listeners a heads up. If you were to see the prep work that Douglas had sent out to my office around the thinking that they've already done around how to have a great podcast, it was like, oh, my gosh, this is like a cookbook. All I have to do is this part. They're doing all these other pieces. And some great process thinking, very much appreciate it, because it makes it easy. In the same way, if you can give facilitators a process to use that's been tested, proven, that they can modify and make theirs, it makes all the difference. And that's one of the things I think we're good at: giving people processes. Douglas: Absolutely. If you could change one thing about meetings in general, what would it be? Michael: Oh, my gosh. Wow. You're asking big questions here. If I could change one thing about meetings. Yeah, I guess—yeah, that would have to be it. Douglas, the biggest challenge I find, and we find over and over again with meetings that other people are leading, is preparation. So few people do the preparation necessary. And quite frankly, it's not a lot of work if, as you would say, there's a framework for it. And so I'll just give your listeners a framework. We call it the six Ps. And it doesn't matter whether you are running a meeting for yourself or running a meeting for someone else, ask the six Ps, because once you know the six Ps, you execute on that and you can be really prepared. One, and you know it all starts with purpose. Douglas: Yes. Thank you. Michael: Why are we having this meeting? Douglas: Yes. Michael: Why are we having this meeting? What's the real purpose of the meeting? And then we say, “Okay, now that we're clear…” And so I'll give an example just to make it real for your listeners. Someone may come to us. “Michael, Michael, I’d love to have a team-building session for my team.” First P, purpose. “Really? Help me understand what's really the purpose of the team-building session?” “Well, I need my team working together better because, you know, we kind of snipe at each other sometimes. So I really want us to have a strong, bonding experience so that we can walk out of that room, moving together, working together, feeling better about each other.” “That's helpful.” Second P, product. “So what is the product you want to come out of that meeting?” “Michael, what do you mean?” “Well, think about it this way, in terms of the three Hs. When this meeting’s over, what do you want your team to have in their hands that they can see?” “Well, Michael, it’d be great if we had a team vision.” “Cool. Anything else?” “Well, maybe some team norms.” “Okay. Anything else?” “Well, maybe if we could walk away with what's going to happen if someone violates the norm, so we have that kind of…” “Anything else?” “No, I think that's pretty good.” “All right. Well, thank you. Well, let me ask you this. What do you want them to have in their head when the session is over?” “Michael, what do you mean?” “Well, what do you want them to know that they didn't know before the meeting started?” “Well, maybe I want them to know, hey, what makes a team great? What are the qualities of a great team and know how we assess against that, and what are the things we need to work on to be a great team?” “Cool, cool, great. So what do you want them to have in their hearts when the session is over?” “Michael, you getting soft on me?” “No, no, no. What do you want them to believe that maybe they didn't believe before this session was held?” “Well, I want them to believe that if we do these things, we’ll be a great team. I want them to feel committed to making it happen.” “There you go. Great. Well, so you’ve talked about purpose and product. Let me ask you this. Tell me about the people who are going to be in the room. Who needs to be in the room that we create these products and achieve this purpose?” “Well, I want my whole team there.” “Anyone else?” “Well, you know, do you think, Michael, my E.A., should be there?” “Well, let me ask you, do you think your E.A. is part of the team, work with the team? Is your E.A. part of getting things to happen?” “So, yeah, that's great.” “Anyone else? There we go.” “All right. Well, we talked about purpose, product, participants. Let me ask you this. What are the probable issues that we need to address? What are the things that we absolutely need to talk about if these participants are going to create these products to achieve this purpose?” “Yeah. We've had a couple of things happen over the last few months that we really need to talk about.” “Well, let's talk about what those are. Anything else we need to talk about? Great.” “Well, now let's talk about process. What's the process you're thinking we might want to take the team through so that we address these issues so the participants create the product and the purpose? Great.” And notice, by the way, Douglas, process is fifth. Many people think, “I want to hold a meeting. What's the agenda?” Wrong answer. There’re four questions you have to answer first—purpose, product, participants, probable issues—before you get to process. Never start with agenda. And then the six P is place, meaning—and it's all the stuff around the place. And in these days, the place is virtual. So let's talk about all the things around the virtual platform that needs to be. So we say when you have those six questions answered, the six Ps of preparation, you're now ready to do the work to get well prepared for your session. So we think that's a great way to address and make meetings so much better. Just most people don't do the work. They don't think about the six Ps. Douglas: Yeah, you know, there’re so many meeting—you talked about the lack of preparation, and it’s like— Michael: Yeah. Douglas: And so there's this weird spectrum, because on one end, no one's doing anything. So they're just kind of walking in blind, and they just threw something on your calendar called a meeting, and they're not even—so there's a lexicon and taxonomy problem. Michael: Yes. Douglas: And so that's a whole other thing we could get into. But then on the other hand, when they do the planning, their agenda’s just a list of topics— Michael: Yes. Douglas: —and it’s not thoughtful, it’s not informed by— Michael: Absolutely. Douglas: —the purpose. We were just talking earlier today about the problem with icebreakers and warmups, in that— Michael: Oh, my gosh, yes. Douglas: —people just throw them on the agenda, without thinking about the purpose and why they’re there. And I love this. I have this saying that if you can’t ask your participants after doing something like that, “Why did we just do that?” and have it erupt into a pithy conversation, you need to ask yourself, “Why did we just do that?” Michael: Oh, well said, Douglas. Well said. In fact, our company, in general, when it comes to icebreakers, we hate them because most icebreakers are just stuff. And we say, “It's good to break the ice,” but you want to break the ice with an activity that furthers the purpose and product of the session. If you say, “Hey, you know what, we’d like to spend a few minutes talking about your favorite vacation spot,” that's a great icebreaker if the purpose of our session is to choose a vacation spot. If it's not, leave that icebreaker at home. “Hey, you know what, we'd like to hear about your most embarrassing moment.” That is a great icebreaker if this session is about dealing with embarrassing moments. If it's not, leave that icebreaker at home. Whatever you use as an icebreaker, it should further the session result, not be something, as you said, that’s unpurposeful and inserted into the meeting. Facilitators have a bad rap of, “Hey, we help people hold hands and sing Kumbaya.” Read that from an executive standpoint, “We're great at wasting people's time.” That's how executives view the classic Kumbaya facilitators. Our job is to make sure every moment we spend with executives is productive. It's used to get to a result that they are willing to invest in. If they're not willing to invest, we have just added non-value activity. So non-value added activity is not helpful in a facilitated session. Douglas: Well said, my friend. So I would love to leave our listeners with one last piece of advice. And so if you could ensure every facilitator in the world had one skill, what would it be? Michael: That's easy. That's really easy. When you think about facilitators, when we walk into a room, our most important job is to pull out the most important information that's going to help this group get where they're going. That's our responsibility. To do that, we don't have to be good at asking questions. We have to be great at asking questions. We have to be really excellent at using questions to pull out the information that's going to help the group. As I said in one of my early, early ad set we put together, the ad said, “Hidden inside of your company are answers to some of the most important issues facing your organization. Your people have the answers. We bring the questions.” And so we teach something called the secret of the starting question. If you’ve ever facilitated a session and you asked this really great question and got complete and utter silence, if that’s ever happened to you, what we teach is, more times than not, the reason you got silence is that you asked what we call the “type A” question instead of a “type B” question. Type A questions lead people to silence. Type B questions get people putting up their hands, jumping up and down, trying to get you to respond to them. Or you're old enough to remember Welcome Back, Kotter. We called it the Horshack effect. “Ooh, ooh, ooh, Mr. Kotter. Mr. Kotter, call on me.” And that's what we want to get. And so, how do you get that? Well, it’s all in how you ask the question. And we call it the secret of the starting question. Now, just to give an example. Let’s go back to my hiring process. If we're in a room and we got a bunch of people, we're trying to figure out how the hiring process works today, that's one of the first agenda items. As a facilitator, we go, “Okay, great. We're all together. We're ready to get to that first agenda item. Let's get started. How does the hiring process work today?” Crickets. “Come on, folks. You know how it works. How does it work today? What are the steps?” Crickets. “Come on, guys. You know the…” There you go. Instead, you would ask what we call a type B question, and it sounds like this. “You know, we're ready to get started with documenting the current hiring process. I'd love for you to think about the last time you hired someone. Think about all the steps you had to go through, all the people you had to talk with, the forms or whatever you had to fill out to get that person on board. What are the steps in the current hiring process?” We call that a type B question. How is it formed? They're three steps. It's pretty easy. It's pretty simple, just not easy. Its first step is you start with an image-building phrase. “Think about the last time…,” or “If you were about to...” or “Imagine…” It doesn’t start with “What…” Here comes a type B question. You're going very direct. Or “Why…” or “How…” or so on. It starts with an image-building phrase because you're trying to create an image, because when people can see their answers, they answer right away. Then, you expand the image with at least two other phrases. Then, you ask the direct question. “Think about the last time you hired someone. Think about all the steps you had to go through, all the people you had to talk with,” and so on. Because when people can see their answers, they raise their hand. When people can’t see their answers, if you ask, “What are the steps in the current hiring process?” they're going to go, “Hm, let me think.” What are they doing? They're trying to imagine their answers. Why? Because you didn’t ask a question that helped them do it. Facilitation means to make easy. We've got to get them visualizing their answers. So that's just one of the things. We teach nine different questioning techniques. And if we could do that for every facilitator in the world—in fact, your audience have probably heard of TED Talks. If they were to go to the TED site and type in “secret of the starting question,” they would see me giving a TEDx Talk to the International Association of Facilitators on the secret of the starting question. Douglas: I love it. So good. It's funny, once you were starting to talk about the secret to—or the one thing that facilitators should know, and you started talking about questions, I was going to ask you, what is one of your favorite questions? But then, before I even had the opportunity, you gave us a framework for asking questions. So I'm still going to throw this at you for extra credit. Is there a question…? In fact, you threw out one of my favorites already, and that is, what did you mean by that? I think that's such a disarming question, especially if someone says something that is maybe judgmental or offensive in some way, and maybe there was no intention behind it, and we want to just give them an opportunity to unravel that or explain it. Michael: And it helps them do it. And that’s a great one. And I think one of the things you find is why questions and how questions are often challenging for people. And so you want to be careful, as we say, you want to focus on the tone. And probably my favorite, it's simple, is, “Help me understand, why is that important? Help me understand, why is it important?” because your tone could be, “So why is that important?” That’s a wrong tone. No, thank you. Yeah. So tone as you ask that question, “Why is that important?” is one of my favorite questions. There have to be questions because it gets to, oh, new understanding, because I'm thinking, perhaps if you could see my thought bubble, “What does that have to do with anything we're talking about?” And so sort of just, “Hey, help me understand, why is that important?” Douglas: Also, “Help me understand,” I'm taking the blame for not understanding it, which is great. It reminds me, too—I've been listening to a lot of masterclass. And Chris Voss has a really great masterclass, and he's a master negotiator— Michael: Oh, excellent. Douglas: —and author of that book, Never Split the Difference. And one of his points around not using why, he never asks any why questions when he's negotiating with a hostage. And it's because, remember when you were a little kid and something you broke, something by accident, and your parents were like, “Why did you do that?” So it's just like, it brings you back to those moments. So we don't want to psychologically hijack anyone when we're asking these questions that we don't really have much intent behind. Michael: There you go. Really important stuff. Questions are a key for facilitators. Really getting down a question framework for yourself, really good stuff. Douglas: Absolutely. And I encourage people to check out the type B questions and all the other great stuff, the six Ps, et cetera. It's really awesome stuff. And so if they were going to dig deeper into this, how can they find you? How can they unravel the secrets more deeply? Michael: Well, please, our website, www.leadstrat—that’s short for Leadership Strategies—leadstrat.com, and any of the resource pages. You can also, in our store, we have all the books—The Secrets of Facilitation is probably the one we’ve talked about the most, as well as Click: The Virtual Meetings Book. Those two are ones that in this pandemic people will find most helpful. And again, do check out— Oh, our gift to the industry, we recognize that as part of our—we’re the largest facilitation company in the country, that what we do, we typically do three or four free webinars a month. Most recently, we've been doing them on the virtual side of things, running effective virtual meetings, making Zoom hum, those kinds of things, just, really, free webinars. Of course, we do it because we know that once people get a taste of what we do, they may want to learn more. We’ve been doing them for over a decade now, these webinars. But please check them out. And you know what most webinars, Douglas, are thinly veiled sales pitches. For us, we go, “Okay. Please give us 60 minutes. You're going to get 55 minutes of real content, stuff you can use tomorrow. Then, the last five minutes we’ll talk about for those who want to learn more.” So really hardcore, hit-it content. And so it's really great. They get 400 or 500 people on every webinar, and so it's really fun stuff. Douglas: Excellent. Well, I can't wait to check one out. And, you know, it's been a pleasure to have you on the show today. Michael: Oh, likewise, being with you. It’s just been a fun conversation. Douglas: Absolutely. Well, thanks again, and we’ll be talking to you soon. Michael: All right. You take care. Outro: Thanks for joining me for another episode of Control the Room. Don't forget to subscribe to receive updates when new episodes are released. If you want more, head over to our blog, where I post weekly articles and resources about working better together

Last season on Strategic Momentum, we started our series (http://strategicmomentum.co/episodes/68) on understanding and navigating office politics. The last two episodes in the series featured a panel of guests sharing different advice and perspectives, but in this episode, we dive deep with Michael Wilkinson. Michael is a veteran on the show and one of our favorite voices on leadership and management. He’s a Master Facilitator and Founder of Leadership Strategies, the #1 Facilitation Training Company in the US. In Part One, Michael explained how political behavior in the office really comes down to two things: alignment and trust. In this episode, Michael walks us through exactly what those look like, and how to break down alignment and trust to find the root of political problems and then create your strategy for managing those dynamics effectively.   Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at https://www.strategicmomentum.co/episodes/ (https://www.strategicmomentum.co/episodes/65)78 Resources: Connect with Michael via Email | Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-wilkinson-cmf-cpf-06609411) Learn more about Leadership Strategies (https://www.leadstrat.com/) Buy Michael’s Books on Facilitation (https://www.leadstrat.com/product-category/books/) Subscribe to the Strategic Momentum podcast: On Apple Podcasts (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/strategic-momentum/id1261436986?mt=2) On the Google Play Store (https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ime3k7finzrap7xqdhtewtqogk4) On Stitcher Radio (https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/music-evo-review/strategic-momentum?refid=stpr) On Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/37gZozvPDvEaQwSs3fqvKl?si=gU8O7_UFScWfkFUf3x1Tmw) Strategic Momentum is produced by (http://crate.media)

Develop This! is excited to bring back Master Facilitator Michael Wilkinson as a contributing expert. Not only is Michael a Master Facilitator, he’s the author of Click - The Virtual Meetings Book. With almost all our meetings moving online, now is the perfect time to hear from a world class expert on how to run and facilitate effective on-line meetings. Join Dennis and Michael as they discuss practical tips to improve your online meetings. Connect with Michael Wilkinson

With COVID-19 necessitating the rapid shift to working remotely, we felt it would be particularly relevant to share insights from a favorite past guest of ours — Michael Wilkinson — because our goal is always to help you navigate through the change we are all facing so you can create the right momentum to move forward.   Michael preaches the tenets of process and preparation that enable leaders to boost collaboration, productivity, and morale among their teams. In this episode, we highlight his specific tips and advice for facilitating virtual meetings. Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at  69 (https://www.flywheelassociates.com/podcast/69) Resources: Connect with Michael via Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-wilkinson-cmf-cpf-06609411) Learn more about Leadership Strategies (https://www.leadstrat.com/) Buy Michael’s Books on Facilitation (https://www.leadstrat.com/product-category/books/) Subscribe to the Strategic Momentum podcast: On Apple Podcasts (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/strategic-momentum/id1261436986?mt=2) On Google Podcasts (https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cDovL3N0cmF0ZWdpY21vbWVudHVtLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz) On Stitcher Radio (https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/music-evo-review/strategic-momentum?refid=stpr) On Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/37gZozvPDvEaQwSs3fqvKl?si=gU8O7_UFScWfkFUf3x1Tmw) Strategic Momentum is produced by (http://crate.media)

On how Labour lost. Was it Brexit that did for Labour? In what sense? What now for the British Left - and for democracy? Running order: (02:40) Opening chat (05:15) The electoral map, the generational divide (21:46) Class (33:52) The leadership and the media (48:10) Holding our prediction to account (53:30) Reaction of various Labour factions  (01:03:10) Future of left-populism Readings: How class, turnout and the Brexit party shaped the general election result, Financial Times The Failure of the Left to Grasp Brexit, Michael Wilkinson, Verfassungs Blog Anti-politics & the last gasp of British Labourism, Tad Tietze, Left-Flank Hate to say it, but #BrexitWouldveWon, Alex Hochuli Don’t blame Corbyn or Brexit: Labour failed to rage against the hated political system, Adam Ramsay, openDemocracy Subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast

Arnold Schwarzenegger entered our nightmares as the “Terminator” hunting Sarah Connor in 1984.  He stole our hearts protecting John Connor in 1992's “T2: Judgement Day.” In 2019, all the sequels were erased from continuity and we’re introduced to the first Latinx Terminator and treated to a fabulous return by the legendary Linda Hamilton as the butch and weathered Sarah Connor in “Terminator: Dark Fate,” proving that no one knows what the futurecan bring when Hollywood plans Remakes or Reboots. Does the franchise’s retcon work? Is the Terminator franchise too lesbian or not lesbian enough? Is a new John Connor what the world needs right now? Listen to find out. Shownotes: The Jacket Rolando Loved in "Terminator Salvation" | LINK   About the Costume Designer, Michael Wilkinson | LINK Follow Us Be sure to follow us on social media for news, polls, and fun behind the scenes content. FACEBOOK: facebook.com/remakesrebootsrevivals INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/remakesrebootsrevivals And we always want to hear from you! Email us at remakesrebootsrevivals@gmail.com  

Overview of Episode #60 --- What facilitative leadership is, why it matters had to TAFA. Why encouraging disagreement is good and understanding the reasons for conflict and strategies for working with each. An actionable tip that will help you inspire and lead better immediately. Why being a meeting snob is a good thing – and how to become one! What the formula: ED = RD X CD means and why you want to use it. Learn about the different "people" inside of Michael, his journey and more… Contact Priceless Professional Development: 770-578-6976, suzie@pricelessprofessional.com or www.pricelessprofessional.com To see the show notes and get the transcript for this episode, go to: www.pricelessprofessional.com/facilitation Timing on Recording: @ 9:53 --- Topic 1:Welcome Michael Wilkinson; What is Facilitative Leadership and Why Does it Matter Today More Than Ever Before? Great leaders recognize their role is to make it easy for their people to be effective. A facilitative leader, they understand the core concept of addressing the problem. A facilitative approach means getting the people who are going to be impacted by the decision involved in creating the decision. If we get other people involved in decision-making we are going to have a better decision. Even if your input isn't taken, you had a chance to share and understand why the decisions were made. Leaders need to understand that disagreement isn't bad. In fact, disagreement is good. Timing on Recording: @ 16:00  --- Topic 2: Three Reasons People Disagree. Lack of shared information. Disagreement about values and experiences. Personality, past history or other outside factors. Timing on Recording: @ 23:09  --- Topic 3: Eight Core Practices of Facilitative Leaders. Start with the why, engage with the how. Understand and empower. Communicate in their language, not yours. Connect first, correct second. Equip for success, monitor for results. Engage conflict, encourage disagreement. Drive strategic thinking throughout the organization. Start, execute and close every meeting masterfully. Timing on Recording: @ 42:01  --- Topic 4: Five Cs of Trust: The Trust Triangle. Competence. Communication. Commitment. Care about you. Character. Timing on Recording: @ 46:30  --- Topic 5: Three Types of Behavior Issues. Awareness. Skill building. Will issue. Timing on Recording: @ 48:33 --- Topic 6: How to Start, Execute and Close Every Meeting Masterfully. Who are the participants? What process are you going to use? What products do you want to come out of the meeting? What is the purpose? Timing on Recording: @ 58:24  --- Topic 7: Who Has Most Influenced You in Your Life? I dedicated my book to the 14 people who over my lifetime have most influenced my development as a leader in order of appearance in my life. My Mom. Reverend Randy. My 9thGrade English Professor who gave me a D. Ken Blanchard. Ann Herrmann of The Herrmann International. Timing on Recording: @ 1:02:38  --- Topic 8: Books or Training Sessions Have Been Instrumental in Your Development? The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni. Start With the Why, Simon Sinek's work. Bill Treasurer's work, Right Risk: 10 Powerful Principles for Taking Giants Leaps with Your Life. Growing Pains: Building Sustainably Successful Organizations by Eric G. Flamholtz and Yvonne Randle. Timing on Recording: @ 1:05:24  --- Topic 9: What Are Some of Your Favorite Things That You Do; Mind, Body, Spirit? To Wake Up Eager? The different people inside of me: James, Carl, Michael and Mikey. The big key is to choose who drives the bus. Timing on Recording: @ 1:15:53  --- Topic 10: Getting to Know Michael Wilkinson. Where did you grow up?: DC projects. How did you get into the facilitation world?: Over a 14 year career moved from IT to running facilitation sessions. What's your favorite guilty pleasure TV show?: Love Island. What advice would you give your 25 year old self?: “Just believe you can and be fearless and don't be afraid of mistakes.” If you could put a billboard anywhere, what would it be?: So you'd see people inside of a company working on something, clearly being productive and laughing and really you see the energy, but you also see the results coming in this one picture and the words, “The secrets of facilitation, it works.” What would be your one last bit of wisdom or advice that you would like every listener, leader, person listening to this to think about and know in regard to taking a facilitation approach?: Secrets of facilitation, it works. Also, ED = RD X CD. An effective decision equals the right decision times the commitment to the decision.

In this session, originally recorded on January 22, 2019, we look at how to run effective meetings with Dr. Rebecca Sutherns. For the full transcript, visit https://maytree.com/five-good-ideas/five-good-ideas-about-running-effective-meetings/ Life’s too short for boring, unproductive meetings. Yet that’s precisely where many of us spend too much of our time. We know that working together is a good and necessary thing, but we also know that getting the right combination of people in a room together (or in a virtual space – even worse…) is not enough to ensure effective collaboration. Join Certified Professional Facilitator Dr. Rebecca Sutherns for Five Good Ideas on how to run meetings that are purposeful and engaging. Learn how to create the conditions that can transform time wasted as a group into time well spent. Five Good Ideas 1. Know your why 2. Plan in chunks 3. Pay attention to content and experience 4. Hold your script loosely 5. Use strong process to offset poor behaviour Resources 1. The Purpose Revolution by John Izzo and Jeff Vanderwielen, March 2018, Berrett-Koehler, https://drjohnizzo.com/ 2. Facilitation Planning Template, sage-solutions.org/training/free-resource-library/ 3. The Fearless Organization by Amy C. Edmondson, November 2018, John Wiley and Sons 4. Nimble: Off Script but Still On Track by Rebecca Sutherns, March 2019. http://rebeccasutherns.com/ 5. “Dysfunction FAILURE!” One of many helpful facilitation resources available from Michael Wilkinson of Leadership Strategies. https://www.leadstrat.com/blog/tuesdays-master-facilitation-tip-dysfunction-failure/ About Dr. Rebecca Sutherns Dr. Rebecca Sutherns (www.rebeccasutherns.com) is an insightful and high energy collaborative strategist and world class facilitator who has served as a trusted advisor to hundreds of mission-driven organizations in Canada and internationally. Rebecca brings intellect, enthusiasm and more than 20 years of varied experience in strategy development and collaborative leadership when speaking, writing and mentoring. She is a skilled communicator, with a particular gift for helping leaders make wiser decisions faster. As the founder of Sage Solutions (www.sage-solutions.org), a Guelph-based consulting firm, Rebecca has facilitated customized strategic processes for community benefit organizations for more than 20 years. She provides strategic coaching and planning services, with an emphasis on professional facilitation, stakeholder engagement, governance and evidence-based decision-making. Rebecca is the author of the book, “Nimble: Off Script but Still On Track. A coaching guide for responsive facilitation.”

Josh & Dean chat with Ted Hope (now with Amazon Studios), the producer of American Splendor. Hope talks about his own background in the business, the development of the film (including Dean’s key introductions), his favorite moments from the shoot, and premiering the film at Sundance. In a moving testament to authenticity in art, Hope explains why projects like American Splendor (both the film and the comics) have to exist. Shout-outs to NYU Film School, Alex Cox and REPO MAN, Ed Burns, Hal Hartley, Todd Solondz, Ralph Nader, the New York Film Festival, Jim Jarmusch's STRANGER THAN PARADISE. the Cohen Brothers and BLOOD SIMPLE, Frances McDormand, Spike Lee, the old Cinema Studio, Ang Lee’s ICE STORM, Dylan Baker, Dan Clowes, Todd Solondz' HAPPINESS, Chester Brown’s YUMMY FUR, Terry Zwigoff & Crumb, HBO’s Colin Callender and Maud Nadler, Glen Basner (now of FilmNation), production designer Thérèse DePrez, Gary Leib and the "super-imaginative" title sequence, Judah Friedlander, James McCaffrey, costume designer Michael Wilkinson, and Ted's book HOPE FOR FILM. --- This episode is sponsored by · The Colin and Samir Podcast: The Colin and Samir Podcast hosted by LA - based friends and filmmakers Colin and Samir takes a look into what it’s like to make creativity your career. https://open.spotify.com/show/5QaSbbv2eD4SFrlFR6IyY7?si=Dj3roVoJTZmOime94xhjng --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/scenebyscene/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/scenebyscene/support

The energy transition is picking up pace, with up to 80 per cent of the global electricity expected to be generated from renewable sources by 2050. In this episode, Michael Wilkinson, Global Segment Leader – Energy Digitalization at DNV, explores how digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and advanced analytics can streamline the move towards a Decentralized and Decarbonized energy system. In recent news, a significant power outage was recorded in the UK, as two of National Grid's large power generators, a gas-fired power station and an offshore wind farm failed simultaneously and left nearly one million people without electricity. With the race towards renewables continuing, how can energy businesses ensure they're embracing the opportunities digital technologies have to offer? To find our more or read the transcription, please visit: https://www.dnvgl.com/energy/publications/podcast/artificial-intelligence.html

In the last Strategic Momentum episode, we learned the secrets of meeting facilitation from Michael Wilkinson, the founder and managing director of Leadership Strategies – The #1 Facilitation Training Company. In this episode, Michael returns to explore specific use cases of his facilitation techniques, especially in the virtual, multi-generational work environment. He talks about how to facilitate collaboration when technologies, hierarchies and varying workplace considerations like age and skills come into play. In the end, coming together to drive initiatives forward takes understanding group dynamics, using differences as strengths, and valuing solutions no matter who they come from. Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at flywheelassociates.com/podcast. Resources: Connect with Michael via Email | Linkedin Learn more about (https://www.leadstrat.com/) Buy Michael’s Books on Facilitation Register for Michael Wikinson’s Masterclass: The Secrets of Facilitation Learn more about The Association for Strategic Planning Register for Strategy and Your Business Ecosystem Conference Subscribe to the Strategic Momentum podcast: On Apple Podcasts On the Google Play Store On Stitcher Radio On Spotify Strategic Momentum is produced by Crate Media

In today’s interconnected business ecosystem, collaboration and teamwork are critical to moving initiatives and activities forward. To accomplish these objectives and tasks, we often have to schedule and run various meetings to facilitate progress. But so many people are frustrated by the number of meetings they have that don’t produce results. That’s where meeting facilitation comes in. Michael Wilkinson has spent his career mastering the methodologies and systems behind successful facilitation. He is the founder and managing director of Leadership Strategies -- The #1 Facilitation Training Company in the US, and the accomplished author of several books on facilitation. In this episode, he shares how to avoid the common myths and misconceptions companies have around running effective meetings. Because, at the end of the day, facilitation isn’t just about running better sessions. It’s about eliminating dysfunction and maximizing efficiency to drive your business and its ecosystem forward. Michael is also teaching a three-hour masterclass at the 2019 Association for Strategic Planning’s Annual Conference that’s being held on May 15th in Denver.   Learn more, and find the complete show notes, at flywheelassociates.com/podcast. Resources: Connect with Michael via Email | Linkedin Learn more about (https://www.leadstrat.com/) Buy Michael’s Books on Facilitation Learn more about The Association for Strategic Planning Register for Strategy and Your Business Ecosystem Conference Subscribe to the Strategic Momentum podcast: On iTunes On the Google Play Store On Stitcher Radio On Spotify Strategic Momentum is produced by (http://crate.media/)

Topics: Riley’s Trip to Disneyland Aladdin Teaser and Poster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g5knnlF7Zo https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/aladdin-will-smith-unveils-first-poster-1151335 “Aladdin” is the exciting tale of the charming street rat Aladdin, the courageous and self-determined Princess Jasmine and the Genie who may be the key to their future. Directed by Guy Ritchie, who brings his singular flair for fast-paced, visceral action to the fictitious port city of Agrabah, the film is written by John August and Ritchie based on Disney’s “Aladdin.” “Aladdin” stars Will Smith as the larger-than-life Genie; Mena Massoud as the charming scoundrel Aladdin; Naomi Scott as Jasmine, the beautiful, self-determined princess; Marwan Kenzari as Jafar, the powerful sorcerer; Navid Negahban as the Sultan concerned with his daughter’s future; Nasim Pedrad as Dalia, Princess Jasmine’s free-spirited best friend and confidante; Billy Magnussen as the handsome and arrogant suitor Prince Anders; and Numan Acar as Hakim, Jafar’s right-hand man and captain of the palace guards. The film is produced by Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich with Marc Platt and Kevin De La Noy serving as executive producers. Alan Menken provides the score, which includes new recordings of the original songs written by Menken and lyricists Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and two new songs written by Menken and songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.The film, which was shot on practical stages in London and on location amidst the stunning desert vistas of Jordan, has a talented creative team helping to bring Agrabah to life, including: director of photography Alan Stewart, production designer Gemma Jackson and costume designer Michael Wilkinson. Live Action Lilo & Stitch https://insidethemagic.net/2018/10/lilo-stitch-live-action-remake-disney/ It is unclear whether the new project, which is intended to be a live-action/CG hybrid, is intended for theatrical release or for Disney's streaming service that is set to launch in 2019. The studio has hired up-and-comer Mike Van Waes to pen the script for the remake, which will be produced by Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich of Rideback, formerly known as Lin Pictures. The two are already known in the Disney halls as they are working on the high-profile live-action remake of Aladdin.

With new and innovative technologies developing at record pace, DNV's Michael Wilkinson, Global Segment Leader, Energy Digitalization, gives us some advice on how to see through the digitalization hype and better understand the solutions that can help to transform the electricity sector. In this digitally acute episode, Michael gives us an overview of the technologies that are driving the digitalization revolution and introduces DNV's latest whitepaper - Data Analytics in the Electricity Sector, which examines the current role of data analytics, and its likely influence on the energy systems of the future. He gives examples of how digitalization aids the forecasting of renewable energy flows, and so enables operators to better respond to demand; the impact on energy trading and markets; and how technologies such as blockchain are transforming local energy communities. Finally, Michael touches on the regulatory challenges arising from the introduction of these new technologies. For more information you can download the Data Analytics in the Electricity Sector whitepaper here: https://www.dnvgl.com/publications/data-analytics-in-the-electricity-sector-131778

It's another SHRM18 special edition!  Jon had a chance to speak with Michael Wilkinson, founder and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, Inc.  They talk about how HR pros can become better facilitators and Michael shares great advice on how to "divide and conquer" a conference like SHRM18. Michael will be presenting "The Three Reasons People Disagree" on the Smart Stage Monday, 6/18 at 11:10 AM and "Taking a Facilitative Approach in Your Organization" on Tuesday 6/19 at 2:15 PM. Learn more about Michael at leadstrat.com and follow him on twitter @leadstrat.

You can help to support this show and the rest of the Suicide Squadcast Network through Patreon at this link!  Thank you for your support! In this episode, Tim and Scott talk about: Justice League ends its theatrical run, but is at the top of the chart for home physical media sales. Zack Snyder hints at where the Justice League story was originally intended to go. Michael Wilkinson talks about why the black Superman suit was not used. Shazam debuts its logo and first teaser poster! The Shazam family did a mini Q&A about the film! Suicide Squad's Karen Fukuhara has been cast in "The Boys"! Rumored filming dates and locations for Wonder Woman 2, Flash, and The Batman! Ava DuVernay teases research on The New Gods! Director David Ayer explains some of the missing scenes in Suicide Squad! Matt Ryan will be added as a series regular to Legends of Tomorrow if it gets picked up for season 4! DC Comics announces three new Justice League titles. We talk about all of this, and much, much more! Where to find us: Follow The Suicide Squadcast on Twitter at @SuicideSquadcst Follow Tim on Twitter at @Allenfire Follow Scott on Twitter at @ScottDC27 Follow Ray on Twitter at @TheFliteCast Email us at SuicideSquadcast@gmail.com Subscribe to The Suicide Squadcast Network: The Suicide Squadcast:  iTunes / Google Play / Stitcher / RSS DCTV Squadcast:  iTunes / Google Pl!y / Stitcher / RSS DC Comics Squadcast:  iTunes / Google Play / Stitcher / RSS Fans Without Borders: iTunes / Google Play / Stitcher / RSS The show's intro music was composed by Tim Yoko. The show's outro music was composed by Jordan Funk. We are a proud member of the Batman Podcast Network! Please go check out the other great shows that can be found there!

BAFTA nominated Michael Wilkinson discusses his approach to the craft of costume design, and what it takes to design for films such as American Hustle, Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Watchmen.

“We all want to be an overnight success… but that takes a long time”   In this episode with Michael Wilkinson, we take our first look at an entrepreneur who has successfully started, grown and exited from their company. After 7 years hard graft, Michael Wilkinson and his co-founder Steve Holt, sold their company 'i-Education' for very healthy sum, but also realised their dream of seeing the product being used by even more students than they ever could have imagined - over 12 million worldwide!   As a fellow Yorkshireman it was great to chat with Mike about his journey from founding the company, through to the sale, and how he's stayed involved thereafter.    In this episode we discuss: Challenges of growing a company organically How to let people know you exist When to bring in a non-exec for outside advice How to structure your business for a sale Intrapreneur vs Entrepreneur Should you plan to sell from the outset When is the right time to sell How to find your ideal buyer Advice and top tips for those going through the sale process How did Mike feel when they sold How to resolve challenges with a co-partner What to do after the sale And much much more :)   Want to find out more about Michael? Check out the details below:   I Am Learning Website I Am Learning Twitter

Cooperative Program giving is falling further behind budget as receipts came in even lower than October numbers. Also, Dr. Michael Wilkinson, Dean of the College at Southwestern, joins us as we conclude our series on SBC seminary colleges.

In this episode, Tim and Brent talk about: Is there a conspiracy against Batman v Superman through social media? When do tickets go on sale for BvS? What are our thoughts on the Hitfix report about BvS and the fate of Justice League and Zack Snyder? What are our thoughts on BvS getting a rated R extended cut for home release? What are the early tracking numbers for BvS? What did Ben and Henry have to say on Good Morning America? What were Ben, Henry, and Gal's workout routines to get ready for BvS? What great charity videos did Henry and Jesse make for Omaze? Where will the cast of BvS be appearing after the Oscars? Who is Scoot McNairy, Jenna Malone, and Callan Mulvey playin in BvS? Who is likely making a somewhat surprise cameo in BvS? What about the Time Out travel guides for Metropolis and Gotham City? What does Tom Holkenborg say about composing for BvS? What did Jesse Eisenberg reveal to Playboy? Does Dan Amboyer do anything to fuel the rumors about him being Green Lantern? What did costume designer Michael Wilkinson say about Ben Affleck? What about the IMAX posters? What new scenes are revealed in the BvS themed Jeep commercial? What new BvS character movie posters did we get? What was the exact misspelling Margot Robbie tattooed on a Suicide Squad production member? Did Viola Davis get freaked out by Jared Leto? What are our thoughts on Transformers 5 scheduled release on the same day as Wonder Woman's film? What new reveals come from the Wonder Woman set photos? When does Justice League begin filming? What teases did we get from the first set photo released from Justice League? What is the working title for Justice League? What is new with the Flash/Supergirl crossover event? Why is Deathstroke tied up in another project and cannot be used on TV? Will be be seeing the TV version of Vixen on any other shows? What new information do we have on the NBC sitcom "Powerless" based on the DC Universe? Will Young Justice be getting a third season? What should we expect from DC Comics' Rebirth event?   All of this and much, much more... and a 1 in 10 chance to win a DC Comics trade paperback worth up to $15!   The Omaze charity event for Batman v Superman can be found at this link.   This episode's outro music clip is "Cannonball" by The Breeders. The lead singer and guitarist is Kim Deal, formerly of The Pixies. This song is one of the most fun I have ever hear. I love the catchy guitar riff! You can buy the song and other Breeders music here!   Enjoy the show! This is a weekly show where we discuss the DC Films news, including the DC cinematic, TV, animated, and comic universes (DCEU, DCCU, DCTV, DCAU, DC Comics)!   Follow The Suicide Squadcast on Twitter at @SuicideSquadCst Follow Tim on Twitter at @Allenfire Follow Brent on Twitter at @real_brentac Email us at SuicideSquadcast@gmail.com   We are a proud member of the Batman Podcast Network! Please go check out the other great shows that can be found there!

Show Notes:  Overview of Episode #7. The following topics are covered: Contact Suzie Here or call 770-578-6976.  Common meeting frustrations The ACTUAL cost of meetings - it might surprise you!  Six Solutions to make all of your meetings, training sessions and conference calls better. Use these tools right away and you'll save time and money, eliminate frustration and turn those pesky meeting pet peeves and problems into well-run effective meetings and training sessions! Full Show Notes Online, Here.   Topic #1: The Frustrations and the Cost Timing on Recording: @ 2:40 ---   Comedian Dave Barry said, “If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be 'meetings.” Most common frustrations from the feedback I received around bad meetings:  leader does not keep control; people dominate, complain or get off track; side bar conversations; attitude; meetings not needed; nothing accomplished; looking at their phones.  Timing on Recording: @ 8:35 --- VIDEO: Bad Conference Call Meetings - A Conference Call in Real Life on YouTube - Very funny, and oh so true! Meeting Cost Calculator - For Example: Average annual Salary -$50,000; Two, two-hour meetings per week, five people in each. TOTAL COST:  $556 per week; $28,889 per year, NOT including the cost of benefits. Try it here. Topic # 2: Six Tools to Make Bad Meetings Better Timing on Recording: @  11:00 --- Tool #1: Have an Agenda       It will clarify your thinking and help you keep everyone on track.      Put the purpose of the meeting at the top of the Agenda.      Apply time frames and intended outcomes next to every agenda item.      Send the agenda out in advance to all attendees.      Use a timer to guide discussions and to keep the meeting on track. Timing on Recording: @  15:32 --- Tool #2 - How to Open a Meeting - Use: I.E.E.I. (Inform, Excite, Empower and Involve)       From: Michael Wilkinson, CMF CEO & Managing Director, Leadership Strategies, Inc.       Tells people two things they really want to know:                 1) Why am I here?  2) Why should I    care?       DON:T START WITH - the agenda, your bio, where the bathrooms are, etc.       People need to know the purpose and why the meeting is beneficial to them       Can be as quick as 2-5 minutes. Inform - Let the participants know the purpose of the meeting and the product to be produced. “The purpose or title (if training) of this meeting is… When we are done we will have …”  (Results to be produced)Excite - Explain the benefits of the meeting and why this meeting should be important to them. – Answering – what's in it for me? “What's great about what we're going to do here today is that you will (have, get, know, discover, learn)…”Empower- Describe the role they will play or the authority that has been given to them.  Goal is to make sure they are clear about their role.  “You were handpicked…”  OR “Your participation matters in this as your recommendations will be presented to…” OR “These skills will help you do X better…” Involve -Get them involved immediately through an engagement question that furthers the meeting purpose.  Ask a question related to the meeting focus.  Could be: icebreaker, list outcomes they want or a quick check-in.  A Fav Book of Mine:201 Icebreakers : Group MIxers, Warm-Ups, Energizers, and Playful Activities Paperback by Edie West  So when I start a meeting or training session, the process that I use that works (as recommended by Michael Wilkinson of Leadership Strategies) is:  IEEI, Agenda, Guidelines/Ground Rules, Parking Lot and Introductions – if needed.   “A meeting consists of a group of people who have little to say - until after the meeting.”  PK Shaw   Timing on Recording: @  24:25 --- Tool #3 - Ground Rules / Guidelines            Best way to address people who get off track, dominate or complain            Can help get people to share more and get everyone involved            Can INSTANTLY transform your meetings             POST THEM and REVIEW THEM at the start of every meeting.  The goal is for the group to become self-regulating – so that they begin correcting themselves, based upon the ground rules If you meet regularly in the same room, post the Guidelines permanently.  Add ‘rules' to your list as needed to help the group overcome specific dysfunctional behaviors and to improve buy-in. You can also have the group create their own meeting ground rules Here are some of My Favorite Example Ground Rules.  I usually only use 5 to 8.  I pick the Guidelines that will most help the team meetings work, for the team I am with.  Bold items are guidelines I use the most often: - Start and end on time - Be soft on people, hard on ideas - Share all relevant information - Everyone speaks - No beeps, buzzies, ringy-dingies - Have one conversation at a  time - Meeting work only - Give benefits first, “What I like about that… Here's something that would make it even better…” - Discuss the 'un-discussable' issues - Take a stand - Explain reasoning and intent - “Ta-Da!” - Energizer – They Pick - Must Be Short, Involve Standing Up and Using Your Voice (examples: YMCA, Chicken dance, Badgers fight song, hokey-pokey.) Anyone can call and time. - Use the Parking Lot Timing on Recording: @  33:27 --- Tool # 4 The Parking Lot A piece of blank flip chart paper, with the headline "Parking Lot." It is posted in the room to capture topics that are brought up that are not directly relevant to the agenda.  Use it to capture action items for follow up. Use the Parking Lot to “park” information for later in the meeting or after the meeting.  This helps keep the group focused on the Agenda and ensures that you don't "lose" important follow up ideas and issues. Have large post it notes and markers around the room or on the table - ask person to place a 'headline' (summary) of the topic on the Parking Lot.  At the end of the meeting, review what's in the Parking Lot and determine how and when the item will be handled. Timing on Recording: @  35:10 --- Tool #5 - Use the Meeting Ticker in Meetings Make this "Stop the Bleeding" Meeting Ticker visible in every meeting.  Find it Here. Timing on Recording: @  37:00 --- Tool #6 - Read:  The Secrets to Masterful Meetings by Micheal Wilkinson Do a team Book Club - all read and discuss over lunch Get: Tips for running meetings, listing and breakout exercises for getting information,  best ways to close, handling dysfunctional behaviors and disagreement and more!   "Meetings get a bad rap, and deservedly so - most are disorganized and distracted. But they can be a critical tool for getting your team on the same page."  Justin Rosenstein Subscribe via iTunes or Leave a Review Related Podcast:  How to Get Out of Overwhelm, and Get Things Done                              Related Service:Team/Organizational Opinion Surveys   STAY IN TOUCH WITH ME AND THIS PODCAST: Are you a leader, trainer or consultant focused on building a Wake Up Eager Workforce?  Subscribe to this Podcast Here.   You can also sign up for monthly email updates, here.   Thank you for being a part of this!!

Aquaman revealed!  We consider the culture, costumes, and casting of Jason Momoa as Aquaman and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.  Then discuss whether Kryptonians are weak to magic. Featuring clips with costume designer Michael Wilkinson, VSauce2's Kevin Lieber, Gal Gadot, Lynda Carter, Gloria Steinem, Denny O'Neil, Zack Snyder, Tim Gunn, and more! Answers, insights, and commentary on: When can we expect the next tease? What does "only one true king" mean? Aquman's Arthurian parallels. "The seven seas" phase is how old? Why am I excited about Polynesian culture being used? Does this serious picture preclude an outrageous Aquaman? Do costumes have to be practical?  What role does culture play? Will the costumes to change with every appearance? The history of heels and neckties. How do they pull off stunt work and fights in heels? Should Wonder Woman wear pants? Superman's briefs as a lightning rod. How to pronounce "Gadot" correctly. Mitigating Gadot's lack of acting experience. What Gadot has in common with Carter. Actors doing their own stunts. Shipping Aquaman and Wonder Woman. Why magic as a Kryptonian weakness makes less sense than as a vulnerability. Could Atlantis and Themyscira protect Superman's secret identity? What does Lynda Carter think about Superman? (Stay tuned to the very end!) ...and more! Our new video series continues, check it out! Man of Steel Myths: Earth's Atmosphere Powers Kryptonians - YouTube Kryptonian Armor Gives Super Strength - YouTube How The Atmospheric Weakness Works - YouTube Zod Should Have Terraformed Mars - YouTube Fighting Zod Was Easy / Kal Caused Serious Collateral - YouTube StarShipSofa - Jeff VanderMeer's "Shark God" VSauce2 - Heels Were Made For Men Crazy Sexy Geeks: The Series - Wonder Woman Debate! Supergirl Radio - Hosts Teresa Jusino and Rebecca Johnson Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam Web: ManOfSteelAnswers.com Twitter: @mosanswers Subscribe: iTunes / RSS / Stitcher / YouTube Proud member of the Superman Podcast Network! Software Generated Transcript

A cook and chat show to end 2014. From the kitchen of Come Prima in the Kempinski I speak to Executive chef Michael Wilkinson. Whilst chatting he cooks up two new dishes available to order in Come Prima, Ravioli and vegetarian lasagne. Both were a revelation. Lots of tips and full recipe to follow soon. Show notes: Recipe, to follow. More show notes at http://www.bulgarianow.bg Links: http://www.kempinski.com/en/bansko/ Sponsors: http://www.cleves.bg http://www.banskoblog.com http://www.cleves.bg http://www.banskowifi.com Http://appfactory.bg Subscribe: iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/bulgaria-now/id889642431?mt=2 Your rating, reviewing and sharing help others find this weekly podcast. #BulgariaNow on twitter Podcasting tech used to make this show: http://www.banskoblog.com/mobile-apps https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bansko/id491461324?ls=1&mt=8 http://www.overcast.fm http://www.apogeedigital.com http://www.bossjockstudio.com http://www.editorskeys.com http://www.audacity.sourceforge.net http://www.soundcloud.com http://www.audiotechnicashop.com/ - Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones Chris's Dynamic Compressor Plugin for Audacity Subscribe (your podcast then is ready to play every Friday afternoon) iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/bulgaria-now/id889642431?mt=2 or http://www.sounclound.com/lancelot-nelson or most podcast players and in Bansko App If you get a moment, I would love it if you can share Bulgaria Now's weekly podcast. It will help others find it. Podcast Feed http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:95925292/sounds.rss

This week we are beginning a new series entitled “Stone Picker Theology.” The title comes from a comment my friend and colleague, Dr Michael Wilkinson, made to me when we were talking about the Church and Culture. As a sociologist he said that what the church seems not to realize is that there are cultural reasons why our message (the Gospel) is not being well received in Western Canada. If we ignore those cultural issues we may have a very good church with excellent ministries; but if we do not speak the language of the culture or understand the needs of the culture, it is like we are speaking a foreign language. There are big rocks in the way of our neighbours truly hearing the message. We need to remove those stones for the culture to have an opportunity to receive the seed of the Word. Our text is the parable of the sower. It is familiar territory and most of us get the big idea of the parable; which is that we can be confident in the potency of the Gospel seed. Although it may fall on hard, shallow and weedy soil, some will land on fertile ground, and the end result will be a bountiful crop. Jesus teaches this in a context where the disciples were certainly starting to wonder about the message. His family was wondering if he was nuts (Mk. 3:21 & 32). The teachers of the law were accusing him of being in league with Satan (Mk. 3:22). What is often taken from the parable, but was not Jesus' intent, is that our responsibility as Gospel Farmers stops at spreading the seed. Some appear to believe that the farmer bears no responsibility for the productivity of the soil. The soil conditions are completely beyond his or her control and are the result of conditions that are unrelated to Gospel Farmers. Just "willy nilly" throw the seed about and hope for the best. This would be a disastrous strategy for a modern farmer as it is just as detrimental to the Kingdom of God. It seems to me that much of the Kingdom work is in fact soil preparation. After all we are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14). The Apostle Paul certainly spent a good deal of his energy in soil preparation. "To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." (1 Cor. 9:21-23) In many ways Missionaries understand this better than those of us trying to be Gospel Farmers in our own cultures. They automatically know that the soil needs to be tilled. They work at language acquisition and contextualization to make sure the Gospel is heard clearly. Our challenge is to see the stones in our Western Canadian culture and to work at removing them. Some of the stones we will be talking about in this series: Christians are Bigots and Hate Gays; Christians Only Care About Themselves; Christians are Bound by Rules; Christians are Not Deep Thinkers and Hate Science; and All Christians are Hypocrites.

This week we are beginning a new series entitled “Stone Picker Theology.” The title comes from a comment my friend and colleague, Dr Michael Wilkinson, made to me when we were talking about the Church and Culture. As a sociologist he said that what the church seems not to realize is that there are cultural reasons why our message (the Gospel) is not being well received in Western Canada. If we ignore those cultural issues we may have a very good church with excellent ministries; but if we do not speak the language of the culture or understand the needs of the culture, it is like we are speaking a foreign language. There are big rocks in the way of our neighbours truly hearing the message. We need to remove those stones for the culture to have an opportunity to receive the seed of the Word. Our text is the parable of the sower. It is familiar territory and most of us get the big idea of the parable; which is that we can be confident in the potency of the Gospel seed. Although it may fall on hard, shallow and weedy soil, some will land on fertile ground, and the end result will be a bountiful crop. Jesus teaches this in a context where the disciples were certainly starting to wonder about the message. His family was wondering if he was nuts (Mk. 3:21 & 32). The teachers of the law were accusing him of being in league with Satan (Mk. 3:22). What is often taken from the parable, but was not Jesus' intent, is that our responsibility as Gospel Farmers stops at spreading the seed. Some appear to believe that the farmer bears no responsibility for the productivity of the soil. The soil conditions are completely beyond his or her control and are the result of conditions that are unrelated to Gospel Farmers. Just "willy nilly" throw the seed about and hope for the best. This would be a disastrous strategy for a modern farmer as it is just as detrimental to the Kingdom of God. It seems to me that much of the Kingdom work is in fact soil preparation. After all we are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14). The Apostle Paul certainly spent a good deal of his energy in soil preparation. "To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." (1 Cor. 9:21-23) In many ways Missionaries understand this better than those of us trying to be Gospel Farmers in our own cultures. They automatically know that the soil needs to be tilled. They work at language acquisition and contextualization to make sure the Gospel is heard clearly. Our challenge is to see the stones in our Western Canadian culture and to work at removing them. Some of the stones we will be talking about in this series: Christians are Bigots and Hate Gays; Christians Only Care About Themselves; Christians are Bound by Rules; Christians are Not Deep Thinkers and Hate Science; and All Christians are Hypocrites.

Star Trek - Lost Frontier : 01.11 A Prophet Without HonorThe Enterprise is dispatched to the Bajoran system to discover the fate of Deep Space 9 and the crew of the Starship Defiant. But Section 31 has its own agenda for the mission. One that could mean the death of everyone on Bajor.Download (38:34, 53.1 MB, released 2008.11.05)Written by Joel JordanFeatured in the cast were:Mark Bruzee as Captain TraskLaura Post as Commander NilesDavid Ault as Mister WinfredMichael Wilkinson as Ben SiscoMichael King as RookJeanine Yamanaka as T'LocMelissa D. Johnson as Thyla GarakAndrew Edwards as Commander RansomBill Holoweg as Chief PopeLucien Dodge as Sid KirkBen Harmer as Liem KincaidElie Hirchman as Zog and the OfficerEric Busby as the engineerJudah Friese as Captain FrieseSeth Adam Sher as the announcerDirection, production, and audio engineering by Eric BusbyThis has been a Darker Projects production.