This summer, my mentor passed away.
Sue Walden was an amazing woman who taught me to ‘listen to the room’. And many other things, because she taught me so much more.
I think of her almost every time I give a training and I use this technique she showed me. In her honor, I share it here…
When you are facilitating a group and you have given them an exercise to do in pairs or groups, you can always listen to the room to know when you say the exercise is done. 90% of the time, the volume in the room will follow this pattern:
From murmur to conversation: The start of the exercise will be people starting soft and quickly picking up in volume.
The lull: After picking up, the volume will at some point quiet down. This is the point where you as a trainer might think: ‘ah, they are out of stuff to talk about, let’s end the exercise.’ But, almost always, the lull is followed by…
The peak: A peak of laughter or loud talking immediately follows the lull. The peak is usually short and then goes back to normal conversation level.
I was surprised how often this is true. Now, knowing this, Sue taught me to use it. Do you want your participants in a more focused, reflective, quiet mood for the next part of your training? Then end the exercise during the lull. Use a soft voice to get them to come back to listening to you. But do you want them back in high spirits, while you are building up the energy in the room? Then wait for the peak and, enthusiastically, end the exercise to guide them towards the next activity.
Did you miss your moment? No matter, usually the cycle repeats and you can wait for the next lull or peak to gather the participants again.
So, thank you Sue, for showing me some large truths about life, but also for very useful techniques that make me think of you every time I’m with a group.
You are missed.
