Sunday, March 27, 2005

Tip #63: Gustatory Engagement: Taste

Some of you may be thinking that the sense of taste really does NOT have to be addressed in a training program. However, if you really want to create a positive learning environment, food can play a huge role. There are a number of reasons for this, so I'll just list the first four that come to mind. First, most people like to eat. Second, food is a traditional means of social bonding. Third, many people associate food with love or nurturing relationships. Fourth, chocolate can stimulate the same feel-good endorphins that make people feel loved.

Those who provide training in the private sector may typically offer continental breakfasts or at least coffee and rolls in the morning, and cookies and soda in the afternoon. Your participants may even expect this and complain loudly if it is lacking, especially caffeinated beverages in the morning!

The experience of those who train in the public sector is dramatically different, because there is typically no provision for such gustatory amenities!

That is why I bring candy of all kinds, including nut-free and sugar-free candy, to all of my workshops. It is an unexpected treat for the participants that creates a very positive and relaxed mood- especially if you have a variety that respects different tastes and dietary restrictions.

Sometimes, I will tell the story behind the candy. There is a tradition that when a Jewish child first begins to study the Torah, which is an important religious book, the child is asked to touch the Torah and then dip a finger into honey, to learn that learning is sweet. Now you know the origin of my sign off line! It seems an appropriate welcome to the participants and a way to reinforce their taking the time to invest in themselves and their learning.

Over the years, I have noticed different regional, generational, and personal preferences for candy. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, there was a run on the watermelon Jolly Rancher hard candies! In Wausau, Wisconsin, people couldn't get enough of the caramels! In some locations, no one wants the dark chocolate Hershey squares, while in others, that's what the discriminating candy lovers desire. Baby Boomers really get a kick out of "old fashioned" candy mixes that include Bit of Honey and other candies they fondly remember from their childhoods.

However, in ALL locations, you can't go wrong with Hershey chocolate nuggets, both with and without nuts! I should have taken out stock in Sam's Clubs years ago, because of all the bulk candy I purchase there! Just remember to select individually wrapped candies and bring your own plastic stacking candy bowls!

Of course, there are considerations regarding the transport of candy- especially in warm months or warm climates. I made the mistake of bringing chocolates to Alabama in the summer and leaving them in the car for fifteen minutes. I came back to chocolate soup! Even in Wisconsin I have learned that I need a cooler to keep the candy intact during the summer (especially the sugar-free hard candies, which actually melt faster than chocolate candies).

In the winter in Wisconsin, I can keep the candy in my car or in my garage. The only caveat is that I have to warn participants not to bite into them immediately, because they may lose a tooth in the frozen candy!

So, bowls of candy on the tables, and caffeinated beverages and food in an easily accessible location, can create a welcoming environment. Cold water at each table is also a kindness, particularly if it is replenished after each break. Your participants are your GUESTS, and providing these food treats is a relatively simple and inexpensive way to establish a warm and relaxed learning environment.

If you keep the candy bowls filled and pay attention to the candy wrappers (so you can see what the individual preferences are!), you can also reinforce a caring relationship with individual participants! But don't move too quickly to refill those bowls, because participants will network when they go to candy-pick from other table's candy bowls! You will also notice participants bonding by seeking out favorite candies for each other.

Food can be used as a positive reinforcement or reward during a training session. I like to hand out Tootsie Roll Pops to reward participants who "Pop UP" during kinesthetic comprehension-checking exercises. Cracker Jacks provide a happy surprise reward, and if you would like to motivate real competition between participants, just offer small bags of peanut M&M's as the winning prize! A word of warning: to avoid creating conflict, it is wise to ultimately give everyone a treat!

If two participants or table groups are feuding or simply disagreeing with each other, one way to lighten the mood is to ask that each offer the other some candy!

I also use food as a rite of passage. In Madison, Wisconsin (my home base), the participants in any of my training that lasts for three or more days get a choice of the type of Kringle (a wonderful Wisconsin coffee-cake-like treat!) they want for the last day. They can select from a huge assortment of fruit and/or nut and/or cheese Kringle, and I always bring at least two to be sure to meet everyone's needs. This also requires remembering to bring a knife to cut the Kringle, plus napkins. In Kringle-less locations, donuts are an easy replacement.

A discussion regarding food in training programs would not be complete without mentioning lunch. Particularly if the lunch is provided as a part of the training program, you want to encourage the planners to avoid heavy meals and turkey on the menus! Both will put your participants (and possibly you!) to sleep afterwards. After lunch, your participants will appreciate finding mints in the candy bowl.

A positive gustatory experience can generate open, relaxed, and receptive learning engagement.

This ends our exploration of ways to satisfy the sense of taste. Next week, we will conclude our exploration on the ways to engage the senses with a discussion on how a trainer can satisfy the sense of smell for those olfactory learners!

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Tip #62: Haptic Engagement: Touch

This week, let's look at the variety of kinesthetic objects a trainer can provide to ensure haptic engagement. Although these items can be incorporated into learning exercises, our focus this week is on objects that can keep haptic learners' hands occupied so that they can better concentrate on the learning content.

The variety of objects you can provide, typically in a basket or a pile in the middle of each table of participants, is as long and as wide as your imagination. However, the following items seem to appeal to participants and can be much less distracting for everyone around them than a clicking pen or jingling pocket change!

  • Koosh balls

  • Balls of different shapes and sizes

  • Wire puzzles

  • Wooden peg games

  • Slide puzzles

  • Plastic puzzle balls

  • Hacky sacks

  • Pipe cleaners

  • Slinkies

  • Modeling clay

  • Tops

  • Paddle balls

  • Legos

  • Foam dice

  • Playing cards

  • Wooden interlocking puzzles

  • Post-it notes

  • Bubbles

If you train in one location, it is easy to buy some plastic containers for participants' tables and keep them filled with a variety of objects. If you travel to different training locations, as I do, you may need to be more judicious in your choices.

When I can drive to the location, I use a plastic pull cart I purchased at Staples that I keep packed with Koosh, plastic puzzle balls, foam dice, post-it notes, bubbles, and modeling clay. When I fly, I may need to pack more lightly, but many of these objects aren't very heavy, and pipe cleaners, slide puzzles, and wire puzzles will also travel well.

Three mail order places I like to look for creative kinesthetic ideas and products, typically found listed under toys or novelties, offer a wide variety in bulk at good prices:

If you have other recommendations, I would be happy to post them.

This ends our exploration of ways to satisfy the sense of touch. Next week, we will discuss how a trainer can satisfy the sense of taste for those gustatory learners!

Thursday, March 3, 2005

Tip #61: Haptic Engagement: Touch

This week, let's begin to look at the range of tactile activities that can support training content and deepen learning.

For example, the simple activity of putting pen to paper: to take notes, to complete worksheets, or to highlight reference information, can offer satisfaction to the haptic learner and increase the probability of retention.

Tactile activities can increase energy and create community. In Playfair, Matt Weinstein and Joel Goodman, describe an Imaginary Ball Toss. The trainer begins by describing the ball in his or her hand, calling out someone's name, and pretending to throw the ball to that person. The "ball" may begin the size of a tennis ball, become a basketball, an egg, a watermelon, or whatever each person chooses to say it is before they "throw " it to the next person. It is a fun way for participants to get to know each others' names.

Another example: as participants enter a training room, they are given a piece of a cardboard puzzle and told to create a group with people whose pieces help to complete the puzzle. The completed puzzle may depict the structure of the organization or reinforce a key learning concept. In this case, all the participants have to do is interact with each other to find the missing pieces of the puzzle. It begins as a tactile exercise, but it involves interaction and movement, culminating with a visual reinforcement.

Taking this up a notch, Broken Squares is an excellent tactile teambuilding exercise. Each member of the group is given an envelope containing oddly shaped pieces of cardboard for forming squares. When the signal is given to begin, the task of the group is to form one square in front of each member. Only parts of the pieces for forming the five squares are in each envelope. The exercise has two goals: the individual goal of forming a square as fast as possible, and the group's goal of having squares formed in front of every member as fast as possible.

The specific rules for this exercise are as follows:

  1. No talking, pointing, or any other kind of communication is allowed among the five members of the group.

  2. No person may ask another member for a piece of the puzzle or in any way signal that another person is to give her a puzzle piece.

  3. Members may give puzzle pieces to other members.

  4. Members may not throw their pieces into the center for others to take; they have to give the pieces directly to one person.

  5. Anyone may give away all the pieces of his puzzle, even if s/he has already formed a square.

  6. Part of the role of the observers is to enforce these rules.

This nonverbal, tactile exercise generates both individual and group insights regarding why teams exist and how individual team member behavior can help or hinder team success. You can find this exercise, as well as many other interactive exercises, in a wonderful book titled Joining Together, by David and Frank Johnson.

Accelerated learning advocates tactile interactive exercises. Here are a few examples, many of which are drawn from Dave Meier, whose The Accelerated Learning Handbook is a treasure trove of great training ideas:

Balloon bop and burst. Have each person write down something they hate doing or have difficulty doing on a very small piece of paper. They need to blow up a balloon, put the paper in the balloon, and tie if off. Then there is a balloon bop (hitting the balloons back and forth in the air while music plays. When the music stops, everyone must grab a balloon and pop it. They then have a specific amount of time to come up with solutions to the problem on the piece of paper that was in their balloon.

Around the world. Create flash cards with questions about best practices on the front (and answers on the back). Each team forms a circle. A facilitator reads the question to the first contestant, who gets to move behind the person seated to his or her right for each question answered correctly. When a question is answered incorrectly, the person sits down and the individual in the chair gets to stand up and start answering the questions. The first person who is able to answer enough questions to get back to his or her seat wins.

Hangman. Give each team a deck of cards with questions on one side and the answers on the other. Then have them take turns answering the questions as they play hangman.

Toilet paper. Get a roll of gag toilet paper. As the participants come into the room, they get to take as many squares of the toilet paper as they want. The catch is that, when everyone is there, each person has to tell as many new things about themselves (that few people know already) as the number of toilet paper squares they tore off.

Scavenger hunt. Give each team the same list of 10 or 20 items of information to gather in a set amount of time, using resources in the room.

Poster contest. Have the teams create posters, using a variety of art materials, to get across a key idea.

These tactile activities build energy, enthusiasm, and camaraderie, as they reinforce learning. Talk about a painless way to check for comprehension! What I love is that these activities are so very easy and economical to create and use, and participants really enjoy doing them.

Next week we will continue our discussion of haptic engagement through touch using kinesthetic objects.

Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Tip #60: Haptic Engagement: Touch

I don’t remember when I first discovered Koosh balls, but they have been a permanent fixture in all of my training programs for over twenty years. Permanent, that is, unless participants walk off with them!


Tactile learners, learners with energy to spare, learners who are not used to sitting for any period of time, haptic and kinesthetic learners, and learners who are stressed- all gravitate to the Koosh balls. They will squeeze them, hold them, bounce them, throw them, and even juggle them as they “self-medicate” with these brightly colored balls of soft rubber strands.

Koosh balls can generate an instant change in individual and group energy. When participants stand to introduce themselves, having a Koosh ball in their hands helps to absorb their nervousness. When someone says something that might elicit a groan, participants can throw the Koosh ball at the offending speaker and keep the mood light.

When the energy of the group starts to flag, a Koosh toss for several minutes is a guaranteed pick-me-up. You will feel the energy in the room surge as your participants try to keep as many Koosh balls in the air as possible. Their smiles and laughter will refresh everyone.

Often, the haptic and kinesthetic learners don’t even realize that they have a Koosh ball in their hand. Luckily for everyone else, Koosh balls don’t make a sound. They are a much better silent replacement for the usual clicking pens and jingling coins.

Koosh balls can be a means of bonding. Some competitive or prankster table groups may amass a pile of Koosh balls for a friendly sneak assault on other tables.

Often there is at least one person who knows how to juggle, providing entertainment for those who like to watch. A break may offer an occasion for just-in-time training for novice jugglers and positive acclaim from those not blessed with similar hand-eye coordination.

There are actually three different sizes of Koosh: mini (the size of a lemon), cosmic (the size of an orange), and mondo (the size of a grapefruit). I personally prefer the cosmic Koosh, because the mini seem too small and the mondo are heavy enough to bean someone if they’re thrown with too much enthusiasm!

Koosh balls add instant color and energy to a training room. They are easily portable and relatively inexpensive. You just have to remember to check under all of the tables in the training room at the end of the day, to make sure you don’t miss any that have fallen on the floor!

You can sometimes find Koosh balls at stores such as Target, Shopko, or Toys R Us. If not, a search on the internet will give you many options.

Next week we will continue our discussion of haptic engagement through touch. And if anyone knows who walked away with my favorite silky soft green Koosh ball, I would love to have it back!!