This weekend, I hosted a wedding at my home for my niece and her (now) husband. A marquee was erected and 135 guests enjoyed a wonderful ceremony and amazing food.  

Unlike other weddings I have heard about, the bride was the furthest thing from a Bridezilla. She had spreadsheets with all the logistics organised down to the minute (apparently she has a 14 page honeymoon spreadsheet as well for their 2 month adventure in Europe). For many of you, this might seem like overkill. For us it was essential. 

As you would expect, not everything went according to plan. But, anytime something did go slightly awry, her organisation and pre-planning meant problems were easily solved and required very little attention.  

I teach this very thing when I’m working with trainers and facilitators. George Miller’s research tells us that the short-term memory can only hold 7 plus or minus 2 items of information. This explains why you go to the store without a list and may come back missing a few items as you can’t remember them all. He refers to these as  “available chunks of attention”.

When we are at the front of the room, it’s important to have as many available chunks of attention as possible so that you can have your attention directed out towards the group and be able to respond to their needs quicker and think on your feet where necessary.

Trainers and facilitators who are poorly prepared, or relying on slides or on unfamiliar ground will find they are using too many chunks to manage the logistics and may miss important indicators of group dynamics.
 
To do this you need three things:

• Planning - know the material, have a plan and manage as much as possible that is within your control.
• Poise - have as much familiarity and comfort around you as you can.  This includes what you wear (not a good idea to break in a new pair of shoes for an important gig) and what you use (tried and tested marker pens, technology, etc).
• Contingency - Not everything will go as well as you planned so bring extra materials for unexpected attendees, have a spare set of pens, bring your own laptop and have your own cables, batteries for microphones…. you get the idea. AND…. turn up early. Venue staff, with all the best of intentions, sometimes make executive decisions.

Turns out the one thing the bride didn’t pack was BluTack. Fortunately her Aunt, the host, is in the training business and has drawers full of it. Turns out, BluTack is the duct tape of the training world.