Libby Anderson provided an engaging hour that had everyone in attendance participating in her highly interactive session. She used real life examples to illustrate what Audience Engagement is all about. The following is a summary of the meeting take aways.

Typical attendees to training sessions can be classified into three categories.

• Hostage - has to be there
• Vacationer - just there to kill time
• Learners - genuinely there to learn and want to be in attendance

How to get through to the difficult ones?

• Establish your credibility using war stories
• Get everyone involved with a task or activity that is productive moving toward the session's goal
• Be sensitive when it comes to dealing with someone in pain, or that is distracted
• Establish for them "What's in it for me" (WIIFM)

Be aware of the audience moods especially when the current situation in the organization it tough.

• Anticipate - research the organization to understand what changes are taking place
• Articulate - let the audience know you understand the situation and stay away from humor
• Negotiate - propose how best to proceed in light of the situation and ask for feedback

Libby had us work in small groups to put our ideas and experiences together to present back to the group on how we have faced and dealt with Audience Engagement. She had us all engaged, connected with us, and we all had fun while learning.

It's Wednesday afternoon, and I am sitting in Joe Muggs inside Books- A- Million waiting to be inspired. And, I am waiting for my ASTD friends to join me for some coffee and some socializing.

My mocha is just the right temperature and packed full of chocolaty goodness - I'm beginning to get my second wind.

While relaxing, I begin to ponder about the state of our local chapter, our membership, and more importantly the future of ASTD of SWFL. Questions keep looping through my mind: Are we moving in the right direction? Are we providing value added programming? Are we growing? Can we do better? Are we connecting with our members?

STOP! I take another sip of my frothy concoction. In that instant, it comes to me, the answer to all of these burning questions is, YES! YES! YES! YES! And, YES!

SHOO!

Now inspired, here's what I do know for certain: over the last few months we have had 40% or greater of our membership attending monthly chapter meetings; membership is growing; our chapter received a Chapter Excellence Award for our focus on the CPLP; we have three members participating in a CPLP study group; we have three members going to ICE in Denver; we achieved CORE; and we had a presence at the Tri-County HR Conference.

And, according to ASTD National, ASTD of SWFL is considered a HIGH PERFORMING chapter!

Now, I don't want us to get too comfortable with this high performance stuff.   We, ASTD of SWFL, still have work to do. The future of our organization is dependent upon you, our membership. So, here is what I need from you. FEEDBACK! Please let us, your ASTD board, know what we can continue to do to provide you with an amazing chapter that offers value - so we can continue to evolve and continue to be HIGH PERFORMING.  

Stay connected, and I hope to see you in June. Even better, come to our next social night and I'll buy you a cup of coffee.

Stay connected and I will see you at the June Chapter Meeting!