Bringing Sunshine to Staff Meetings

[#facilitation + a gift🎁⬇️] Well, #teachers: today I share one tip that may be fun/helpful for anyone who wants to try out weaving some lightheartedness into the next small staff meeting they have.

The following outlines what I sometimes use for a 5-10 minute meeting purely focused on updates relating to an area of my responsibility.

In such meetings, I may do the following:

💡Use just one slide

💡Split slide into sections and add updates inside different boxes

💡Add animation of the text to allow each bit of info to enter bit by bit

🌟FUN: Add a theme to each segment in the slide: I like using the weather forecast analogy for mine

Here’s an example of when I have delivered this:

• I need to update the team on anything relating to publishing updates for schools in my region.

• I assign a box on the slide for each segment: EYFS, Primary, Secondary, and I add updates to each box.

• I mention the ‘weather forecast’ for each segment.

When presenting it might go like this…

🌥“Well, folks, it’s a bit cloudy over in the EYFS due to [insert update here…]”

Or:

☀️“We’re pretty sunny in Secondary because […update].

I am not sure how best to describe this - it is just a bit of fun to preface the otherwise fairly routine information you sometimes need to get across.

What can I say? I enjoy laughter & lightness.

Here's why I think this works in terms of #engagement:

✅It shows your attendees exactly what will be covered in your time slot. With endless slides, they have no clue what’s happening next (there is a time and a use for that). But in a short updates meeting, it shows them how much focus they need to sustain.

✅Not all updates are relevant to everyone. Knowing what is to come allows members to tune in or out accordingly.

✅There is anticipation: you never know what the weather is going to be like in the next segment… Pretty fun. 😄

✅It allows you ‘go back’ and discuss things easily because it's all on one slide.

🎁I love this slide template for quick ‘update’ meetings so much that I share it with you here. Here it is: a selection of the raw PPT slides that I use, with animation included. Feel free to tinker with these as a template for your own next staff update meeting:

➡️🔗Download template here: https://we.tl/t-kTslwRngwo

It expires in about a week. So if you are reading this from the future (hello!), and would like the template, let me know in the comments or by message.

Enjoy. 🤓

Sumbella

P.S. I’m known to laugh through life. My counsellor also identified laughter as an occasional coping mechanism when facing toxic or abusive situations. (We all have different ways of pushing through). Anyway, here’s the point: I like to laugh, and I like weaving fun into my meetings and trainings too. The question begs: should I have pursued a career in standup? @Noha - we have chatted about this. The pull becomes stronger everyday.

P.P.S. I am no graphic designer. If anyone feels like making these more beautiful, let’s talk 🙏🏼✨

🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sumbella_facilitation-teachers-engagement-activity-7028464751848341504-An6P