Inside Out » review

Big Screen Magic

Sam — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:06:18 +0000

Using a slide-show for reflection

This article first appeared in Horizons magazine, Issue 55 (Autumn 2011)

When was the last time you managed a quiet, focused fifteen minutes of reflection and review with your group? Almost no speaking, just the occasional smile, laugh or tear. A mental journey through the physical one they have just been on.

Unless you are working with Trappist monks, the chances are that this is a rarity for you, as it is for most of us. However, there is one fool-proof way of making it happen.

A slide-show of pictures from a group’s adventures is a beautiful way of rounding off a programme and with modern technology it is easier than it has ever been. If we embrace reflection as a key part of experiential learning, and believe that an image is worth a thousand words, we can help the participants relive the emotions of a programme and reinforce the learning that they bring.

Capturing Images

The key to a good slide-show is having lots of good, relevant images. The days of slide film are almost behind us and, if you want to use the images during the course, you are going to have to go digital. Digital cameras are cheap and ubiquitous and most participants will have one on their mobile phone.

Try to capture all the parts of the programme, remember to pause during activities to take photos and don’t forget about meal times, whether round a table, fire or camp stove. Photograph places you visit, beautiful views, signs for venues you use, and get team photos up on mountains or down in caves. If you can show learning happening, clear teamwork or discussions going on, even better. You are aiming to tell the story of your adventure so the more parts of it you capture the better.

We normally set up a laptop in the corner of a room and every evening download the images of the day from everybody’s cameras and phones. This is also a good time do some basic editing, weeding out blurry images and selecting the best of the duplicates Ten minutes each night can save an hour later in the course when you are under pressure to get your show ready!

Telling the Story

All stories have a structure – a beginning, a middle and an end; your story has one too and a few minutes think about what it is can convert your slide-show from ‘what I did on my holidays’ to a powerful narrative.

If you imagine your story as a Homeric epic or Hollywood blockbuster, the first thing you will need to do is to set the scene and introduce your characters. If you are working with an organisation, try to capture a copy of their logo, you can often get it from the internet but nicer is to photograph it during the week. Look out for it on minibuses, clothing, paperwork or have the group make a copy out of natural materials.

You can ‘introduce’ the group by showing a team photo, perhaps when they first arrived – clean, apprehensive and excited. Even nicer is to ensure that during the programme you capture a portrait shot of each group member taking part in activities and ‘introduce’ them one by one with a photograph they probably don’t remember being taken. However, only do this if you have a face-shot of everybody, missing someone out suggests they weren’t part of the story!

Once you have set the scene and introduced your players you can get on with telling the story. If you want your group to relive the journey they have been on it’s probably best to do so chronologically. It will help them anchor the feelings they have watching the show with the events on the screen.

Try to balance the sections out, the fact it was easier to take photographs during the low ropes course and bushcraft than while kayaking shouldn’t be obvious in your show. Consider also significance of the events in your photo, two or three landscape shots from the summit are usually more important than two or three shots of that pretty rock face you passed on the way up!

If there were key moments during the programme, try to include them, no matter how poor quality or boring the photographs you have. A typical ‘from below’ climbing shot of someone completing their first route may never make it onto a guidebook front cover, but it will be packed with emotion for the person in it.

Aim for a mix of pretty photos, key moments and story telling images. All three have a part to play in evoking feelings and helping the participants to reflect.

As with all good stories, yours must come to an end. If you have selected the right images, there is a real possibility you will have stirred up significant emotions and care should be taken not to just ‘dump’ the watchers back into the here and now.

One way to wind up your show include a group photograph, this time as a dirty, weather- beaten and accomplished team. Another is to return to the organisations logo, or a slide with the title of the programme, dates and names of participants, perhaps drawn in the sand or scratched on a piece of slate or wood. Finally you could emulate the great film-maker Charlie Chaplin and finish with a slide that simply says “The End”.

About 3-4 seconds per slide seems to be about the right timing, any more and it will drag, any less and the watchers won’t have time to process the image before they are whisked on to the next one. If you are using music (see below) then you can frequently find a ‘fit to music’ button to help keep it sound and vision coordinated.

How many slides to use overall is a difficult question. Undoubtedly it is better to leave them wanting more than have them drifting off but use as many as you need to tell the story. If each image is unique and significant, their attention won’t be far away. On a short residential course I might expect to use 20-30 photos per day.

Resist the urge to tamper with your images too much. You are telling a true story, warts and all, not creating a fantasy master piece. Crop and straighten if you feel you need to but the more ‘raw’ your show is, the closer it will connect with its audience. As tempting as it may be to add captions, funny or otherwise, remember that you are helping the participants reflect on their story not telling your version of it. You wouldn’t make a witty quip after everything that was brought up in a discussion review so there is no need to here.

Engaging the Ears as well as the Eyes

Playing music along side your slideshow achieves a number of effects. As well as discouraging too much discussion, the right piece can trigger memories and help elevate the journey from merely exciting to truly epic.

Methods of playing music during the slideshow vary, from the slick integration of slideshow software to the carefully timed pressing of play on the ancient tape recorder. Don’t fret too much, once it’s playing it will do its job. Do make it loud enough to have an impact, no-one wants to strain to hear it.

If there have been particular pieces of music that have been prevalent during the programme, grab a copy and use them. Perhaps every time you got in a minibus the same chart hit seemed to be playing, or perhaps the same CD has been looping round all week. One last time won’t hurt anybody!

Alternatively choose some tracks that fit the story you are trying to tell. Non-vocal pieces work particularly well, after all, they were designed to tell a story. In particular, soundtracks from films can be particularly moving, the ‘Lord of Rings’ theme suits its own epic story well, and there is no harm in letting little of that rub off on your own.

There are a few tracks that seem appropriate to almost any self-development journey, it’s worth having a copy of them to hand, in case you need to improvise. Labi Siffre’s “Something Inside So Strong” and the recent cover of “Don’t Stop Believing” from the television series Glee have both been to known to reduce hardy outdoor instructors to quiet tears in the right circumstances!

Let It Play

Once you have set up your slideshow, give it a brief introduction and then let it play. There is no need to narrate it, the participants were there, they know what happened and it is more important that they visit their version of the events than hear yours.

If you have anything to say to the group, it’s probably best to do it before you start. Once the slide show ends, they will probably need time to decompress and to parse the emotions they have just felt. It is quite common to have participants in tears, hopefully of happiness and achievement, and they may need a short while to compose themselves. Gradually they will start to talk to each other and comment on what they have just seen, which is after all what review is all about!

Post Script: Useful Music to Accompany your Slideshow

Jurassic Park theme – John Williams, E.T theme – John Williams, Harry Potter Theme – John Williams, Lord of the Rings theme – Howard Shore, Don’t Stop Believing – Glee, Something Inside So Strong – Labi Siffre, You’ve Got a Friend – James Taylor, Kodachrome – Paul Simon, Perfect Day – Lou Reed, Proud – Heather Small

Post Script: Distribution

With the advent of digital images, it is easy to distribute your slide-show to the participants to take home, either for themselves or to show family, colleagues and friends. There are a number of software tools that allow you to knit the whole thing together into a neat package. It is worth remembering that there are rights issues surrounding the distribution of images and of music and it is worth making yourself aware of these and making sure you have the permission of the photographers involved. In practice, on a small scale it doesn’t seem to pose much of a problem. Also consider the issue of confidentiality, is everyone involved happy with the photos going out into the world? There is no easy answer but it is something worthy of thought.

The best way to use the last five minutes of every day

Sam — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 12:54:14 +0000

We use review and reflection a lot at Totem. Experiential learning, which underpins everything we do is not just learning from doing, it’s learning from thinking about doing.

Have you got 5 minutes each day to help improve your life, across the board? This article suggests that it might be a good idea to find the time.

The best way to use the last five minutes of every day.

Via Lorna (again), photo from Slack12′s flickrstream under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Reviewing Method : Verbs

Sam — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:53:25 +0000

A quick method for starting out a review (or reviving one that is stalling). Go around the room and ask people to tell the group all the verbs they have been doing today.

e.g.

Climbing, Canoeing, Swimming, Falling, Sliding, Catching, Carrying, Paddling, Shaking….

Alternatively, have them collect them on a flipchart, or white board.

I also find this useful in encouraging people to move from “task” to “process”, by guiding their thoughts towards the non-obvious verbs.

e.g.

Sharing, Arguing, Discussing, Leading, Learning, Helping, Supporting, Plotting, Scheming, etc

It’s a quick, lively, thought provoking exercise that can take on a life of it’s own!

10 Questions to Ask Before Conducting a Review

Sam — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:37:03 +0000

Review is a key tool for almost all forms of learning. Whether you call it an “after action report” or a “personal reflection”, we must review our actions if we are to learn from them.

Choosing the right form of review is a skilled task, more art than science. Here are 10 questions to ask yourself before you dive into your next review

1. Do we want to review what just happened?

Sometimes it’s important to review as a group, sometimes it’s best to let the action speak for itself. The individual’s reflection over time may be enough.

2. Are we ready to review yet?

Even if we want to review the action, are the participants in a state where it will be useful? Could they do with more time to process what just happened or are they bursting to share their thoughts?

3. Is this the right time to review?

Even if we feel ready to review what just happened, is it worth leaving until we have eaten or are less tired, or do we need to capture the learning now?

4. Are we in the right location to review?

Sometimes it helps to be at the scene of the action, sometimes some distance is useful. Is this setting inspirational, will it help anchor the learning. Are there distractions and are they useful?

5. Are the right people here to ensure a successful review?

Do we need the whole group here? Should we split into smaller groups? Do some people need to reflect on their own? With or without leaders/trainers?

6. What role will I have in the review?

Should I contribute? Facilitate? Sit quietly? Be absent? Observe?

7. What format and structure will the review take?

Options include: Group discussion, written reports, structured notes, questionnaires, presentations, personal conversations, pictures, slideshows.

8. What tools do I have available to me during the review?

Do I have access to exercises, models, pictures and theories that might help explain my points, or help others to make theirs?

9. Are we going to capture the review for further review?

Is the review of interest to anyone other than the participants? Will they want a chance to revisit the review again later? Will they be building on this review?

10. If we are, how?

Sometimes taking notes is useful, what about video? Is there a formal system in place for reflection that needs to be completed?

Reviewing Technique: Sorry Cards

Sam — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:18:11 +0000

“Always seems to me, that ‘Sorry’ seems to be the hardest word….”

-Elton John and Bernie Taupin

We all know it’s hard to say sorry. Even when we know we are wrong, or have wronged someone else, even when we know we should apologise, it can be the hardest thing in the world to do.

Maybe it’s the loss of face involved, the admission that we are failable. Maybe it’s the fact that we are making ourselves vulnerable to someone else, to scorn or ridicule. Even though we know that most apologies are accepted gracefully, we still have to find some inner strength to find the right words to say.

These Sorry Cards are designed to reduce the barriers to saying sorry. With groups of young people, I introduce them at the start of a course and let them know that they are available should the want them. If they need to apologies to someone they can come and get a card from me, no questions asked and give it to that person. If we have a base to work from I put them somewhere where they can help themselves.

By reducing the need to find the right words for the apology, and by turning it into a simple action, it reduces the feeling of exposing oneself to scorn, rejection or ridicule.

The have a number of different designs to let the giver chose a pattern they like, or think the receiver would like. You could of course create your own, or even get the group to create their own at the start of the course, in case they are needed.

Like all reviewing techniques it doesn’t work with every group, but if you have a fiery group where conflict is common, try it.

PDF: Sorry_Cards

Discussion group on innovative techniques in training

Sam — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:57:50 +0000

Nicki from Saltbox has been running a research project on “the ways in which creative arts, the natural environment, and holistic or healing techniques are used in training, and whether they help people to learn.” After her initial questionnaire, she writes;

We’ve been thrilled with the response – over 50 people have completed the questionnaire and we’ve also had lots of additional contributions via email and telephone. We are also reviewing existing research and good practice, and have amassed loads of really interesting and useful information as a result.

Our next stage is to follow up the initial survey with more in-depth discussions and investigations over the coming weeks, and to this end we are holding a Discussion group on Wednesday 16th December from 10.30am – 1.00pm at the Pierian Centre in Bristol. This is a great opportunity to participate further in this project and to do some valuable networking.

If you design/deliver or purchase training which uses creative or unusual techniques to have an impact, or have experience of this as a learner, and would like to come along and share your views, please email us to book a place.

Those who participate in the discussion group will get a free place at the launch event in the new year, where we’ll disseminate the results of this research in the form of a really useful, practical book or guide. We’ll also run workshops at this event to showcase some of the ideas and techniques explored during the research project, so it’ll be an event not to be missed.

We’ll be there, perhaps we will see you?

Review: Let My People Go Surfing

Sam — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:38:13 +0000

Let My People Go Surfing
by Yvon Chouinard
The Penguin Press HC
ISBN 978-1594200724

The subtitle of this book is “The education of a reluctant business man” and Yvon Chouinard definitely falls into this category. He practices MBA, or Management by Absence which has meant that everyone in his company has to have a strong idea of what they are trying to achieve. It’s difficult to ask your boss for guidance when he’s halfway up a peak in the Himalaya.

The first half of the book deals with the history of Patagonia, from its start in the back of his truck through to being a multinational equipment and clothing manufacturer.

It should be a tale of how not to do it, with itinerant climbers promoted to senior managers and a staff that has permission to disappear when the surf gets big. However the tale reads as an adventure yarn, with a real feeling of teamwork, tolerance and ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking. Instead of despairing at the ineptitude of the participants, you realise that this may be an alternative way of doing business.

In the late 80s, Patagonia started struggling and Chouinard realised that they had overreached themselves. When he had to lay of 250 of his workers, he decided that he needed to clarify in his own mind why he was running a business. The book goes on to explain the “philosophies” that were created to guide the company onwards.

The philosophies are like a 50 page mission statement, split into categories like “Product Design” and “Environment” and are there to guide any member of the company in making the best decision for the company. While his goals won’t be applicable to anybody else’s company, the process of setting those goals will be. If you want to see how important the environment is to Patagonia, look at their philosophies. If you want to know how they expect their suppliers to be treated, looking at the philosophies.

Every business person who aspires to create, run or work in a business that isn’t a nine-to-five, cubicle farm, sweatshop should read this book.

Links to buy: Patagonia and amazon.co.uk