Kit check….. including socks, by 8:00 and then out of the door. Why are my socks part of my kit check? Simple: lots of the breathing and posture exercises we do are ideally done without shoes on and it’s pretty embarrassing to take my shoes off and have holes by the toes!
By 8:30 I’m at the venue and checking what’s not working. We use projectors, laptops and so on and: inevitably if something’s not working it’s not what you think…. it’s the stuff you don’t think of… Laptop’s fine, projector’s fine… so what’s the….? oh yes! The cables that connect them! We carry our own of everything in case client’s kit isn’t “as advertised”. Come to that, we carry spares of everything (except one of our cables ‘cos that is the spare, the original having gone “walk-about” last week!).
Then it’s time to do what we do… clients are generally very nervous indeed when we start so the first exercises are always the critical ones. We have to make sure everyone’s in the right frame of mind to work (and work hard) but also having fun. Watch out for the quiet, shy ones… work with the exuberant ones….. change the running order of the day if that’s what clients’ need.
It’s all about “doing a swan”. The topside is calm, cool, collected and in control. The stressy, sweaty bits are no-one’s business but our own. We have a mantra about our own performances: if it looks like we’re working hard, we’re not working hard enough!
Lunch: informal chatting to people to find out where they want the afternoon to go and what they want to concentrate on. I’ve got a ‘default’ in mind, of course, after consulting with the manager who hired us, but it’s always good to be flexible. Without people noticing I’m not longer there, leave and prepare for the afternoon session. Another kit-check, another set of exercises to warm up again…. more time with the clients…
This is the part of the day I typically really love: all the stuff we’ve done in the morning has started to seep into people’s minds and they’re able to start applying it. The improvements are often spectacular at this point and it’s great to see people’s self-esteem rocketing, and share their sense of empowerment.
Towards the end of the day we often spend a lot of time integrating the different technical things we’ve done during the day and bringing things all together. It’s a very intense part of the process and we have to manage it carefully as people are tired by now, too. Sometimes though, we laugh so hard it hurts.
Feedback time and good-byes: then questions and dealing with individual issues if people want. Then pack the kit (you should see us trying to carry Djembe drums and cymbols on public transport!) and to the nearest cafe to de-brief (which is almost my favourite part of the day).
Back to the office and sort out what’s needed for tomorrow (good fun) and dealing with the administration (not good fun!).
Oh yes… and then a shower!
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