Thank you!

Although I receive dozens of emails from many of you regarding your thoughts, this has been a rare opportunity to be with you in person.

Our personal conversations have inspired and encouraged me.  And it’s really nice to connect the dots by putting your names with faces. From here on in when I receive e-mails from you I’ll be able to see you in my mind and heart.

Lynne and I still have a week and a half to go. So I’m looking forward to meeting many more of you. Please come up to me and introduce yourself so we can have a bit of a chat.

Back in November 2009 I locked myself away with Lynne and David to develop the eSeminar plan.  I agreed to a big schedule, little did I really know how big a schedule I had agreed to until I was in the middle of producing the programs.

I see the movement of my work to this new remote training model as the biggest and most exciting step for me from the past few years.  I am really just starting to understand the power of remote training and how I can transfer my message to this new medium.

I guess that you too might be wondering about this whole eLearning thing and that I am doing.  Each of my eSeminars is something like 30-45 minutes of video and audio.  Once you are registered I email the notes, handouts and worksheets before the eSeminar is made available.  In some of the eSeminars you will also need to have completed some activities before the session begins, in others we will work through the activities together.  Then I send the link to the video and audio component.  You can watch the video or listen to the audio as many times as you like.  You can even start and stop the video or watch from home, school or your iPhone on the bus if you like.

As I get my head around the whole eSeminar modules I will even do some live events, you get the link and phone number and a designated time.  Then you log in and get to see me, hear me, ask me questions as we work through a topic together.  The whole thing is recorded and you can watch it again later, or even just the bit that you want to review.

This is the introduction to my first eSeminar – Strategic Listening.  The actual complete eSeminar will be released next week.

During the past 2-3 years on my Australian Tours I have had the chance to teach a truly special program.  My Women in Leadership program is a 3-Day event.  I have had such great fun and enjoyment during these sessions.

The program runs again in 2010.  You can register with the Centre for Strategic Education here

This is an overview and introduction to the program.

I was just thinking the other day about my speaking diary for the coming months when I realised that I will be in Australia this time next month.

I have some fantastic programs planned for my 3 weeks in Melbourne, Australia.  Many of the sessions are private and I can’t invite you along sorry.

But there are some public events that I would love to see you at:

You can book with the Victorian Independent Education Union to attend these sessions:

Fostering Leadership Teams – Book Here

The power of influence: how to communicate in the most challenging situations – Book Here

Advanced Skills in communication – Book Here

You can book to attend my Women in Leadership Program with the Centre for Strategic Education via this link

I have a great day on Coaching, you can book via this link

If you do come along to one of my training sessions on this Australian Tour, please be sure to introduce yourself as one of my blog readers.  I would just love to meet you when I am in Australia.

In an activity called ‘The Grid’ students confronted boredom, frustration, and exasperation as they hit the emotional wall of wanting to quit. Finally they learned to CHOOSE the positive emotions that would help them reach their goal. Students came to realize that every goal will challenge their commitment. They discovered that they needed to choose the social and emotional experiences that would support their goals and dreams.

Two men, Lovell Harris and Lanson Kupau, joined me on the platform during the final day. Lovell is one of the best drug and alcohol counselors in the Pacific Region and Lanson is a lawyer that came from the same streets as the students we were teaching. Each shared a bit of their story and their secrets to achieving success.

“You have to use your emotions in a positive way,” Lovell said. “Give yourself a big enough WHY and you can achieve any HOW!” Lovell continued “For myself, one WHY was my mother. She worked hard to raise 6 boys and she deserved to have her son succeed and make a contribution to the lives of others.”

Lanson said to dream big and back it with desire. “There will be big challenges, he said, “But don’t get sidetracked by them. “Stay focused on the goal.”

Emotional and social intelligence were front and center all day long. “Choose friends who support you and keep your emotions positive,” they both said.

The student responses:

• “Life-changing!”
• “I’ll never be the same!”
• “I know I can go for it now!”
• “We need to do this for a lot more students in the school!”

Social and emotional literacy is vital to success, satisfaction and happiness. And now 30 more students have a clear vision of the steps they need to take to make a contribution in the world!

Aloha from the beautiful Hawaiian Islands of Hawaii, Trin

It’s been very strange to be cut off from Twitter and my blog for a week… like living back in the mid 19th century. It felt as if my lifeline had been cut. Naturally, I was able to release the angst about it, but even with that, I felt disconnected from my support lines!

Ah well, back on line for the moment! The tour has been wonderful – wonderful people and great connections with leaders from all walks of life!

What I also love about these tours away from my home in Hawaii is the opportunity to play, visit with friends, and see the country. Lynne, David Linke and his wife, Andrea, and I took the dinner tram last night. It was an incredibly good 5 course dinner served on a tram as it circles the city of Melbourne. We checked in and boarded the tram at 8:30pm. As soon as we were seated the dinner team served our first glass of champagne as the tram rumbled forward. 

Time dissolved into the background as food, laughter and the company of good friends filled our evening. Before we knew it we pulled into the station to the tune of “Good Night Sweetheart, Well It’s Time To Go…” It was 11:30pm; three hours had flashed by in the blink of a moment.

There’s so much to see and do in Melbourne, but this one is a must! I’d recommend it to anyone!!

It will be a bit before I get back to my blog on a regular basis. I have to sort things out with the management of the apartment where I'm staying.

It's amazing to engage with 50 or 60 individuals all with an incredible history that they bring with them. Each person has family and friends as well as a rich support network. Each comes from different professional backgrounds from the government level to school principals, deputies and educators.

The sharing and team participation has been amazing. Something very magical happens when people get together and connect with hearts and minds. I'm  not sure there are words to describe the feelings that these sort of interactions inspire…

Authentic, rich, genuine, energizing, electrifying, nourishing, animated, exciting, motivating, uplifting— creating a kind of synergy not always experienced in our day to day professional lives.

Dr. Barb Watterston is on the left. Barb is the one who made all of the Women in Leadership courses available in Melbourne.

Until Barbara came along, I had never done a course  specifically for women. It was through Barb's realization of the importance of women in the workplace and the very special contribution that women leaders have to make, that I started these programs eight years ago. Thank you Barb! The Women in Leadership courses have grown every year, because of you and the work you do through CSE.

If only photos could really express the magic of minds and hearts working together! They may not do it completely, but they often seem to do it better than I can with words alone. So enjoy these few snapshots…

And please forgive me, I wasn't sure of all the names, but faces and hearts, I recognize!

Much Aloha from Down Under, Trin

Included you will find the team activity that we discussed yesterday as well as 7 other uses for the storyboards. Many of these were contributed by your colleagues in other schools. I invite you to post some of your ideas with us also! Download Storyboard Uses St. Kevin's

The 4 box is for the younger students including Kindie through year 3 or 4 or so depending on the development of the students.Download 4 box A4 copy The 9 box is for year 4 or 5 & on through the year 12 groups. Download 9 box A4 copy

Before doing a storyboard activity, I get students engaged by teaching them how to do a storyboard. I do this in stages:

1. Using your favorite 2 colors, draw a simple border around the first 2 boxes.
2. Now try a little more complex borders around the next 2 boxes.
3. Then do some background colors using highlighters instead of bold color.
4. Then draw some symbols on the board or ask students what are some of the symbols they might use on their storyboards to show different thoughts or ideas. (Examples might be a light bulb, a bolt of lightening, a smiley face etc.)

Here is a sample of a student's storyboard to give you a sense of the creativity that can occur.

  And here is another.

Notice how different the interpretations and uses are. No two storyboards from two different students will be alike! I'm sure that you can immediately guess that the one on the left was done by a 17 year old male student. (Notice the habits burning up in the fire!)

For all of you, please enjoy the activites and let us know how you do once you have a go at it!

It was a fabulous two days with an incredible professional team. I’m always amazed and inspired by individuals and teams when they commit to raising the bar and the then go for the leap!! And that is just what they did!

To my great regret, I was so immersed in the people and the event that I completely forgot to take any pics, and there would have been lots of good ones… There are stunning visual indications in the faces and the body language as units of people turn into teams. I’m so sorry that I did not document some of the two days.

We closed with Lisa, one of the team members, singing Bobby McGee. Lisa started playing the guitar when she was 7 years of age and she is, in my humble opinion, truly gifted and exceptionally good!

But there you go; I missed a great photo op!! So instead we have a photo of AU by night. It’s nice, but it doesn’t quite take the place of the light in people’s eyes when they have an insight, or the beauty of individuals totally engaged in a meaningful dialogue. I promise to get some photos of the team when we return for another day in August!

Anyway, mindfulness rules! The NOTE TO SELF in my mind’s eye is working. All is good. I even kept a positive mind set even when the pilot surprised us with the news that we had to land in American Samoa to refuel on the way to Sidney. The reason… the plane wasn’t built to do long distance travel and didn’t have enough fuel tanks to make the long trip.