This month’s field note explores what happens when I participate in a course as both an enthusiastic learner and a curious learning designer.

📓 Field Note: There’s learning in the content, and there’s learning in the design.
📍 Sparked by: Participating in Michael Bungay Stanier’s Bring Out Their Best course.
💡 Big idea: Notice the intentional moves that shape a learning experience.

Michael Bungay Stanier (MBS) is an author, thought leader, coach, and delightful teacher. Over the past few years, I’ve devoured almost all his books, recorded three podcast episodes about his work, incorporated his ideas into my presentations, and participated in his webinars and courses. I’m a true fan of his content, his writing, and his facilitation skills.

One of his ideas from How to Begin that I’ve shared countless times is the question, “What is this teaching me?” And now, as a participant in his live virtual course, Bring Out Their Best, I find myself asking that question again and again.

The course content is fabulous, but I’m also fascinated by the intentional design and facilitation moves that shape our learning. What makes this opportunity especially valuable is MBS’s generosity in occasionally pulling back the curtain and explaining the thinking behind his design decisions. And even when he doesn’t, I’m paying attention to the small moves that make a difference for learners.

I’ve practiced my own version of this with “Time Out for Transparency” moments in sessions, briefly explaining why I’ve designed a particular activity or made a facilitation decision. My participants seem to appreciate those glimpses behind the design, and now I’m reminded of how valuable they can be when I’m the learner.

Between his behind-the-scenes explanations and my own observations, I’ve been collecting quite a few ideas to #AdmireAndAcquire! Here are a few facilitation moves I’m noticing, appreciating, and considering for my own learning designs.

The Bring Out Their Best program includes two live webinars each week during October, and MBS begins each session with three introductory questions. Although the questions vary, they follow a similar progression.

First, he invites us to assess how we’re arriving as learners: “How focused are you right now? Rate yourself from 1–7.” Then he encourages us to make one small adjustment that might help us become more focused: close extra tabs, close a door, silence our phones, etc. He emphasizes that the number itself doesn’t matter. What matters is noticing where we are and taking responsibility for how we show up.

I’ve already borrowed this question for my own presentations, and I appreciate how he adapts it for each session, sometimes asking how engaged, grounded, or ready we feel. I’ve tried similar questions in live webinars, but they make perfect sense for face-to-face or even asynchronous experiences, too.

His second question is, “Who is your person?” or sometimes, “Who am I here to serve?” He invites us to share initials, titles, or descriptions in the chat, and if someone names “my team,” he gently challenges the participant to identify a single person. Throughout the webinar, he returns us to that person, helping us connect what we’re learning to someone specific.

Because the course draws on The Coaching Habit, many participants may be thinking about people they coach. But I can see how identifying a single person could strengthen many of my sessions, too. I sometimes use the prompt, “Who else would benefit from you being here?” (an idea from the Headspace meditation app), but I’ve never asked participants to identify just one person.

The third question connects directly to the session’s content, preparing us to think about bringing out the best in ourselves and others. Together, the questions move us from noticing our own readiness to identifying someone we’re learning for, and finally to engaging with the content.

MBS explains that he wants to move us from passive to active participants, and these questions do exactly that. He also begins coaching immediately, responding to the chat, inviting participants to tinker with their answers, and encouraging us to react to one another’s contributions.

I regularly begin sessions with reflection and connection activities, but this particular sequence has me thinking more intentionally about how those opening moments build readiness, purpose, and participation.

And speaking of the chat, one of my biggest takeaways from observing MBS’s facilitation is the way he invites us to contribute to one another’s learning. He constantly reminds us that sharing in the chat is an act of generosity, one that elevates the collective wisdom in the room.

If someone struggles to respond, he encourages them to read through the chat for inspiration. He regularly thanks participants for sharing bravely, thoughtfully, and generously, recognizing that some questions invite vulnerability.

His responses also reinforce that the facilitator isn’t the only person with valuable ideas. He has said, “Oh, I hadn’t thought of that response,” or “That’s a new perspective,” modeling curiosity and demonstrating that he’s learning from participants, too.

I regularly encourage chat participation during webinars and use collaborative Docs, Padlet, and other tools to invite contributions in face-to-face and asynchronous learning experiences. But I’ve never framed those contributions as gifts to other learners. That’s a small change in language I can’t wait to try.

One of my favorite MBS presentation techniques is his use of handwritten notecards instead of traditional slides. He holds each card up to the camera, allowing us to see his face rather than a screen full of slides. There’s something charming and personal about this simple, analog approach.

I decided to #AdmireAndAcquire this technique for a presentation at a Learning Forward conference. I was sharing my Academy project with small groups rotating through 20-minute table conversations in a large ballroom, so traditional slides weren’t practical. Instead, I created my own paper slide deck, borrowing MBS’s style but incorporating my brand colors, logo, and A+ Approach.

The cards were a hit! Several participants even asked to photograph my slide deck. And in a funny full-circle moment, a photo of me holding those cards is now featured in this year’s Learning Forward conference program. 😂

It’s a reminder that we don’t have to replicate someone else’s technique exactly. We can borrow the idea, adapt it to our context, and discover what works for our learners.

[I share more about creating my paper slides, including a few practical tips, in Paper Slides for the Win.]

What I’m appreciating most about this Bring Out Their Best experience isn’t just the opportunity to learn from an excellent facilitator. It’s his willingness to make his thinking visible. By sharing the intention behind his design decisions, MBS is extending his generosity beyond the course content. And that’s a reminder that when we share our own thinking, we create opportunities for others to learn, too.

As you design your next presentation, session, or workshop, consider one small move you could borrow or adapt:

You don’t need to redesign an entire session. Choose one move, make it your own, and notice what happens.

What’s one facilitation move you’ve admired and acquired from someone else, and how did you make it your own?

I’d love to add a few new ideas to my own collection!

Noting, reflecting, connecting,
Kathryn

PS: If something here sparked an idea, please forward this post to an EduFriend who’s also designing professional learning. ✨

This newsletter is inspired by the idea of self-anthropology from Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff. Just like field notes help researchers make sense of what they observe, these monthly reflections help me capture ideas, tools, and questions from my own work designing professional learning. I share them here in the spirit of experimentation, connection, and ongoing refinement.

🤖 AI helped polish this post, but the ideas, intention, curation, and care are all mine.