Why does training do that?

Why does training do that?

I have been on a course today which was delivered through Creative Futures on behalf of the Arts Council.  I didn’t really know what to expect and being a shy type (honest!) I felt a little nervous upon arrival.  Having plenty of training and facilitation experience myself, I am always surprised that I tend to feel nervous when I first arrive ... Oh I know, It's the strangeness of it all ...  turning up in a strange place to meet strange new people and learn strange new things ... but you see it’s not that, it’s the fact that I get the urge to giggle whilst the facilitator is speaking and I have no idea why ... and it only happens when I attend a training session! (maybe it’s the coffee and oaty biscuit combination) Luckily, I did  manage to suppress my nervous school girl giggles (although, I must admit that as soon as someone said something mildly funny I would erupt into slightly mad laughter!)  It didn’t take me long to settle down and make a buddy to cling to for the rest of the day (who weirdly was born around the corner from me, was the same age as me, knew my friends ... yet we had never met ... weird!)

So what did I learn? 

Well, I learned about the importance of free expression, how young people can gain recognition for arts based projects and how easy it is to do so and how I can help to facilitate this and what I need to do to support young people to complete the Arts Awards.  It made me realise how much  art is produced across a wide variety of disciplines and how much of this art is never seen, heard or appreciated.  These awards allow young people the opportunity to turn something they love into a project, something to keep and to be proud of ... surely this can only be a good thing!


Oh, I also made a mental note to self that next time I am facilitating something whether it’s a business meeting, training or an event I need to remember that there are probably at least 25% of the group whom are an inch a way from laughing hysterically and that too much coffee is not good for focusing the mind!