Mike Pallin Blog

There's an old joke that goes, "What's the difference between a speaker and a trainer?"

The answer is, "About $100,000 a year!" And everyone laughs, especially anyone who ever had to sit through a deadly CE class.

The truth is most trainers don't understand what training is, and that's why most people don't enjoy, learn from and remember most training. An effective training class, whether it's 90 minutes or 42 days, is experiential and interactive, the exact opposite of most "sit-and-listen" training experiences. There is some sit-and-listen, but there also has to be go-out-and-do for learning to take place. Hence, Floyd's philosophy of "Education without application is worse than worthless."

Back to the original joke, er point. What's the real difference between a speaker and a trainer? Speakers teach, speakers entertain and speakers motivate. Most trainers don't teach effectively, don't motivate sufficiently or entertain well enough to hold attention and interest.

Speakers who can teach, entertain and motivate are the real trainers in this world. They bring their audiences back from breaks, whether the break is 10 minutes or 6 days. And they get invited back by their clients.
Why? Because speakers who teach, entertain and motivate give people what they want and need today. They provide a learning experience that is also fun and energizing. They open minds. They inspire. And most of all, they give people the courage to change.

That's what Floyd means when he says, "We don't develop trainers, we develop speakers who teach."

The Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze

A wonderful song from another era, another time. But I think of the trapeze artist whenever there is change in the wind, like now when so many businesses have been forced to rethink assumptions, reengineer systems and reimagine their place in the world. How do you let go of the past and grab hold of an uncertain or untested future?

Think of the trapeze. Merrily swinging along. I really like it up here. I'm swinging!

Then I see another swing coming toward me from the other side. The other side where I want to be. I'm guessing if I time it just right, I can move seamlessly from this swing to the next one. I take into account depth perception, the laws of physics, all of the known variables.

Uh oh. I can't reach the swing I want, without letting go of the swing I'm on. If I actually could grab the next swing while holding on to this one, it would tear me apart.

So there comes a mid-air moment, between letting go and grabbing hold. That 'leap of faith' moment, where you need to trust and believe in yourself without hesitation and without a net. Especially when you are attempting to do what a normal person would consider impossible.

The noise from circus crowd disappears. Time slows to nanoseconds. You have to go down to the zero, the little red dot, the core, the center. We could be making a graceful, balletic leap - or a hideous-to-behold, frantic, flailing spasm. There is no sense of how, there is only focus on the bar. Let go. Fly. Grab hold. 

Now take a deep breath and keep swinging.