How Do You Thin-Slice A Class or Workshop?

Mike Wagner, an expert and national speaker on branding, recently asked me the following question:

What are the 5 things you thin-slice the first time a new class meets?

As I was just finishing up teaching a three day workshop on classroom management at St Petersburg College, I decided to turn the question around and ask the participants (22 faculty) how they thin-sliced me and the workshop itself.  In other words, what did I do in the first few minutes to give them the perception that the workshop would be beneficial to them?

Their responses?

1. Showed enthusisasm. One person said, "I felt right away that this would be a good class because of the animation and professional appearance of Dr. Kirk."

2. Smiled/appeared approachable/made eye contact

3.  Credibility--"Dr. Kirk projected confidence and appeared organized" (workshop seemed well planned; handouts looked useful; showed right away that she was knowledgeable about the topics)

4.  Encouraged participation/arrived early to the workshop and made a point to talk individually with many of the participants."

5.  Reputation of Chautauqua program and Dr. Kirk (she wrote a book, had a website)

One more point:  As one faculty member said, "You TOLD us that it would be a great workshop and then approached it from that perspective."  Another person agreed, "I truly felt you were excited about giving us new tools that we can then take back and use in our own classes."

Question:  How can we use this concept of thin-slicing when we begin teaching our classes this semester?

I would like to challenge Patti Digh to show how she thin-slices when she does workshops on leadership and diversity for organizations.  Patti: How do you know when you go into a company that they are truly "walking the walk" in their diversity efforts and not just giving lip service to this?  (Full disclosure: I am teaching a class at University of South Florida-St Petersburg on Managing Diversity this semester and look forward to sharing Patti's answer with my students).

Comments

[Michael Wagner]

Dr. Kirk - really like the idea of being thin-sliced by a class of students. Reminds me of the good old days in college.

Great post and approach to the thin-slicing meme.

Thanks for playing...and keep creating,
Mike

[Delaney Kirk]

Thanks for the challenge, Mike. I'll be thinking about this as I start teaching classes this week. What can I do to "thin-slice" to my students that these will be useful and beneficial to them and thus get them committed to attending and working hard.

[Roger von Oech]

Sounds like it would be fun to take your class.

[Delaney Kirk]

Actually, Roger, I was thinking I would love to take one of your seminars or workshops on creativity! Maybe we could work a trade!