A nice little trick for keeping promises to yourself after a conference
Rosemary Shapiro-Liu
Facilitator @ Customer Central, Sydney Trains (all views expressed on LinkedIn are personal)
When I facilitate conference events and get the participants to reconnect with their Mentor Within, I have a nice little trick I use to make any positive changes stick. At the end of the session, when they have made their commitments to themselves, I make them do one short task that has a strong impact. Their commitment is to do what I ask, and mine is to spend $1 on each person, on postage.
I ask the participants to write a short letter to themselves, to be read four weeks later, signed 'your Mentor Within'. They write the letter from the perspective of four weeks and seal it in an envelope that they address to themselves.
Four weeks later I post it to and ask them to let me know how they are going. I promise not to keep their addresses - the letter needs to be a gift, and one with their own wisdom enclosed. The feedback I have received to date is that this powerful little reminder is the one action they took at that conference or event that made the changes stick, the promises fulfilled, the wisdom retained.
This morning I posted nearly 100 letters to the participants of the Liquid Learning conference I presented at the other day. Let's see what their voicemails on my website say over the next few days, or what messages they send me via email. I can't wait to hear what has changed since wrote those letters to themselves.
This little trick is one of many I use to ensures participants are really engaged in conferences and take responsibility for their own decisions and actions. It is so simple, yet effective. Feel free to use it at your next event, and if appropriate, acknowledge where you got the idea from.
Rosemary Shapiro-Liu
Author of The Mentor Within.
Great idea Rose. Accountability and follow up actions are too often lost in busyness of everyday work and life after attending a conference. Most people retain less than 5% of information 4 weeks after a conference. Thanks for sharing Roseanne.
Helping businesses thrive | Director, Amplify Me
7 年What a great tip - thanks so much for this pointer Rosemary!
Retired - due to Aphasia ??
7 年Hi Rosemary, I do this for my Eat Right at Work participants, too. It's a Dear Me letter. It sets out the goals for healthy eating and exercise and shows the starting point stats, with the hope that when they receive their letter 6 weeks later some of those stats have improved and behaviors have changed. Thanks for sharing ??
Co-director African Family Safaris | Creator Heart of Africa Yoga Safaris.
7 年Powerful & simple idea Rosemary. Love it.
Looking to help Millions of people ??
7 年Dear Rosemary Shapiro-Liu, ILPM... Austpost is very excited about your initiative as well ?? Win Win for all concerned ?? Trust have an aWeSoMe Weekend ??