Virtual and in-person approaches for delivering high-impact training, planning and collaboration sessions
The big question for retreat planners is …
How do we find experienced trainers and facilitators who understand the new world of designing and delivering engaging, high impact programs in live and virtual retreat environments?
This is where we shine.
We’ve cracked the code
We’ve spent hundreds of hours studying best practices in conducting live and remote training that is interactive, inspiring and focused on implementation.
For virtual events, we apply powerful online training methods like breakout rooms, spaced learning, cohort groups, collaborative exercises, flipped classrooms, quizzes, polling, simulations and learning by doing that can allow online training to be as good as, if not better than, one-time live sessions.
We facilitated the first-of-its-kind brainstorming session with over 80 top law firm learning professional on best practices in delivering highly engaging remote meetings (Click here for the report).
And we’ve designed and delivered highly customized live and virtual programs that encourage connection, collaboration and change.
“David designed and ran an exceptional virtual meeting of our leadership team. The result was a deeper level of connection between our leaders, new ideas shared, and commitments for action from each of them. We couldn’t have asked for more!”
Betsy B. Spellman, former Chief Marketing Officer, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
Benefits of virtual retreats
When executed well, virtual retreats have the potential to outperform traditional live meetings:
Save time & money
Firms can save hundreds to thousands of lost billable hours and eliminate expensive airfare, hotel, transportation and food costs.
Focused content
Rather than providing general topics that may not fit the needs of all populations, you can run independent, hyper-targeted virtual sessions that are custom-designed for various experience levels, and for specific groups like practices, offices, industry and client teams.
Better outcomes
The information overload that comes from packing training into one, two or three consecutive days of live meetings can be eliminated by providing consumable learning experiences that can be delivered over several weeks or months. The results can be a fuller understanding of the material, time to practice what they learn, the ability to debrief, greater opportunities for collaboration, stronger interpersonal connections and more accountability.
Retreat themes and speaking topics
Starting with the end in mind, we work with retreat planning teams to develop overarching themes that are aligned with their most important goals.
Examples of high impact themes and speaking topics include:
Speaking Topics:
- Mastering the Art of Cross-Selling.
- The Five Habits of Successful Business Development.
- Activating More Referrals.
- Crafting Powerful Personal Brands.
- Turning Client Service into Client Matters.
- Developing Revenue-Focused Leaders.
Facilitated Group Planning Sessions:
- Going from Good to Great.
- Taking Control of our Future.
- Creating a Culture of Business Development.
It’s all about implementation
It is said that the fortune is in the follow up.
To that end, we design retreats as a launch point, the beginning of the journey of achieving the goals and plans that come out of the retreat event itself.
To provide the kind of support needed to drive action from the retreat, we offer the following services:
- Formation and support for a post-retreat implementation task force.
- Coaching for those charged with leading key initiatives.
- Leadership training and coaching for firm leaders.
- Train-the-trainer programs for staff to deepen a culture of action and accountability.
Examples of recent virtual programs:
Training, planning and commitments
Designed and led two sessions for an Am Law 200 firm on how to become revenue-focused leaders where we provided training, broke them into small groups for self-led brainstorming and peer coaching, and elicited commitments for action.
Results:
During both 75-minute programs, participants learned new leadership techniques, engaged in peer brainstorming exercises and identified personal action steps designed to increase cross-selling and revenue.
Brainstorming best practices
Designed, facilitated and co-led a brainstorming session where 81 attendees from the Professional Development Consortium were prompted to provide their insights for best practices on how to deliver outstanding remote training programs.
Results:
In this one-hour program, we collected nearly 100 suggestions from the participants, which we compiled into a guide that was sent to the attendees. To support implementation, we created an ongoing mastermind group.
Strategic planning workshop
Designed and facilitated a strategic planning workshop for the entire team of a legal services provider which was focused on creating a new approach to reposition their organization to reflect their preeminent position in the marketplace.
Results:
Within 90 minutes, they clarified their goals, refined their brand, identified target markets, prioritized products and services and crafted a sales and service plan. We also provided follow-up planning and coaching.
