What do learners and rubber bands have in common? Pete Van Overwalle, the founder of Omni Touchpoint and a new member of our Facilitator community, recently posed this question at our July community event, “Designing Innovative Learning Experiences.” He shared a story that went like this:
Imagine walking into your training workshop. Your Facilitator, Pete, greets you and hands you a rubber band. Looking you in the eyes, he says your name and then tells you: “This is your rubber band.” He moves through the room, repeating this with everyone until each person holds their own.
At the front of the room, Pete asks, “What is it?” The question seems straightforward, but you hesitate before replying, “A rubber band?” He smiles, then asks, “What does it do?” With some levity, your peers call out different uses: it holds things together, it can be used as a slingshot…
“How does it work?”
Someone states the obvious: It stretches.
There’s a pause.
Then Pete finally makes the connection: the rubber band only creates value when it stretches.
And like a rubber band, “the only way you’re going to learn is if you stretch yourself.”
This simple yet profound metaphor perfectly captures the essence of our inaugural EP Talks event: the true value of learning emerges when we push beyond our comfort zones, embracing the stretch that leads to growth.
EP Talks: An event for Facilitators, by Facilitators
In July, we introduced a new type of community engagement called “EP Talks.” Unlike traditional webinars, this one consisted of short, expert-led talks followed by breakout room discussions. The goal was to enable our Facilitators by giving them a space to share their insights and network. As our co-founder James Chisholm put it, “EP Talks is an event for Facilitators, by Facilitators.”
Our July event's theme was “Designing Innovative Learning Experiences,” and it showcased the expertise of four outstanding Facilitators from the EP Community: Lyall Samaroden, Laura Rojo, Frank Miller and Jason Lewis.
If you missed the event or want to relive it, we’ve put together a recap:
Talk #1 | Sparking Design Sprints
Up first was Lyall Samaroden, Innovation and Change Capability Builder at Bench Solutions. He shared a compelling story about redefining the original purpose of workshops to fit his learners’ needs.
While working with a division of a multinational energy company, Lyall harnessed Spark by ExperiencePointTM—but with a twist. Rather than use the product to reinforce design thinking, he used it as an introductory tool to deliver bite-sized learning.
“I like to think of ExperiencePoint products as LEGO® bricks,” Lyall explains. “When I use them with my clients, I try to stack them, restack them and repurpose them in many ways to address [their] biggest pain points.”
This approach kept learners engaged, allowing them to immediately apply their training to real work throughout their four-week training program. As attendees later reflected in breakout rooms, this approach was an ideal tactic for bringing people together more frequently and informally.
Lyall chose eight Spark by ExperiencePointTM episodes to guide about 40 mid-level leaders through, including "Houston We Have a Problem" and the "Goldilocks Principle," which focused on the art of problem framing and setting direction.
But Lyall didn’t stop there. He empowered these leaders to craft "How Might We" challenge statements relevant to their operational duties. These statements became the backbone of their learning, as leaders harnessed their Microsoft Teams channel to refine their challenges together, fostering an ongoing exchange of ideas and insights.
Lyall explains that the magic of this bite-sized format lies in its ability to provide just-in-time learning so leaders could spark little fires of improvement throughout the division and ultimately enhancing their base operations.
As he aptly put it, “There is no fire without a Spark.”
Talk #2 | Designing Impactful Change Management Programs with Simulations at the Heart
Next up was Laura Rojo, a Global Educator, Adjunct Professor and Consultant. Walking us through several examples, she emphasized the importance of working backward from learners’ needs to create the perfect training plan.
She advises using the ExperienceChange® simulation as a foundational tool, as it can adapt to different durations and contexts. Depending on the learners’ needs, she strategically places the simulation at various points in the learning journey to maximize impact, whether for short modules or semester-long courses.
Laura also encourages Facilitators to make full use of their toolkits by integrating various methodologies—or what she calls “building blocks”—into their programs. For instance, in both corporate settings and school curricula, Laura often complements the simulation with LEGO® Serious Play®.
Designed for specific change management applications, she says this elastic building block has been highly effective across various areas, including leadership development, change management, business strategy and operations.
As she put it, don’t be afraid to “mix up those ingredients in the cocktail shaker as best you can because the possibilities with the simulation are endless.”
Talk #3 | Spark the Context!
Next came Frank Miller, the Director of Executive and Corporate Education at Ted Rogers School of Management. In his talk, he underscored the importance of finding the right context within a classroom setting, especially when dealing with executive education clients who often face confusion and resistance during the change process.
Frank shared his strategy for helping learners put theory into the right context by combining ExperienceChange® with the Spark by ExperiencePointTM episode, "The North Wind and the Sun," – a session that focuses on surfacing change risks and managing resistance productively. This combination method engages learners with diverse examples and prompts them to consider three critical questions: "What if we?", "How do we?" and "How would you?"
This approach leads to a premortem discussion, helping participants strategize effectively and directly impact their real-world tactics. Frank shares that this method turned the tide for him, explaining that adding Spark “gives people that extra value in terms of how they can connect with this particular, very difficult topic of change.”
Talk #4 | No Struggle, No Learning: How to Get People to Enjoy Suffering for Knowledge
Jason Lewis, a Facilitator and Consultant at Shift Facilitation, delivered the final talk. In his five minutes, he emphasized the importance of struggling while learning and how to manage it effectively. Drawing from research, Jason highlighted that when we prepare people to struggle, they are better equipped to handle it.
He explains that with ExperiencePoint’s method, we set expectations early by telling learners that “[the workshop] is going to be exhilaratingly difficult.” In fact, one out of three teams will probably not meet their desired objectives in the change program because shifting mindsets is hard and takes time—and that’s okay.
To guide Facilitators in managing this struggle, Jason shared five essential tips. Later, during the breakout rooms, one attendee remarked that he never knew there was a measurable level of struggle and found Jason’s five tips incredibly valuable:
1. Inoculate people against struggle
2. Psychological safety ≠ comfort
3. Schedule a half-time review
4. Optimal performance learning rate: 85%
5. Normalized error
What's next?
After the event's closing, we relished the buzz and sense of community our attendees instilled. Thank you, everyone, for joining us and making this EP Talks a successful inaugural event. If you’d like to revisit the talks, please find the entire webinar recording here and please keep your eyes peeled for our next installment of EP Talks this fall.
P.S. We're always looking for new voices and fresh ideas. If you’re interested in hosting, speaking or proposing a topic for our next event, please reach out to our Marketing Team at marketing@experiencepoint.com
