On 13 Feb (Mon), I was invited by Eugene Seah to sit in on one of his personal branding workshops. This time, it was with The Singapore Professional Golfers' Association. The attendees consisted of many golf coaches, some of whom have been coaching their learners for years. I'll admit that I didn't know there were so many golf coaches in Singapore.
At the start, things went off a little slowly. My thoughts were that golfers were more likely to display introvert characteristics. They would likely prefer to take a back seat and absorb information than they are to readily respond, After all, they chose to play a sport that encompasses small groups of players in a huge expanse of quiet, serene surroundings.
Nevertheless, with Eugene's generous outpouring of energy, engaging demeanour and useful personalised advice, the golfers eventually warmed up to him and became highly enthusiastic.
A trio of takeaways from a trainer's perspective:
1) Use familiar terms
Seeing as how the attendees were all golfers, Eugene used acronyms like BOGEY and ACE to emphasise certain aspects of this branding workshop. The use of such familiar terms was clearly visible in the attendees' increase in response to him as he built more and more rapport with them.
2) Focus on one or two points only
The amount of time available meant that there was no way of going too in-depth into the concepts of personal branding. As such, instead of doing a touch-and-go on many different 'modules', Eugene chose to focus on one main area - in this case, the subject of Style.
3) Consciously connect with the audience
There are numerous ways to connect with an audience and Eugene managed to do quite a few of them.
He was there early to mingle and talk to the participants.
He also identified and gave airtime to individuals who were more open to sharing at the beginning, thus encouraging the others to open up as well.
Finally, he asked for and used the first names of those that he interacted with during his workshop.
It was a great experience to learn from and observe a fellow trainer.
Thanks, Eugene, for the invitation and the opportunity.
