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Facilitator Skills: Building Connections Before Content - Facilitator Tips Episode 7

1,691 views · Published 4 April 2018 · 2:07 · Indexed 6 November 2026

Channel: playmeo · 2018 · Howto & Style

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Facilitator Skills are something we take seriously here at playmeo, and I am always looking for ways to add value to our members. So here’s another one in our facilitator skills series for our members who are some of the best teachers and trainers in the world.

Studies show that social connectedness is one of the strongest predictors of success for young people than any other factor in their life.  

||  https://www.playmeo.com/facilitatortips/episode7  ||  

Click play, watch & explore the extraordinary value and benefits of intentionally building trusting and healthy relationships within your group prior to the delivery of your program. Developing strong connections before (the delivery of your) content matters, not only to the health of your group's relationships and their performance but the success of your program too.

This is just one of many dozens of leadership tips you can use to improve the participation, relationships and overall performance of your students, staff and team.

This Facilitator Tips video tutorial is presented by Mark Collard, one of the world most experienced & respected experiential trainers in the world. As a Master of Group Games & Activities, Mark can teach you how to help your team engage, interact & connect with one another more powerfully. 

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||  VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION  ||

Hi and welcome to Episode 7 of the Facilitator Tips video series. 

My name is Mark Collard. I’m the founder of https://www.playmeo.com/ and I work as an experiential trainer and author. And today I want to talk to you about connection before content.

In my book “Serious Fun” I go through a lot of detail to explain the benefits of building connections or relationships before you even bother with the content. No matter what it is, whether you’re a PE teacher, Maths teacher, corporate trainer, camp leader, whatever, if you are responsible for the wellbeing of your group, I guarantee you and the research clearly shows that if you intentionally look to build relationships and connections with your group, even a bit of time upfront, it will show many, many benefits in the relationships you build with the group that you’re working with. 

And when you’re doing that intentionally and building those relationships, not only will it make your content richer and far more productive, but you’ll be building trust which of course leads to all of those wonderful social and emotional learning benefits too. 

And it also removes barriers to participation. That’s a key because everyone will tell you that one of the biggest issues they have is engaging their group. And if you could just engage the group the rest of it comes easier. Well, this is the secret. Look to build connections before you get to your content, and that’s important. 

If you want more details about this you can go to playmeo.com and go to the show notes at playmeo.com/facilitatortips/episode7 and I’ll give you some more details about where you can learn more about the value of connections before content. 

And please leave a comment. Perhaps you don’t agree with me, that would be okay. I would love to hear from you. 

And know that every episode we have one lucky commenter who will receive a free subscription to playmeo’s activity database. 

In the meantime have fun. I’ll see you next time.

#facilitationskills #facilitatorskills #facilitatorskillstraining #facilitator #facilitation #experientiallearning #playmeo

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