
Others who attended were thrilled with the material (and there was some good stuff!), but I was completely distracted by the approach. Sitting and listening for 30 minutes is one thing, but this was an all day workshop. I kept thinking it would have been just as effective to simply read the material -- in fact, more effective because I could have gone off on tangents and allowed other ideas to blossom from the main points as I read.
And after a few hours, I found myself wondering, "Do I ever do this? Do participants in my workshops feel this stifling weight of just watching and listening as the clock ticks by? Do I lose the value of a concept because it's out of sync with the materials (handouts, slides, flip-charts) that are supposed to support the content?"
I truly hope not, but I imagine the answer is probably "Yes, sometimes you do."
Personally I believe the universe gives us a gift in annoying people and situations. That is, if someone or something is annoying you, it's also likely demonstrating something you need to understand. To me, the lessons the universe was trying to show me in this workshop fall into two broad categories: