Design, Develop and Deliver Training
- Developing Talks, Training & Workshops
- General Guidance for Presenters
- Aims
- Preparation and Presentation
- Housekeeping [Access & Inclusion]
- Check-ins, Check-outs & Regenerative Cultures Statements
- Structure | Content | Aids
- Post Training & Follow-up | Feedback
- Book a Zoom Session and Publicise Your Event
- Guidance for using Zoom in Talks, Training and Workshops
- View Reflection Form
- Welcome to XR for Speakers
- Heading for Extinction for Speakers
- Delivering Actions Support Trainings
- Create a Rebellion Academy Training
- Script Template for new trainings
- How to Guides
Developing Talks, Training & Workshops
So you’ve got an idea for a training? This page will help you put it into practice. Use the linked section titles to take you to the relevant section of our Full Handbook on Developing Training.
Step 1: Capture your vision
The most important thing you can do to start off is to be clear about who you want to train and what you want them to be able to do.
You need to decide- At the end of the training (who)..... should be able to (do what)...
Think about how you will deliver it, how long it should last and who you will work with. Then stop and think and make sure that all your decisions embed XR's Principles and Values and XR’s Principles of Inclusivity
Find more detailed instructions on this step in the full guide.
Step 2: Realise your vision
Structure your training in blocks building progressively towards your overall aim (which you decided above). Your final content block should allow rebels to practice this.
- For each block of content, decide what you want rebels to learn and how you want them to learn it.
- Focus on activities encouraging rebels to learn through doing (examples here).
- Keep it social - it’s more fun, people learn better with others, it builds community.
- Most rebels know quite a lot already so give them opportunities to share.
- Think of what extra resources your rebels might need to support them (examples here).
- If all else fails include a talk - but keep it short (<10 mins).
- Focus on feedback - Think about how your rebels will know how well they are developing knowledge and skills. Plan activities that allow you to give them feedback or, even better, to give each other feedback. Offer periods when they can reflect on their own progress.
Find more detailed instructions on this step in the full guide.
Step 3: Share your vision
How are you going to advertise to let people know about your wonderful new training?
To post your events to the XRUK website Events, Talks & Training Facebook Events, XRUK Facebook Events, Movement Broadcast on Telegram and Mattermost and the Regions & Nations Facebook Events, follow these steps:
- For UK-wide promotion- fill in the Comms Request Form
- Advertise more locally through a variety of social media platforms or physically with posters and adverts in relevant publications. Use your imagination.
- Chat to your Regional Coordinator for more local advice. Your Region or Nation may have a Training Co-ordinator that you can be connected with.
- Contact your local groups.
- Use your imagination.
XR UK aims to bring two million people into active support. That’s too many for you to train alone! Once you know your training is successful, think about how you can [train other trainers](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ih9iA9mYLd9yx29HDk_4fmjiL5uqGuqpN-EJfm- PeY8/edit#heading=h.1ksv4uv) to deliver it as well.
Find more detailed instructions on this step in the full guide.
Step 4: Refine your vision
No training is perfect. Ask yourself these questions:
- How well is your training achieving its aim?
- Are there ways you could do this better?
Better still, ask the rebels who’ve participated in the training. Offer them a specific time within the training to fill in an evaluation form. Don’t pay too much attention to individual comments (there’ll always be someone with a bee in their bonnet), but look for patterns and themes. Strengthen areas that rebels have appreciated and make changes which they’ve found less useful. Don’t be proud - make things better.
Find more detailed instructions on this step in the full guide.
General Guidance for Presenters
Aims
This guidance aims to give you the tools you need to maximise your impact and reach when delivering talks. Please note: The guidance refers throughout to ‘Sessions’. This includes talks, training and workshops. The guidance has been written for the benefit of anyone delivering sessions.
If you would like the Rebel Curriculum team to support you with optimising the content, structure and delivery of your sessions, please complete this form and we'll be in touch.
To Print
- On a computer, you’ll find an ‘Export’ option under the ‘Actions’ heading on the side of your screen.
- On a phone, tap Info [top left] and then under 'Actions' select 'Export'.
You can either export the chapter General Guidance for Presenters or individual pages of the guidance to a PDF, which is the best format to print in.
The guidance has been divided into sections. Feel free to study it all or dip in for a refresh on any aspect.
If you have questions, comments or feedback, please email pathways+rc@extinctionrebellion.uk
Preparation and Presentation
XR sessions are such a powerful and important tool, whether they are public-facing or for internal training. This might sound obvious, but it’s good to keep reminding ourselves. When delivering a session, it is important to give it your best shot! You are XR’s front line: making a good impression as well as an emotional impact could bring in new rebels, other supporters, and have ripple effects (both good or bad!) that you might not have considered.
Preparation
For anyone speaking in public, even for a short talk, it is important to be prepared. A key aspect of preparation is warming up your voice and body.
Of course, you should experiment to find what works best for you - there’s no one right way to do this, but it IS essential you do some kind of warm-up.
Voice Warm-Up Exercises [5-10 mins] Follow the steps below or watch and follow this video.
- Breathe deeply, relaxing your belly, so belly, ribs, and back expand with your breath.
- Stretch out your neck, jaw, face and sides.
- Activate your breath support muscles with a hiss exercise.
- Begin vocalizing on something easy to start stretching out the vocal cords e.g.: lip roll, “HM” (hum), or “NN”.
- Sing on an easy, relaxed OO vowel to work on good, consistent resonance throughout your range.
- Open up to an “AH”, “YAH”, “UH”, or “YUH” to relax the jaw down and lift the soft palate up.
- Get into mix voice with an “NG, “NYAH”, “NAY”, “MUM”, or “BUH”.
- Warm down: If you spent quite a bit of time working out, warm down with a gentle hum or lip trill.
Body Warm Up Exercises [5 mins]
- Stretch your arms up above your head; drop them down. Repeat x 3.
- Bring your shoulders up to your ears; drop them back down; drop them further. Repeat x 4
- Roll your shoulders forward several times. Roll them backwards a few times.
- Wriggle out the tension. Take a deep breath and give a long exhale.
Always remember to keep hydrated: have some water within reach.
This will help:
- to protect your voice
- if your mouth gets dry
- you need a minute to compose yourself
- you've lost your place in the script
It's okay to say ‘Excuse me for one second’ and take a drink. A tip from the theatre world is to put some lip salve on your teeth to stop your lips from sticking to them!
Presentation
The way we speak and look when presenting information can have a big impact on how it is understood. This helps to make a quick and strong emotional connection with your audience. It is always useful to refresh our awareness of the broad range of presentation techniques and practical tips that help both presenters and participants to maximise the value of any session:
- practise your script out loud to familiarise yourself with it and build confidence
- speak slowly and clearly, with your mouth in full view in case anyone is lipreading
- break up sentences and use pauses to underline what you have just said, or to make eye contact
- maintain the quality of your talk in terms of clarity, tone and avoiding ‘speech fillers’
- be mindful of your language. It's important to use people’s preferred pronouns. Avoid terms like ‘guys’ or ‘fellow’ (as in ‘my fellow rebels’)
- make the most of your voice - vary its tone and pitch, and make sure everyone can hear you
- use your face. Your expressions can communicate a great deal. Do you look interested, excited, concerned about what you are saying?
Dealing with Nerves
Even the most experienced speakers can get nervous - it's natural - but developing your confidence will help you to be clear and to minimise those speech fillers such as “er” "um" or “like”. These can become habits we don’t even notice, but listeners can find them very distracting: this dampens the impact of your talk. Try recording one of your sessions and watching it to spot fillers.
Here are some tips and tricks to help with nerves and improve the quality of your presentation:
- speak clearly, in short phrases. Listeners need time to absorb your words.
- take deliberate breathing pauses. Don’t worry - they will feel a lot shorter to participants than they do to you, but they help with your pacing and energy levels. Use the pauses to:
- take a drink of water!
- make eye contact with participants
- create impact after something you've said
- find your place in the script if you have temporarily lost it - but there is no harm in saying you’ve lost the place so 'Excuse me for a moment' until you find it. We’re only human!
- take a drink of water!
Presenter’s Environment
On Zoom, before you begin your session:
- close unnecessary browser tabs, make sure nothing is downloading, etc, and generally ensure you have nothing competing with your video bandwidth so you don’t appear distorted to your participants.
- try to ensure your camera is level with your eyeline, and not pointing up or severely down at your face - this helps you to appear natural.
- put your phone on silent and make sure it’s not resting on the same surface as your computer because vibrations/buzzing will still be picked up.
- make sure the room you are in is well-lit! It’s important that your face is clearly visible for lip readers. On that note, ensure you’re looking straight into the camera for the appearance of making eye contact.
Housekeeping [Access & Inclusion]
XR meetings are run rather differently, due to our culture, and ideally all sessions ought to begin with Housekeeping - an explanation of meetings culture. If this is not possible, e.g. for reasons of timing, the points should be clearly displayed on a slide, or posted in chat, for everyone to read. Having said that, the key access/inclusivity points ought to be dealt with by the presenter.
Renaming
Invite participants to change their Zoom name to reflect their given name / preferred pronouns / location.
Check they know how.
- On a computer - hover over your own video screen and select the 3 dots, Rename
- On a phone/tablet - tap the screen, scroll right, select Participants, select your name, Rename
- More detailed Zoom guidance
Access
- Essential: participants keep mics switched off until they need to speak. Explain that if mics are left open, any background noise will interfere with whoever is speaking and will cut out their voice. They can use chat to communicate if they don’t have a mic
- Be sure participants are clear about the duration of the session, approximate break time(s) and if there is an additional Q&A
- Check if the closed captioning is required and turn it off or explain how participants can hide them, as required
- Check if participants have any access requirements e.g. additional comfort breaks; a slower presentation speed with longer pauses so information can be processed; and a longer time to formulate any questions
- Always give the option for participants to indicate their requirements in a direct message in chat and make sure they know how to use it
Safe space
- Explain that we do not consume any alcohol or drugs during a session and eating should please be done off camera
- Ask if anyone prefers not to see people smoking or vaping on camera. If this is the case, can they please say so via a personal message in chat and the activity will be asked to go off camera
Hand Signals
Explain the basic hand signals to use during your session or show this slide. You may not need them all, depending e.g. on the subject of your session or the experience of the attendees.
- Raise one finger (query or comment)
- Wavy hands (I agree - also see Temperature check below for unsure/disagree)
- C for clarification
- T for Technical - (e.g. ‘this is for anyone who has a technical issue so we can address you immediately’)
- Two hands forming a circle (please round-up what you are saying)
- Temperature check - to gauge feeling of participants (use wavy hands either side of your face [this is the British Sign Language for cheering], or in the flat to indicate no response or no feeling either way or pointing downwards to disagree)
See this diagram for examples:
If participants don’t have a camera.
Explain using the Reactions button for hand signals - one hand for general help/Q and thumbs up for Yay!/OK!
Chat - How to use it
- Explain how to find chat at the bottom of the Zoom screen or to tap the screen if on a mobile/tablet. If they need to message privately, use the drop-down arrow next to Everyone and select the individual name
- NB if attendance is high, suggest everyone uses the Reactions ‘raise hand’ as this automatically stacks them in order from the top left of your Zoom screen
Check-ins, Check-outs & Regenerative Cultures Statements
Check-Ins and Check-Outs
These are an important aspect of the care which threads through our Principles and Values. They are not compulsory for training sessions but, ideally, presenters should try to do check-ins as a way for everyone to connect with each other and ground themselves in the moment.
If you want to do them, always give participants the option not to check-in or out if they don’t want to, and perhaps suggest they use the chat instead.
For verbal check-ins with more than 5 participants, use breakout rooms but always explain that participants can return to the main room if they wish - unless using them is going to be essential for the purposes of the session.
A general check-in could include given name, preferred pronouns, why the person is here, and handing over to someone else in the group by saying their name. They help attendees to:
- feel part of the session;
- say how they feel;
- let everyone know how to pronounce their name.
Various other options can be used; choose which suits your presentation and timings. As an example, ask all participants to post in chat. Suggest using something to describe how they are feeling - an animal, a colour, or a few words.
Check-outs are also not compusory but they can be used to glean a brief insight from participants about the session. As an example, ask them to post in chat something that they found
- surprising
- especially interesting
- new to them
If you wish to use a Regenerative Statement to open the session and/or a Vision Reminder to close it - find them here.
Structure | Content | Aids
Structure of Training
It’s helpful to break the session into sections, allowing for Q&A after each section. Make sure the sections flow well into each other. If the sections must jump from one topic to another, clearly state that one section has ended and the next one is called XXX. This helps listeners to refocus their attention. Also clearly announce when it is the end of the session.
If there is a Q&A session after the presentation, avoid running over into this time.
Breakout Rooms
During a session, breakout rooms allow attendees to discuss an issue in depth. If breakout rooms are being used, always explain why and how long they’ll last.
Let attendees know in advance if someone should take notes and report back in the main room.
Unless using breakout rooms is an essential part of the training, always reassure attendees that they do not have to stay in a breakout room. If they prefer, they can stay in the main room. Be sure you know how to do this.
Content of the Training
The way we organise training sessions can have a big impact on how well they are understood and enjoyed. Remember that there are different learning styles, so present your information in a variety of formats which match these styles. When reading information aloud, speaking slowly will allow enough time for attendees to take in what they are hearing.
Try not to cram too much information into the session. Think about what could be put into the Rebel Toolkit for attendees to read afterwards.
Always avoid using acronyms. Give the full title, then how it’s shortened and post that information in chat. Otherwise try to use the full title all the time.
Keep sentences short and avoid using complex words.
Audio Visual Aids
If using slides, think about how much information is on the slide. Avoid too much info! Read out what is on the slide and/or describe the image for anyone sight impaired or dyslexic.
Don’t put text over images as this makes the text hard to read. Practise using the slide show with Closed Captions running and check there’s enough clear space at the bottom of the slide to view the CCs.
Post Training & Follow-up | Feedback
Post-Training and Follow-Up
Capture email addresses either via registration forms or using the chat box (check participants are happy to share with everyone or direct message you).
Send follow-up emails ASAP and include the option for participants to feedback either via a form or your email address.
Ideally, an email should have two links at the most. If you put your follow-up information on the Rebel Toolkit, you will have fewer links in your follow-up email. This also means you do not have to keep posting links in the chat during your session.
Feedback
The Talks & Training team welcomes feedback on the helpfulness of this guidance, so it can be continually developed and improved. You can do this by
messaging into
- the Talks & Training Reception on Mattermost
- emailing eventsxr@gmail.com
- completing this Feedback document
Book a Zoom Session and Publicise Your Event
How To Book A Session On Zoom
If you don’t have access to a paid Zoom account, please contact XRUK Talks & Training [T&T] via our Talks & Training Reception on Mattermost or email eventsxr@gmail.com and we'll give you our log in.
Once in the T&T Zoom, please check the schedule to make sure you don't make a booking at the same time as someone else. Go to Meetings in the menu on the left hand side in Zoom and check the list for other sessions already booked in. Please leave a minimum of 15 minutes between meetings to allow time for prep.
If asked for a One Time Passcode (OTP) when logging into the T&T Zoom, please go to Protonmail, and use the same log in details as the T&T Zoom account, pick up the code and then add it to the relevant Zoom field. That will get you into the T&T Zoom account - you have 10 mins to pick up the code. However you can always generate another if you run out of time.
Scheduling and customising a meeting with registration
Find instructions here.
How To Publicise Your Session
Complete the UK M&M Comms Requests form to get your event onto:
- Movement Broadcast Telegram
- Movement Broadcast Mattermost Channel
- XRUK Talks & Training Facebook
- XRUK Facebook
If you have a Mattermost account you can ask for your event to be publicised on the Movement Broadcast channels on Telegram and Mattermost. Do this in the UK M&M Comms Requests channel.
Update other publicity channels: local group Facebook page, broadcast channel for region, or wherever you publicise events.
Use the XR link shortener https://xrb.link/ for your links in your publicity. You need a Mattermost account to use the link shortener. Alternatively you can use other link shorteners.
If you are using Action Network to promote your event, paste in the full link then use the Action Network link shortener found in the formatting options within the body text. If you use a pre-link shortener, then your emails may go into peoples’ spam.
If you need guidance on using Action Network, visit the Rebel Toolkit pages here and request training here.
Guidance for using Zoom in Talks, Training and Workshops
How to log on to Zoom and select your booked session
Access details are the same as those used for booking the session. REMEMBER to check whether you are already logged into another Zoom account. If so, you need to log out of that one to log into the Zoom account where the session is booked. Go to the avatar at the top right - sign out and then sign into the correct account.
How to enable closed captions BEFORE THE SESSION BEGINS
- Anyone who is D/deaf or partially deaf will need these running from the start of the session.
- At the bottom of your screen, select closed CC/Live Transcript.
- You or participants can always Hide Subtitles if you don't want to see them. Alternatively, once everyone has arrived, ask participants whether anyone wants them running. If they are not required, they can be turned off.
- You need to be the host to turn CC/Live Transcript on or off.
How to admit participants from Waiting Room / How to unlock it
- Once you have opened the session, pop up messages at the top of your screen will tell you that participants are in the Waiting Room. To let them into the meeting, click on “Admit”.
- Once you have started the session, you can allow late arrivals to jump straight in, rather than going to the Waiting Room. To do this,
- click on Participants
- select the 3 dots at the bottom right
- select 'Enable Waiting Room'.
- This will disable the waiting room and allow people to join without you having to Admit them individually. NOTE - this option will only work if you have created a Zoom registration link and selected both Passcode and Waiting Room when you created the Zoom meeting.
How to split screen to see the Zoom meeting and other information (eg. your script) side by side
- Have your script open on one tab before you open the Zoom session.
- Click on the ‘Reduce’ icon - two squares superimposed on each other in the top right corner of your screen. This allows you to adjust the size of that application by hovering over its edge and using the arrows that appear.
- Click on a new tab to log into the Zoom session and repeat the process as above.
- This gives you two screens side by side.
How to screen share
You may use this function to show slides etc but you will not be able to see your script
Watch Zoom support video on screen sharing
How to create breakout rooms for check-ins
- Click on the Breakout Rooms icon on the bottom bar of Zoom
- Choose how many people can go into each room [3 or 4 is a good number]
- Click ‘automatically’ to let Zoom select participants at random to go into different rooms.
- Select a time eg 5 minutes.
Watch Zoom support video on use of breakout rooms
View Reflection Form
Welcome to XR for Speakers
Resources For Local, Regional or National Group Talks Scripts; Slide Sets; Support Video for Local Group delivery
Welcome to XR - National Talk
Script used for the national W2XR talk
Welcome to XR for Local Groups
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Video of a Training Session for anyone who wishes to present a Welcome to XR talk to a local group but cannot attend a training session.
-
Guidance Notes and Script for Local Groups
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Supporting slides for Welcome to XR Session for Local Groups
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Link to New Members - Resources - a useful source of further information on everything covered in a Welcome to XR talk. It includes the FULL SLIDE SET.
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Video of the national Welcome to XR Talk from May 2023, for reference
- Principles and Values poster to print
Full Slide Set
Welcome to XR slides
The full slide set for a Welcome to XR talk, some of which contain clickable links.
Welcome to XR - Slides
Video Links
Heading for Extinction for Speakers
This page contains useful resources on how to publicise an XR Talk and speaker tips. Only trained HfE speakers can deliver the Heading for Extinction (and what to do about it) script and slides. If you want to deliver the Street Science talk (based on the HfE talk), please download the script below.
Resources to support HfE speakers
The resources below are for supporting HfE Speaker
Only trained XR Speakers should deliver the HfE talk. Once trained you'll be given access to the HfE Index which has links to the latest versions of the slides and script
If you'd like to request training in how to deliver this talk, please either email eventsxr@gmail.com or message into the HfE Talk Team Reception in that channel on Mattermost.
Anyone can deliver the street Science talk, please download the scripts below and also visit the Street Speakers pages on the Rebel Toolkit for support and advice.
- Science [mini Heading for Extinction - HfE] (OnlyOffice)
- Science [mini Heading for Extinction - HfE] (Google)
Speaker Tips for Online Delivery
Delivering Actions Support Trainings
Actions Support covers a wide range of specialities, including Stewarding, Action Wellbeing, First Aid, De-escalation, and much more.
If you would like to train others in these specialities please contact the specific teams via the Actions Support Pages.
Stewarding
Resources to train Stewards can be found here.
Create a Rebellion Academy Training
First, please watch the Video Guide.
Title of lesson/section
Please remember that each lesson should stand alone from other lessons and be a learning goal in its own right.
Introductory video or text
Please provide us with one of these, to put the topic in context and explain why it is important:
- an introductory video
- selfie-video of yourself or someone else briefly introducing this lesson
- some text that we can turn into a selfie-video for you
Learning outcomes (optional)
OPTIONAL: please provide us with the learning outcomes for your training – what will rebels be able to do at the end of the training that they could not do at the start? If you leave this blank we will work them out for you based on the learning material.
Learning materials
This is the main block of information for your lesson – the core information, activities, perspectives that you want rebels to take away. Please include any videos, text, infographics, links or images that you would like us to include. If you want to divide this up into multiple parts that’s fine – you can structure this however you want.
Case studies
This is what the principles, perspectives etc. look like in practice. It’s a story of someone applying them. Please include one of the following:
- a real-life example of where this has been used elsewhere (outside of XR) – either a video or text
- a personal story from someone, talking about an experience they have had (good or bad) or how they feel about the materials in this lesson
- You can include multiple case studies here if you want to
Your turn
Please think about an interactive activity that could be offered. The purpose of the activity is to give rebels some practice in applying the principles, perspectives etc. We can help you with this section if needed – it can be very hard to design and some lessons can be even harder than others. However, the more input you can give us for this, the quicker your training can go live on Rebellion Academy.
Some options that we have available are:
- poll – rebels can choose from a list of possible options, and after they have chosen they can see what everyone else picked. It can work well if you’ve given them something to reflect on and then follow it up with this.
- drag and drop – get rebels to consider links/connections/purposes etc. by getting them to drag various text boxes or images into buckets.
- branching task – create a branching scenario, e.g. a conversation.
- interactive video – the video can pause and ask them questions as they go.
- forum – ask rebels to post in the forum in answer to some questions you ask them.
Review and Reflect (optional)
OPTIONAL: provide us with some questions that you want the rebels to reflect on based around the learning objectives.
Additional resources / further reading
If possible, please provide one or more additional links/attachments/videos etc. that rebels can refer to if they want to find out more.
Quiz questions
If possible, please suggest some questions that rebels can use to assess whether they have understood the key points correctly. These can be
- multiple choice or true/false questions;
- matching questions where rebels match a concept to a category or a context where it would be appropriate to use the idea;
- possibly drag and drop challenges, as described above.
The questions should focus on the elements of what has been covered in the lesson. So that, if a rebel gets the wrong answer, they might go back to the relevant part of the lesson to check their understanding, and then have another go.
Contact Us
For more help contact the Rebellion Academy team.
Script Template for new trainings
Use this script template for online delivery. Add timings, the speaker(s) name(s), script and tech instructions.
The template is in two formats:
How to Guides
Create Recurring Registration Zoom Links | Send Reminder Emails | Publicise Your Events
Video Guide [11mins] showing how to:
- Create one Zoom registration link for multiple events
- Edit the events (time/date)
- Add more events to the same link
- Send out a reminder email to anyone registered
- Brief look at branding your event
- Create a short link for the Zoom registration for publicity/broadcast messages.
Written guide with screenshots: How to Send Reminder Emails to Zoom Registrations - on the Cloud, slow to load.
More zoom advice can be found in the Tech Section of the Toolkit.
Publicise your events:
Movement Calendar on the TeamUp app - see what’s happening across XRUK and beyond!
Got an action, event or announcement to bring to the calendar?
✍️ Fill in the M&M Comms Requests form
Publicise your own events across XRUK and XRGlobal - Video Coming Soon!