The Illinois Model

The US police training community (or is it an  industry ?) is filled with moonlighters, social workers, hacks, retirees, wannabes, professionals, academics, bullies, bullshitters, experts, lawyers, military special ops, PhDs, right wing extremists, social justice warriors, senseis, and all sorts of personalities.  When I consider who are the thinkers in the police training community, my mind almost never drifts to the largest training companies or the biggest names. Actually, it's often quite the opposite.  I look for the guys and gals who are committed to dialogue and debate, as opposed to lecture. The trainers who lecture are often not the same who enter into meaningful dialogue and debate.  Look at providing training as a business model. It requires officers/students or organizations/agencies to pay a fee for training services, so that a trainer gets paid.  Now look at scale . Per hour or day, that trainer can make a whole lot more money (or charge a larger f...

I had just finished my presentation at the police training industry's largest, most popular conference. The room was packed. A trusted colleague, who had been in the audience, approached me privately in the hotel lobby... " You use a lot of big words. " "Thanks." " I don't mean that as a compliment. " Huh?!? My spirits shifted. You might be familiar with the post-speaking event euphoria that I was experiencing -- a release of the stress and anxiety that preceded the session. But this man's critique put a quick end to my happy mood. But he was correct. I used terminology that was not particularly well-known in my audience of police instructors. If I'm honest with myself, I used some of those words in attempts to demonstrate my worthiness, knowledge, and rigorous self-study of the topics at hand. As a first-time invited speaker, and as the youngest person in the room...I wanted to impress. I wanted to be respected for the new ideas I was intr...

Panel presentations can be among the most interesting sessions for attendees, yet the most stressful to coordinate for organizers. Aside from having watched/attended quite a few panel presentations, I have some experience at both the moderator and the panelist roles (<-- links to recent panels). Here are some hacks I've picked up on: ROLES As a moderator , your role is to... provide or coordinate an introduction of each panelist; openly state any agenda, intent, or purpose of the assembled panel; act as glue - fill in gaps, connect panelists, & relate ideas; call on the introverted, quiet panelists; keep the strong personality panelists from taking over; coordinate transitions between panelists & topics; highlight similarities & differences among panelists' content;  temper conflict, yet draw out competing perspectives ; make sure no panelist is seen as a winner or loser; solicit audience questions & direct to appropriate paneli...

Last week, I moderated a four (4)-hour workshop on Emotional Intelligence. The audience was 27 police sergeants from across Illinois, as part of a three (3)-week college-level course on supervision. I previously knew one (1) attendee. Today, I received a composite evaluation from the organization that hired me. It combines all the responses into a single document. I paste it here in entirety, in italics: Comments:  -         N/A (12) -         Dynamic, engaging -         Speaker knew the topic very well but did not present it well -         He was clear, concise, and engaging -         Great class and instructors -         He appeared comfortable in front of the room and was interesting 2. What did you like best about this class? Please...

I once pulled out a pocketknife so I could shave off the plastic collar on my HDMI plug that wouldn't fit into the venue's podium panel. I've been that guy in the audience who whipped out a dongle from my bag to save the day. I shrugged my shoulders when a fellow attendee jokingly shouts, " Who the f%&k carries an HDMI-to-VGA adaptor around with them?!? "  We've all been there. You're in the audience at a conference and the next presenter is having trouble getting his/her laptop to connect to the projector system. You know the script: "Ok folks, we're having some problems up here. Hopefully we will be getting started in a few minutes...." They call the tech support to the podium and continue to be baffled at the settings, the tangle of cords, the remote control, the sound speakers..." Hey, can you hear this in the back? " If you've been in that situation as that speaker, you know how much more awkward i...