Music
What Brian Eno knows about learning (that we've forgotten)
The ambient music pioneer's new theory about art as "adult play" reveals why case studies don't stick - and what does.
Workshop Design
Practical guides on workshop design, facilitation, and learning experience design. From session structure to engagement psychology - everything you need to run sessions that work.
I've spent over a decade designing workshops, training programs, and learning experiences for companies like EY, Publicis, WeTransfer and The New York Times. These posts cover everything I've learned about what actually makes people learn - from session design and facilitation to the psychology of engagement.
Whether you're running your first workshop or your five-hundredth, there's something here for you.
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The essential reads on workshop design
Best of...
I struggle horribly as a student. So I rebuilt the class. Here's how.
I had a horrible experience in a class recently. So I tried to figure out why - and what I could do to remedy it.
Best of...
Fitness and Education: from IRL to URL
8 lessons for the new era of learning
Give your social media timelines a cursory scroll and it probably won’
How-To Guides
How I do Morning Pages
The theme of my most recent newsletter was New Wine, Old Oak
[https://howardgray.substack.com/p/adventures-49-new-wine-old-oak];
encouraging readers
Resources
How to create an interactive workshop in Zoom
A step-by-step guide to setting up and running an interactive 90-minute workshop
in Zoom.
Note: This is part 1 of
Learning, Education & Growth
Why the future of learning is in the middle
Become a workshop creator and magical things can happen
The view was spectacular and the light poured in.
In a
How-To Guides
Step-by-step playbooks for better workshops
Creative Business
How to run a retrospective that actually works
Six months after a project you can barely remember what you learned. Here's a one-hour framework that fixes that - using conversation, transcription, and AI to capture the insights that usually vanish.
A.I.
Pascal's Wager for AI (and why you should bet on Scenario 2)
Dan Hockenmaier just cut through all the AI noise with a simple framework. Here's why his "scenario 2" bet makes perfect sense.
A.I.
The 80-hour reality check: What actually happens when you build with AI
Everyone's talking about AI magic, but what's the messy reality behind actually building something? Here's my 6-week journey through format fails, bad vibes coding, and the breakthrough moments that made it all worth it.
Creative Business
Two ways to define 'Good Enough'
Ever found yourself endlessly tweaking a project, chasing that elusive perfection? Yeah, me too. But here's a thought.
Future Of Work
Soft Skills are dead. Let’s talk Character Skills.
Forget buzzwords—how do we build environments that make developing Character skills exciting, impactful, and irresistible?
Learning Innovation
Why Learning Beats Education (and Why It Matters to You)
Education mandates; learning invites. Discover the key differences and why flipping education into learning unlocks serious growth and fun.
Resources
Tools and templates
Learning, Education & Growth
Worksheets and Worksheets
Dealing with the tension of using physical and digital assets in learning environments
Learning Innovation
Always do a run-through. No exceptions.
24 hours before our big workshop, we spotted a problem that could've killed the room. One case study had to go. Here's why the final check saved us from disaster.
Storytelling
Live at CMX Summit 2021
Here's the recording of the workshop I ran on storytelling at CMX Summit
[https://cmxhub.com/summit/] a
Learning Innovation
8 shifts in the future of learning & education
Over the past few weeks (ok, months) I’ve been working on a big article on how
fitness and learning
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Everything on workshop and learning design
Learning Innovation
5 ways to run better remote workshops
Over the past few years, a new wave of collaboration tools have been a key
driver in the growth of
Learning Innovation
The Joy of 6
There’s much to learn from musical educators, and educational musicians.
The first pilot episode of Schoolhouse Rock
[https://schoolhouserock.
Learning Innovation
4 Workshop Mindsets
Imagine you get asked to run a workshop.
How would you tackle it?
Perhaps you’re feeling really confident in
Learning Innovation
The new alumni
Alumni:
> a graduate or former student of a specific school, college, or university.
For a very long time I
Learning Innovation
“What do you mean, ‘a workshop’?”
For centuries the word ‘workshop’ simply referred to a place where goods were
manufactured or repaired. To begin with, these
Learning Innovation
Building the 10 key skills for 2020
We all know the world is changing quickly, and that we all need to build and
develop new skills to
Entrepreneurial Endeavours
Life’s a Pitch...but for who?
Over the last few months, I’ve been working with nearly two dozen founders from
across the spectrum of New
Learning, Education & Growth
Why the future of learning is in the middle
Become a workshop creator and magical things can happen
The view was spectacular and the light poured in.
In a
The Tension
The Tension: Natural / Rounded
Lessons from a New York institution: Astor Place Hairstylists.
Listen now: Anchor [https://anchor.fm/the-tension] |Spotify
[https://open.spotify.
The Tension
On Stage
They’re here because a promise was made.
You’re up there alone. Exposed.
You have 90 seconds to get
Learning Innovation
Talking to Humans: No intro, no get-go
The value of the introduction when you’re running workshops, leading a class, or
doing most types of speaking to
Mindsets & Growth
What was it like?
When someone describes an experience, we may hear ourselves asking ‘What was it
like?’.
We’re being curious, taking an
Future Of Work
The important thing before on-boarding
It’s not just about what happens once they’re on board and the vessel is setting
sail.
It’s
Best of...
Learnings from the other side of an accelerator program
In the Spring of 2018, I was approached about collaborating on a new project
being presented by New York City’
Culture & Insights
Great (Un)Expectations
Below is a very lightly edited version of a brief introduction I gave at the
final presentation day for the
Stage Left
The Educator’s End Credits
They don’t exist right now.
Of course, there’s the bibliography for a book or research paper, but as
Portfolio Career
Work labels: word salad and connotations
A couple of weeks ago I had a drink with someone who’s done some great work in
their field.
The Tension
The Vessel & The Lens
Last week I had lunch with a friend who, like me, is a recent graduate of a
coaching certification program.