More information about Real Life Rehearsals®
The following is a general overview for all trainers, facilitators and teachers.
Teachers, in particular, would benefit from also visiting the page How to teach any social skill you like.
Check out what courses Mark is offering on How to use Real Life Rehearsals.
Real Life Rehearsals is participatory and experiential. The participants have to suggest and modify strategies and, most importantly, practice, practice and practice putting those strategies to work in a simulated environment. Both the participants and the 'trainer' have to work. They are fully involved in every step and the 'trainer', unlike traditional types of role-play activities, has a crucial, pivotal and significant role. Real Life Rehearsals is comprised of 2 major parts.
Part 1. The development of a repertoire of realistic and culturally acceptable strategies
Part 1 consists of steps 1-7. Here the participants develop, in response to a Real Life Scenario (more about them another time), a set of realistic, acceptable and personalized strategies. It is a rigorous process, yet not overly demanding, where strategies are proposed (in the main by the participants), subjected to the Real Life rehearsals Obstacle Course, checked by the participants for acceptability and either accepted as they are, discarded or modified so they are acceptable to them. This means that ideas the teacher might find terrific could be rejected by the participants especially if they do not fit 'they way they say or do things'. In most cases, Part 1 is vital, yet often overlooked or not implemented as rigorously as it is in Real Life Rehearsals. What's the point of practicing strategies (in Part 2) that the participants are not really going to use even if they do enjoy the role-plays and put on a good show? However, there are some special situations in which Part 1 may need to be skipped and Mark is happy to talk to you about these.
Part 2. The development of the social communication skills needed to deliver the strategies in the real world
Part 2 consists of steps 9 and 10. In step 9, participants develop and refine their skills at delivering a range of strategies 'under fire' in a simulated real-world environment during Agent Provocateur Role-Plays®. ideally, strategies are demonstrated and rehearsed until an appropriate level of proficiency is reached. These role-plays are very different to traditional types of role-plays and are more accurately described as behaviour-rehearsals. There is no getting into small groups - except in some very special circumstances. There is no reading out of scripts - again, except in some very special circumstances. In summary, these role-plays are conducted by the teacher, one-on-one with each participant. Step 10 is concerned with debriefing and concluding. Read more about Agent Provocateur Role-Plays.
In Real Life Rehearsals, the 'trainer' is actively involved and requires a range of skills they don't need when using traditional types of role-plays. In essence, Real Life Rehearsals, and particularly Agent Provocateur Role-Plays®, is harder. It requires more effort than traditional types of role-plays but the rewards are much greater. The trainer must be energetic, engaging, 'quick witted' and, most of all, part dramatist and part entertainer. Some trainers and teachers already have the skills but may need a bit of help polishing them or may lack the confidence to use them and 'give it a go'. Others don't already have them, but can usually develop the skills and confidence with some guidance, training and practice. Mark is a master of Agent Provocateur Role-Plays® and provides such training in a support and entertaining environment.
Real Life Rehearsals can be used one-on-one, with small groups and, of course, with the typical workshop or class group. It can be used with quite large groups, say 100 people if you like, but the opportunity for individuals to practice their preferred strategies (Part 2) is limited. Ask Mark