TRAINER RESOURCES

Welcome Team DR!

Here you will find a library of ideas, exercises, and resources for virtual and in-person deliveries. None of the exercises shown here are meant to be written in stone as the official DR ‘this is how it must be done’ - but as springboards, reminders and inspiration for you to incorporate into your own deliveries. Steal what works for you! This library is also not meant to cover everything. As always, the greatest learning happens on the road and between all of you. This page is simply a way to support that collaboration. Finally, we want the library to stay alive and relevant - to share a resource or request any other material you would like to see, complete this form.

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RUNNING THE DAY

Every DR workshop is unique. Yes, we often use the same exercises - but each workshop should be an adventure, a journey that we take the participants on. It should feel special to them as individuals and as a group. This involves creating a narrative for the day. Narrative is built from a mixture of: the plan, the client’s requests, and the responses and needs of the participants on the day. Here are some tools to help you create that magic!

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Click below for downloadable content.

Click here to read an extract from Richard’s book: Dramatic Events: How to Run a Successful Workshop.

Download this Word document to see a typical Dramatic Resources session plan.

TEAM LEADER RESOURCES:

• Click here to download a helpful guide for planning a Dramatic Resources session

• Read this summary of what it means to be a team leader

• This checklist outlines everything a team leader should do before, during and after a DR session. Related: How to set up a WhatsApp group.

• Expectations for joining client calls

• Here is a complete list of DR team members and their "DR Codes" - the shorthand we use in the office to describe delivery teams

THE 93% - BODY AND VOICE

The 93% non-verbal is at the heart of our work. The simple insight that you can create great changes in impact through relatively small adjustments to body, voice and use of space is one that participants never forget. We reinforce this through exercises, through demos and, of course, through rehearsal and coaching work. Here’s a few tips and thoughts to bear in mind as you incorporate your own expertise around the power of the non-verbal.

Note: exercises with a focus on body and voice are susceptible to bias and assumptions. Our aim is that all participants feel supported in taking part in DR workshops. For more information on accessibility, equity, diversity and inclusion, click the ‘ED&I’ button below.

There is often an overlap with status work when exploring the 93%. For more information, click the ‘STATUS’ button below.

Click here to watch Amy Cuddy’s Ted talk on body language - a useful resource for workshop participants.

Download this warm-up ideas cheat sheet for exercises around body and voice, with notes on how to run these sections in-person and online.

Click below for downloadable content.

STORY

Once upon a time… to begin at the beginning… imagine…

Stories are powerful and they are tools of our trade. For our clients, storytelling skills provide more impactful ways to engage their audiences. They are also a tool for shaping the future. As Professor Warren Bennis, a pioneer of leadership studies, said “if you want to lead people into uncertain territory - you need to take them there first in their imaginations”.

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COACHING AND REHEARSAL

Coaching participants in small groups is at the heart of DR’s core offer. It is the aspect of the work that we get the most consistent positive feedback about from clients and participants – and where we see real change.

We encourage all DR trainers to draw on their own professional toolkit as actors, teachers, directors, comedians, improvisers, voice-coaches in the way that they coach. We also encourage you all to steal from each other and share exercises that can be used and adapted in coaching. This document outlines DR’s broad approach to small group coaching.

For specific exercises for coaching the most common issues which arise in our work, click the icons below. Note: Because the 93% is all interconnected, some of these exercises produce more than one result and can be used to solve different problems. Nevertheless, you ideally want to avoid doing the same exercise twice within one small group session.

If you would prefer to download a list of all the exercises above, click here.

1:1 COACHING

Watch this space - coming soon!

STATUS

Over the years, status work within DR has evolved to have multiple uses. It is testimony to the power of the status work that it has endured - but it’s important to remember that status work isn’t a set of rules, but a set of tools.

Status in all its guises is a lens for the participants to look afresh at behaviour - their own, and others’. In the room, it’s a great way of getting participants up, moving around, doing activities that are fun, easy and that they recognise. It is also a set of tools to help us coach and empower participants towards making impactful choices.

We hope the materials in this section will be a useful guide, knowing that:

• Each trainer will find their own unique way of narrating the status journey

• An awareness of the different approaches to status work that are in use should help you collaborate more effectively with other trainers, in both delivery and design.

DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS

DR came to its work around difficult or courageous conversations later than our work on presenting and public speaking. On our journey to develop work in this area, some of the trainers have incorporated models and tools that come from outside the theatre (such as the non-violent communication model - NVC). However, at the heart of our offer is that a difficult conversation can be rehearsed - even if you don’t know how the other party will react.

Here are some resources with which to explore difficult conversations in more detail.

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NOTE: Amalia explains Fact-Feeling-Need-Request (from NVC) in detail in this video.

Read Brené Brown’s full article “Let’s Rumble” by clicking the image below.

Watch Marshall Rosenberg discuss Non-Violent Communication (1 hour)

Find out why great leaders share their fears and anxieties in this Harvard Business Review think piece.

Click below for downloadable content.

VIRTUAL DELIVERY

It’s hard to believe that we didn’t really do virtual work until the pandemic hit in 2020!

In this section, you will find ideas, techniques and approaches for handling the unique challenges and opportunities of online work. It’s always worth remembering that our initial goal in delivering online work was to find a way to deliver our own fun, lively, dynamic - and above all, experiential work - in a different medium. If you find a session drifting away from you – get people doing!

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The trainer team has several acronyms for working on virtual presence. Check out Lara’s notes on PEBBLES here, or take a look at Steph’s LEAF framework. Above all, remember: Lights, Camera, Action!

Click below for downloadable content.

More Technical Support:

ZOOM

Back to Basics: How to access your Zoom meeting, Finding your way around Zoom, Spotlighting / Changing the view on Zoom.

Sharing an iPhone or iPad screen on Zoom.

How to turn on live captions in a Zoom meeting.

Enhancing your video quality on Zoom.

How to update to the latest version of Zoom.

TEAMS

Back to Basics: How to use Microsoft Teams.

How to sign into Teams from your browser (not from the app).

How to update to the latest version of Teams.

WEBEX

Back to Basics: How to join a Webex Meeting, How to share your screen on Webex, How to share a PowerPoint on Webex.

How to update to the latest version of Webex.

OTHER

Tutorial for accessing your personal DR Calendar.

How to use Mentimeter (free interactive word cloud) for online deliveries.

10to8 (“SignIn”) for coaching programmes: Adding your availability, Connecting calendar and Teams to 10to8, Receiving and accepting bookings.

EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

We are dedicated to making sure Dramatic Resources champions equity, diversity and inclusivity, now and in the future. We believe in the power of theatre to change lives, and in our trainers' ability to channel this power.

We work with key partners to support us in our ongoing EDI journey:  

Please find some resources below, created through our internal work with our EDI partners exploring how we can make DR’s work inclusive and accessible:

• Aimée Massey (Future Act) handout from Inclusion and Belonging Workshop.

• Dramatic Resources EDI statement (2025).

• Coming soon: DR’s accessibility toolkit for inclusive practices when working with participants.

• Finally, a huge bank of resources related to ED&I and Accessibility from Diverse Educators - from class inequality to disability awareness, menopause and flexible working.

You can join the DR forum here (you don’t have to create an account to access this resource). This is a space to share reflections, questions, experiences and insights around accessibility.

We are also including these external resources for further reading. If you have recommendations to add to this list, please do let us know!

READING LIST

None of these books or articles are required reading! It is your own craft and experience as theatre practitioners and teachers that you are drawing from, and you don’t need to know more in order to be in the room. However, these resources provide interesting background to the work we do. Some of them of them have been recommended to us by clients, and others by members of the DR team. They are all very accessible and easy to read. Enjoy (and please let us know if you have more suggestions!)