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I have shared my initial presentation which outlines my ideas and concept for PP2. Since talking with a lecturer on teams (25/01/23) I have discovered that rather than conducting a workshop per say, I will be presenting a trial for a PPD (Personal and Professional Development) course aimed at professionals within the creative industries. Rather than presenting a lecture-style course I want to keep it interactive with a focus rooted in applied drama.

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Performance Practice Two Pitch presentation

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I have created a table which has the feedback from each part of my assessment in one column, and the adjacent column in the table my own thoughts and reflections of how I may improve in this project.

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This book has a wealth of knowledge surrounding sensory theatre, so in order to compact the information within the book I created a PowerPoint to house the condensed information. When I return back to this when developing the content for my PPD session all the relevant content will be in one place!

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Oily Cart | Join us in making theatre more accessible

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Bringing Theatre to Children With PMLD - Oily Cart

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Bringing Theatre to Children With PMLD - Oily Cart

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The Work Of Oily Cart: Bringing Theatre to Children with PMLD

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'Being With' in Sensory Theatre 2 Agency and Personhood

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'Being With' in Sensory Theatre 1 Language and Labelling

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The Role of the Supporting Adult in Sensory Theatre - Oily Cart

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The Role of the Supporting Adult in Sensory Theatre - Oily Cart

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'Being With' in Sensory Theatre 3 The Role of the Supporting Adult

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Employee upskilling is a phrase that has been abuzz in the job market lately. While not a new term, the notion of upskilling has gained widespread attention following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the past few years. Today, both employers and employees alike recognize the importance of upskilling and how it may potentially affect the longevity of their job. With Quiet Quitting/Firing in play and many organizations seeking to shake things up via organizational restructuring, downsizing, and/or mergers & acquisition, upskilling has become an area of self-improvement that is all the more important for both parties to take note of, not just for their employers' sake but for their own wellbeing of course. While organizations and employers have the upperhand when it comes to retaining talents based on their skill set, employees too have benefited from the rising trend. Companies are willing to hire employees with more expansive skill sets and they are more than happy to shelf out the necessary budget to attract relevant talents to join their ranks. Put simply, the playing field has been leveled and both employers and employees are at risk of losing both precious talents and their jobs respectively if they struggle to remain competitive in the job market.

What is Professional & Personal Development?

Professional & Personal Development (PPD), or sometimes known as Learning & Development (L&D) is the process in which an individual seeks to tap into, acquire, hone and develop a new or existing set of vocational or life skills that enable them to achieve a list of goals in life, both professionally and personally. Although widely used in a professional context, the term is applicable in personal context too.

PPD can be seen as an attempt to not only upskill oneself, but to improve one's quality of life via a set of newly acquired skills. The adage "You're never too old to learn," describes the process. Career experts and life coaches preach about the importance of PPD/upskilling all the time, often touting it as a process to get to where you want to be, and not just where you need to be. A quote by business strategist Carolyn Landesman perfectly illustrates the analogy of PPD.
"Formal education gives you the capability to make a living. Personal development gives you the ability to live a life by design, a life with purpose... Personal development is (also) known to increase happiness, health, and success."
Landesman believes that in order for one to be willing to open oneself to the idea of PPD, one must first recognize where they are in life and be comfortable with acknowledging the need for self-improvement. To achieve that, Landesman proposed the four life zones:

● The comfort zone

● The fear zone

● The learning zone

● The growth zone

The comfort zone is where most individuals reside and see no reason for them to engage in self-improvement. The fear zone happens when individuals are aware of the need for improvement, yet demonstrate hesitance and reluctance to acquire a new set of skills due their unfamiliarity with it. The learning zone is when individuals have finally grasped their newfound knowledge and skillset, which enables them to develop and grow as an individual. And finally, the growth zone concludes the becoming of the individual and their newfound skills. With these newfound skills, the individual is more confident and more assured of their personal capabilities, thus growing from the experience and completing the growth process.

The types of skills found under PPD

Traditionally, PPD can be associated with a wide range of skills aimed at enhancing an employee's ability in the following areas of life - Spiritual, Emotional, Physical, Social (including our professional life) and Mental health. These set of skills generally include:

● Soft skills i.e. communication skills

● Technical skills i.e. IT - Systems, Utility, Programming & Driver, Data Analysis, Web Development to name a few

● Upper level management skills

● Sales training

● Leadership skills such as delegation, conflict resolution, talent retention

● Business planning and resource management

● Life skills

Other skills that fall under the realm of PPD may also include time management, decision making, teamwork skills, work ethics and presentation skills. Generally, there are no hard and fast rules to PPD training, and it fundamentally falls onto the needs of the organization and employee to determine what skills are needed to be trained and developed.

Recognizing the importance of PPD

PPD can be delivered through a wide range of channels, most that we are well-familiar with already. These include:

● Seminars

● Workshops

● Teleconference

● Short or long-term courses (applies to virtual courses as well)

● Mentoring

● Coaching

● Lectures or seminars (applies to virtual learning sessions as well)

● Self-taught

● Job shadowing, or being guided by a more experienced colleague at work

In cases where employers or an organization does not provide any form of PPD to the staff, they may instead seek PPD outside an organization's purview on their volition in hopes of increasing their appeal to other employers. Apart from upskilling oneself and increasing the attraction factor of oneself as an employee in the job market, there are several other benefits of conducting PPDs for both the employer and employee.

The benefits

Increased employee retention

Employers who spend time investing and developing their talents are more likely to retain their employees in the long run, as employees may perceive PPDs as a sign of being valued by their employers. According to an Amazon-commissioned study by Gallup on the importance of PPDs, 57% of American employees have expressed interest in upskilling themselves. Meanwhile, 61% of Americans have indicated that the ability to upskill constitutes one of the key factors in remaining with an employer.

An Amazon-backed study conducted by Gallup shows that PPD is important to many American employees. Image courtesy of

Greater job satisfaction

Owing to the ability to continue acquiring and honing new skills, Gallup found that employees who are regularly put through PPDs see an 8.6% increment in their annual income ($8000 increment on average). The wage increment translates into not only greater job satisfaction, but increased standards of living and greater promotion opportunities.

Greater employee confidence

In tandem with greater job satisfaction, employees who experience PPDs report higher levels of confidence. They feel significantly better about themselves, are more likely to present themselves as assured individuals, which adds to the positive impression that others form them, including clients.

Increased profitability and productivity

According to an undisclosed study by HR firm MindManager, PPDs are found to increase a business' profitability and revenue by 21%. Meanwhile, organizational productivity was also shown to have risen by 17%.

Greater problem-solving skills

Employees who are put through PPD programs exhibit greater problem-solving skills, owing to their ability to approach challenges and difficulties at work from a different perspective, consequently this translates to greater innovation and creativity in addressing problems and product designs in the organization.

A renewed sense of purpose and motivation

Apart from greater problem-solving skills, employees are found to demonstrate greater levels of motivation post-PPD, owing to a renewed perception of their job. The ability to perceive one's job in a whole new light allows one to abandon the old notion that their jobs are monotonous and enables them to rediscover their love for their roles in a new light, thus translating to a greater sense of purpose and motivation.

How can organizations create further opportunities for PPD?

Contrary to popular beliefs that PPDs are a waste of time and company resources, PPDs are shown to yield many benefits to both employees and employers, as discussed above. If anything, organizations should strive to develop their talents frequently. Here are several ways to achieve that.

Encourage frequent mentoring and job shadowing

If resources are a much-concerned issue in a company, organizations may rely on workplace mentoring and job shadowing to help promote internal growth instead. To do so, organizations can actively foster a positive workplace culture where employees are encouraged to speak up about their challenges and seek mentors or senior colleagues for guidance. This opens up avenues for newcomers and junior staff to grow, by learning from their colleagues and being comfortable with trial and error, a key component in growing and becoming a more competent employee.

Recognize and acknowledge employee contributions

One way to encourage the culture of constant improvement in an organization is to recognize the contributions that employees have put forth to the business. Recognizing your employee's contribution to the organization sends the message that you see them and value the effort they've taken to upskill themselves. This further motivates other employees to explore the possibility of upskilling and improving themselves, thereby fostering a culture of constant learning, growth and development.

Give equal weightage to soft skills

When we talk about upskilling, one usually concerns themselves with technical skills as opposed to soft and leadership skills. However, one should never overlook the importance of the two, as both are found to be particularly lacking in 87% of managerial and leadership roles, as noted by American employment review portal Glassdoor in a 2021 study.

The use of an LMS allows employers organizations a scalable solution to employee growth and professional development. An LMS allows employers to keep track of an employee's performance and learning progress at work; It also creates a personalized job profile based on an employee's job preference and functions. Furthermore, it allows employers to keep track of the organization's training materials and provide analytics into an organization's training effectiveness.

It's all about determining the employee and employer's needs...

There is no doubt that PPDs are beneficial to an employee and employer's wellbeing. It allows employees to grow, which translates to organizational growth, and by extension of that, the employer's wellbeing. While growth is certainly crucial in both work and life, we however, would like to take a moment to emphasize on the awareness of being content in one's job. In an age where the job market is constantly preaching about the importance of upskilling, there are a group of employees who are seemingly pushing back against the notion of growth and hustle culture, claiming that one can be comfortable in one's job and choose to upskill themselves in other areas of life not relating to career. There are certainly people who have found contentment in their roles and prefer a life of coaching and guiding newcomers and junior colleagues as opposed to upskilling and climbing the ladder too, and that's perfectly fine. As such, this isn't to say that we discourage one from actively seeking self-improvement in the form of PPD. However, if you are a relatively new employee and demonstrate room for growth, the act of upskilling oneself is certainly beneficial not only to your job, but to you yourself as an individual. Ultimately, only you get to decide if it's worthwhile improving yourself and how far it'll take you in both life and career.

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Professional & Personal Development: The significance and why it matters

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Employee upskilling is a phrase that has been abuzz in the job market lately. While not a new term, the notion of upskilling has gained widespread attention following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the past few years.

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This video created by the National Autistic Society is a wonderful resource for encapsulating the basics of what autism is and in what areas people with autism struggle. I would like to use this video in my PPD workshop/session as it will give a nice overview which does not go into too much detail. Additionally, if I were to develop the workshop/session for a group of professionals the National Autistic Society website is a fantastic resource to get a detailed understanding of autism.

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To understand what profound and multiple disabilities (PMLD) are I have extended my research to the NHS website. The participants of my PPD workshop/session will not need to know the details of what PMLDs are but an overview to develop an understanding of what exactly these individuals will need from a piece of sensory theatre. I have found that the NHS website gives a wonderful breakdown of what PMLDs are and what specialist needs may arise in these individuals.

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A learning disability affects the way a person learns new things throughout their life.
A learning disability is different for everyone. No two people are the same.

A person with a learning disability might have some difficulty:

understanding complicated information

learning some skills

looking after themselves or living alone

What having a learning disability can mean

A learning disability is different for everyone. Lots of people who have a learning disability can work, have relationships, live alone and get qualifications.

Other people might need more support throughout their life.

Support for people with a learning disability and family carers

Doctors and other health workers might be able to tell if a person has a learning disability when they are very young. But some people get a diagnosis later in their lives. This can be when they are adults.

If you are diagnosed with a learning disability, you might be referred to other health professionals to get the support you need.

What causes a learning disability?

We do not always know why a person has a learning disability. Sometimes it is because a person's brain development is affected, either before they are born, during their birth or in early childhood.

This can be caused by things such as:

the mother becoming ill in pregnancy

problems during the birth that stop enough oxygen getting to the brain

the unborn baby having some genes passed on from its parents that make having a learning disability more likely

illness, such as meningitis, or injury in early childhood

There are some health conditions where you may be more likely to have a learning disability.

For example, everyone with Down's syndrome has some level of learning disability, and so do many people with cerebral palsy.

Some people with epilepsy also have a learning disability and so do many autistic people.

Profound and multiple learning disability (PMLD)

A profound and multiple learning disability (PMLD) is when a person has a severe learning disability and other disabilities that significantly affect their ability to communicate and be independent.

Someone with a profound and multiple learning disability might have difficulties seeing, hearing, speaking and moving. They may have complicated health and social care needs due to these or other conditions.

People with a profound and multiple learning disability need support to help them with some areas of their life, such as eating, washing or personal care.

Lots of people with a profound and multiple learning disability can still be involved in decisions about themselves, do things they enjoy and be independent.

Some people who struggle with talking might be able to use other ways of communication, like sign language, Signalong, Makaton, or digital systems like picture exchange communication systems (PECS).

Page last reviewed: 10 January 2022
Next review due: 10 January 2025

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A learning disability affects the way a person learns new things throughout their life. A learning disability is different for everyone. No two people are the same. A person with a learning disability might have some difficulty: understanding complicated information learning some skills looking after themselves or living alone A learning disability is different for everyone.

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Sensory Issues For Adults With Autism Specrum Disorder (2016)

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Sensory Issues For Adults With Autism Specrum Disorder (2016)

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To get a more rounded view of how the senses may be affected I have used this resource to cherry-pick information which has the most relevance or sparks my interest in some way.

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Sensory Issues For Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Tuesday 7th Feb 2023 - Lighting Tech Session

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Tuesday 7th Feb 2023 - Lighting Tech Session

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Today I booked out CK005 to learn the basics of how to use the Tech lighting desk. Within my PPD session I would like to illustrate physically how lighting can be used to develop a sensory atmosphere. The skills I learn in order to use the lighting desks I can take forward into PP3 to light my performance.
Within the session I learned that I can manipulate the colours very precisely, but also there are four central lights which can be manipulated in specific shapes to create patterns with light.
I think within my PPD session I will programme in two completely lighting designs and ask the participants to engage in the space, then ask them how each lighting design changed their outlooks/feelings.

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Audience Reception Theory - Susan Bennett (1997)

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Audience Reception Theory - Susan Bennett (1997)

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Wednesday 8th March 2023 - Lighting tech session

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Wednesday 8th March 2023 - Lighting tech session

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This morning I spent a hour in CKW005 getting a refresher into how the lightning desk works and how to programme the lights into the desk. I have filmed this so I have the video for future reference.
I have been able to programme in two simple contrasting lightning cues for two separate sensory effects. Before the assessment week I will book in a third session in CKW005 to improve on the lightning choices I have made. I do not want to overcomplicate the lights as this element of the PPD session will be to illustrate how lightning can change the tone and atmosphere of a space. I may also play two contrasting audios over the lightning to add another sensory element to the mix.

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Onedrive link to lighting session recording

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Onedrive link to lighting session recording

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To get a thorough understanding of how the lighting desk worked I booked in a tutorial with one of the technicians. In this session I recorded what he showed me so I would not need to keep booking further tutorials with him. Having this recording was extremely valuable because it gave me the opportunity to figure-out for myself what I needed to do to record lighting cues onto the lighting desk. It took some trial and error, however, I was able to independently cue the lighting in myself! The skills I have learnt in these tutorials I can take forward to PP3 in showing whoever is doing the lighting for me the basics of the lighting desk!

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Wednesday 8th March 2023 - Run through of a potential activity for a PPD session/Workshop with class group.

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Wednesday 8th March 2023 - Run through of a potential activity for a PPD session/Workshop with class group.

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This afternoon in class time I ran through with the group a potential activity for the PPD session/workshop I will be running. The activity I chose is listed on the "ideas for sensory theatre exercises" document I uploaded. I combined and altered the Frantic Assembly exercise "body mapping" with a visualisation to get the desired outcome for the activity.
The outcome of this activity is to get the group thinking about how the senses can be brought into a workshop made-up of drama games and group activities. I initially wanted to show two exercises, however, I only had ten minutes. I chose the "body mapping" activity because it can entwine the senses in a more profound way.
I started by getting the group to stand in a space, close their eyes and envision a room in their home in great detail. I gave a minute or two for them to get the mental image in their minds. Next I instructed them to add sensory elements to that mental image (what can they see, hear, taste and smell?). After another minute I instructed the group to open their eyes so I could explain the next part.
The next part of the activity was to physically map-out their spaces using their bodies and make those movements exaduated. Again they had to think about the sensory elements of those spaces (i.e. Textures of surfaces, how the body moves around the space, the smells of different objects, etc...).
After a few minutes I asked the group to find a natural ending to their mapping, then join me in a circle to give thoughts (to save on time we went round the circle with everyone giving one thought, this was so everyone got something to contribute to the discussion, and we could fit it in the allocated time. I did the same for what they thought of the sensory elements).
At the end of the mini workshop I handed-out feedback forms so I can find ways to improve on my delivery, but also know what worked!
For the next sharing session I will probably do the same kind of activity, but for a sensory trust exercise. I additionally need to work out where I can add this activity into the the PPD session/workshop since it worked so well.

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Soothing Jellyfish Aquarium ~ Relaxing Music for Sleep, Study, Meditation & Yoga

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Deep Warm Color Noise + Heartbeat + 12Hz Alpha Waves - for Sleep / Meditation - 1 Hour

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14th March - Revision to session plan/outline

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14th March - Revision to session plan/outline

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Since the sensory "body-mapping" exercise went so well last week when I workshoped  the activity I think that I will add it into the session.
Since the participants will be in the space interacting with the sensory light designs I will ask the group with a show of hands which one they preferred.
When there has been a decision made of which lights were the most favoured by the group I will ask the group to stay in the space to do the "body-mapping" exercise.
As a point of health & safety I will bring up the main lights to ensure no one clashes into each other whilst performing the exercise.

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Areas to work on for the next showing (from feedback forms):

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Areas to work on for the next showing (from feedback forms):

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- Expansion of exercise
- More time on activity (will only be able to do this on the mock/assessment)
- Describe to participants the sensory elements in more depth ( i.e. picking up an item and exploring its sensory profile touch, taste, smell, sound)

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What I will need for the PPD session/workshop

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What I will need for the PPD session/workshop

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- Presentation (projector on with sound system working)
- Cue cards for talking points around the presentation
- Lighting desk on in CKW005
- Pens & paper for second half of session
- Fidgets for participants
- Resource guides (leaflets)
- "Randomise bag" (so the options picked in second half are completely picked at random by each group)

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References for Sensory Theatre PPD Session Powerpoint

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References for Sensory Theatre PPD Session Powerpoint

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References for Sensory Theatre PPD Session Powerpoint

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Reflecting back on the PPD workshop/session I am extremely pleased with how it ran.
When setting-up the session I ensured that all technical issues and facilitation hiccups were smoothed out. The preparation time beforehand was beneficial for this reason. If I had not spent my time meticulously perfecting each element I probably would have not been so successful.
One of my concerns was being able to fit so much content into a single hour, so to keep me on track I had a peer control the tech and lighting for me to save me going between the lighting desk and facilitating the session. I additionally set up a timer for one hour exactly, and throughout the session I checked how much time I had remaining. With this strategy in place I conducted the session in exactly the hour!
I felt that I had a good balance of activities which meant the participants were able to engage in the session in more than one way.
In terms of my facilitation of the session I felt that due to my nerves/anxiety I had moments where I sped up a little at the beginning of the session, however I was self-aware of this and corrected my talking speed. This part of my facilitation also partly improved when I relaxed into the session and was able to not rely so heavily on my cue cards. The cue cards were important because they kept me on track during the session yet because I had not completely scripted everything I wanted to say I gave more room for spontaneity (which I find difficult in these settings)!
If I were to conduct this session again, I would expand the content to make it fit in a day-long workshop where the participants get to experiment with actually developing a small piece of sensory theatre. For a subject which can be expanded on I would need a full day to properly explore this subject in enough detail for the participants to gain a detailed knowledge of sensory theatre. I would most-likely split the day in half like I did for the PPD session where the morning would be developing the knowledge around the topic, then the afternoon would be devoted to experimentation/application of the new knowledge.