Brain Friendly Essentials™ -
Series Introduction

Over the last 20 years, thanks to extensive brain-based research, there has been a revolution in our understanding of how people work and learn best.

This has created opportunities for individuals to learn more effectively in unique ways which work for them, and for organisations to save time and money in learning investment, whilst getting better and measurable results.

We’re Stella Collins and Ann Grindrod, and we’ve been working together since 2001, to help thousands of people use their brains in the way they were meant to be used, enabling them to learn more successfully, with immediate impact at work.

The first thing we want to share with you is that
we’ve handled the challenges you may face!

We’re often asked to deliver too much information in too little time.
We regularly train people who are only there ‘because their manager sent them’.
We know how it feels to get across (and receive!) information which is tough, technical or downright tortuous!
We deliver at every level in organisations, from operational staff through to the boss – sometimes in the same group!
We work with lots of sceptics who think energisers, games and toys are just for children.
We’ve observed events where the only thing people remember is the lunch!
And, just like you, we’ve been on the receiving end of countless communications, presentations, and training which, quite frankly, have sent us to sleep!

We’ve had to find out the hard way that there’s better ways to take in information and learn, and that unfortunately, learning facilitators don’t always set the optimum scene!

So on top of all our academic education and training, we’ve spent years reading and researching for ourselves, designing and delivering events, and finding out through trial and error, what does and doesn’t work in the real world of information and learning delivery.

And in so doing, we’ve been trialling and testing lots of leading methods which do work and, now we achieve consistent success, we’re passionate to share our knowledge with you.

Having done the hard work ourselves, here’s 13 lessons we’ve learned along our brain friendly journey, which we’d like to help you to learn in an easier way.

How motivating your audience starts long before the date of the event.
Why attention to the environment is a sure-fire way to handle challenging behaviour.
Why understanding what’s in it for your audience is crucial to your success.
How to integrate all 5 senses into information and learning delivery.
Why traditional methods only work for approx 20% of the people with whom you communicate.
What you can do to add appeal for the majority of your audience.
How you can accelerate learning capacity by at least 300%.
Why people may not recall what is repeatedly said.
What tools are available to help you ensure your audience does remember – 100%!
Why reviewing is vital – yet is often neglected.
What you can do to apply creativity to everything you do.
How sizzle without substance distracts people from learning.
Why beginning without the brain in mind is not the right place to start!

As soon as we started amassing this knowledge ourselves, we were keen to share this learning with other professionals, and we’ve been running brain friendly events for learning and development facilitators for many years now.

However, we were still only reaching a fraction of the people who could benefit from this knowledge, because it can be applied to so many aspects of life, both in and out of work.

“This ebook has been a useful reminder in my left-brained world that whole-brain thinking can be applied in a range of business applications; not just learning, but also project management, presentations, team meetings, 1-2-1 mentoring and influencing, etc.”
Dave Court.

So, finally, we decided to start publishing what we're so passionate about sharing, and the Brain Friendly Essentials™ ebook series was born.

How is the Brain Friendly Essentials™ series structured?

In this series of 9 ebooks, we are covering the following essentials of learning the brain friendly way:

Ebook 1 - How to incorporate the brain in everything you design and deliver.
Ebook 2 - How to apply creativity to everything you design and deliver.
Ebook 3 - How to motivate your audience – whether it’s 1 or 101 (that’s people!).
Ebook 4 - How to incorporate all 5 senses in information and learning design.
Ebook 5 - How using multiple intelligences helps your audience to understand.
Ebook 6 - How to use memory triggers to get information to stick – long-term!
Ebook 7 - How to exhibit knowledge, a key to learning transfer.
Ebook 8 - How to review to enable up to 100% retention.
Ebook 9 - How to optimise the environment in which learning takes place.

We believe that learning comes from the creation of personal meaning, not the consumption of someone else's knowledge. So, unlike any other ebook you may have read, the Brain Friendly Essentials™ series is an experience which is designed to get you thinking; we supply creative ideas - not hard and fast answers!

“This is a superb little book - which walks its talk. And yes - dammit - it makes you think.”
Russell-Oliver Brooklands.

Ebook 1 is an essential starting point as it provides the underpinning ways of how to work through your ebooks, as well as a detailed introduction to the brain in learning.

Ebook 2 develops the overarching skill crucial to brain friendly learning success.

Ebooks 3 - 8 provide the logical, memorable flow we use when we run our workshops; reading them in order will help to build your knowledge in the way your brain works best; although you can choose to dip in and out as you wish.

Ebook 9 rounds the series off by considering all other aspects of importance in learning - environment, brain friendly nutrition, and how to incorporate diversity in learning.

How much are these ebooks worth?

Since 2001, we've spent £0000s on research, training courses, mastermind programmes, networking, and experimenting, to amass the brain friendly knowledge we now have. And we’ve learnt everything in a very piecemeal fashion which means we’ve sometimes had to repeat important learning because it hasn’t always stuck first time.

The great thing about these ebooks is that we have laid them out in a step-by-step, simple to follow format, which gives you the opportunity to build your knowledge, reflect on what will work in your world, and take steps to do some things differently. And funnily enough, that is how your brain learns best!

"By 'beginning with the brain in mind', readers raise their self awareness and their awareness of other people. This results in an improved learning environment, self management skills and increased overall effectiveness in presenting."
Maureen Bowes.

If you learned the methods from us personally, say through a 1-2-1 coaching programme or by attending a workshop, it could cost you over a thousand pounds.

And of course there are plenty of other resources out there you could research if you had the time, which will probably still not give you the entire picture of how to implement brain friendly methods in your world - remember by doing it for ourselves, our learning was very piecemeal. And that's also been the experience of many other people with whom we’ve worked.

What we can guarantee is that we believe in doing everything we say on the tin so each ebook is designed to be as brain friendly as we know how in the written form.

So when you purchase one of our ebooks, and take on board the ideas we suggest, you will be immersing yourself 100% in a brain friendly learning experience. An experience that you can then immediately start to replicate with the information and learning you share.

And what we're committed to doing is sharing our knowledge for a fraction of what it's cost us. So if you choose to buy the whole series of 9 ebooks as 3 bundles (of 3 books each), you'll be investing less than £100!

And each individual treasure trove of learning will cost you only £12.47 (incl VAT)!

This figure is insignificant compared to the time you will save in researching elsewhere the knowledge and experience contained within the ebooks! And the time you can save in accelerating your audience’s capacity to learn is incalculable!

So why are we making these ebooks so affordable?

The answer is simply because our production costs are a lot less to deliver an ebook, than to coach or train you personally. And we really are passionate about sharing these exciting ideas and methods with the widest audience – maybe those who can’t travel to our workshops, or commit the time to a 1-2-1 programme.

Implementing the ideas from the Brain Friendly Essentials™ ebooks series will ensure that you, like us, have the fundamental knowledge to design and deliver information and learning which will consistently lead to your success.

To find out more about the content of the individual ebooks or to purchase an ebook, please click on the appropriate link below.

To buy our first set of 3 ebooks (ebooks 1, 2 and 3) and pay for just 2, please click here.

To buy our second set of 3 ebooks (ebooks 4, 5 and 6) and pay for just 2, please click here.

Ebook 1 – Learning – Begin with the Brain in Mind.

To discover the contents of this ebook, please click here.