SERIOUS FUN Audio Book

Preface

Part One – Plan

• Are You Talking To Me?
• What Difference Do You Want To Make?

Part Two – Prime

• In Your Shoes
• Seven Mistakes Program Leaders Make
• The Zones of Proximal Development

Part Three – Pump

• The Tools
  • FUNN
  • Goal-Setting
  • Challenge by Choice
  • Full Value Contract
  • Experiential Learning Cycle
• The Methodology
  • Step 1 – Needs Analysis
  • Step 2 – Setting The Tone
  • Step 3 – Doing The Work
  • Step 4 – The Difference

Part Four – Peak

• Seven Differences Program Leaders Make
• How Do I Do This? (20 Common Programming Questions with Answers)
• Where to From Here?
• BONUS: Program Templates (40+)
• More Resources

About the Author

Contact Details

This is a digital product – no physical items are shipped. After completing your purchase, you’ll receive an email with a download link to access your .mp3 file instantly, ready to start listening.

How is this different to books like Count Me In or No Props No Problem?

Those books are activity collections; this one is a framework. Rather than giving you more games to run, Serious Fun teaches the four-step program design model behind why activities work – covering the seven mistakes program leaders make, the five essentials of a good icebreaker, and solutions to 20+ common facilitation problems. Pair it with any of the activity books to get both the “what” and the “how.”

Is this book aimed at beginners, or is there value here for experienced facilitators too?

It’s written primarily for facilitators newer to the field, walking through the fundamentals of program design, managing difficult behaviours, and creating a safe learning environment. That said, experienced facilitators consistently report picking up genuine nuggets they hadn’t considered, particularly around structuring a session for maximum impact – so it’s less a “beginner-only” book and more a foundations book everyone benefits from revisiting.

I already know how to run activities well – do I still need a framework book?

If your programs are already landing consistently well, you may get less from this than a true beginner would. But most facilitators have at least a few sessions that feel flat despite good activities, and that’s usually a design problem rather than an activity problem – the book walks through 20+ of these exact scenarios with practical fixes for each.

Is the audio content the same as the printed book?

It’s unabridged – the complete book, nothing trimmed or summarised – and read by author Mark Collard himself, so you get his own delivery and emphasis on the material. It’s a natural fit for busy facilitators who’d rather absorb the framework during a commute or while multitasking than carve out separate reading time.