Reading and making notes

Speaker 1: (TO AUDIENCE) Sometimes we get last-minute changes from the teachers not long before the group’s due to arrive.

Speaker 2: (TO OTHER PEOPLE) Hi Holly.

Speaker 1: Hi Mike.

Speaker 2: I’ve just had this email from the party leader from this group coming in.

Speaker 1: OK.

Speaker 2: There has been a small change.

Speaker 1: So this group are arriving tomorrow?

Speaker 2: That’s correct.

Speaker 1: OK so, it looks like they want to change their arrival from 2:30 to 7:00 and they want to change their departure from 1:30 to 4:00?

Speaker 2: Yep.

Speaker 1: Right, OK, so I think that the best thing to do programme-wise for that is to maybe move their activity that they would have had on their arrival day to their departure day.

But we will need to check if we’ve got the right staff in and that they’re all trained in the same activities that they’ve already got on the programme.

Speaker 2: And they’re also bringing some seven-year-olds as well.

Speaker 1: Oh right. OK, well Craig is their group leader so I’ll get him to look at that and look at the equipment that we’re going to need.

(TO AUDIENCE) Reading between the lines of this email, I can see that the change of the group's arrival and departure times has a real knock-on effect to the group's schedule.

Speaker 1: Hi Mike.

Speaker 2: Hi Craig.

Speaker 1: How you doing?

Speaker 2: I’m good, how are you?

Speaker 1: I’m good man, I’m good.

I’ve just found out about the sports academy group that’s coming in.

We got told they were meant to be eight-year-olds but we’ve actually got a lot of smaller ones coming, maybe six- and seven-year-olds.

I just wanted to double check with you over equipment wise because we’re going to be on a lot of rope activities.

(TO AUDIENCE) With the new information I’ve received from the teachers I need to put some plans in place to accommodate the younger members of the group.

We also need to adapt some of the sessions to accommodate their needs and also their abilities.

It’s a new situation and it needs to be resolved quickly to ensure there’s no impact on their visit, but also on any of the other groups' visits as well.

(TO OTHER PEOPLE) What about the helmets?

Speaker 2: You’ll need extra small helmets.

Speaker 1: Extra small, OK. I know we’ve got a few on site but we’ve just had that new delivery.

Which ones? I’ve got two colours and I don’t know which ones are extra small and which ones are large?

Speaker 2: The blues are the extra small and the reds are the large.

Speaker 1: Awesome, I’ll make sure that we put them aside.

(TO AUDIENCE) I ask specific questions to help to change the programme.

I also clarify that I have the correct information and that I know everything I need to know to move forward.

(TO OTHER PEOPLE) That’s brilliant, thanks for that.

I’ll catch up with you in a bit.

Speaker 2: See you later.

Speaker 1: See ya.

Speaker 1: (TO AUDIENCE) After every visit, teachers and group leaders have feedback meetings.

We discuss how they found the experience and anything they think we could improve.

(TO OTHER PEOPLE) So what we’re going to do here is a little feedback for us.

So how has it been so far?

Speaker 2: Brilliant, yeah. The kids have loved it.

Speaker 1: Excellent.

(TO AUDIENCE) I ask specific questions about the teachers' experience, which I then add to the relevant sections of the feedback forms.

The form is detailed, so I send a summary email to the line manager, Mike, to give him an overview.

I only put the information relevant for Mike.

Keep it to the point because Mike will want to read it quickly.

I use headings and bullet points and highlight any important text in bold.

By presenting the information in a logical order with clear headings, it’s easier to extract the relevant information.