Years ago, I was asked to work at the Toronto International Circus Festival, in the kids area. There were a few different activities that festival-goers could enjoy, including hula hooping, juggling, vaulting, and aerial hoops. I was asked to work in the vaulting/aerial hoop area. Let me paint the scene for you – this festival sees a million and a half guests over the course of the weekend, which is an almost unfathomable number of people. It takes place in the height of the summer, with full sun and blazing temperatures, and bodies packed throughout several venues, each with their own circus shows. As is common in circus events, there are hundreds of sights and sounds, and a lot of overstimulated people. Stiltwalkers tower over the crowd, juggling props are thrown high in the air, and several stages feature everything from aerial silks to a man balancing a running lawn mower on his chin, while audience members throw heads of cabbage into the spinning blades.
The Toronto International Circus Festival, during a less-crowded time.
When I arrived, I found a moderately long line, looping around the fenced-off area containing a mini-trampoline and a large rig from which dangled an aerial hoop. Garbage from the large crowds blew into the kids area from outside, as well as the trash that was abandoned by the kids themselves while they did the activities. Families would wait for over an hour in the hot sun so that their kids could have the opportunity to run, jump once on the mini-trampoline, land on the lava-hot crash mat (roasting, like the rest of us, in the hot summer sun), then sit for a few seconds in the hoop while dispassionate teenagers would twirl them around so that their parents could snap a photo. On their way out, they would get a postcard advertising the Circus Academy.
Overall, it was not exactly a spectacular experience, especially when you consider the high cost of standing in line for over an hour to have about one minute of fun. I was determined to make a difference. Luckily, I had had the great privilege of working with the legendary circus trainer Ann Dorwin, who taught me nearly everything I know about work ethic and creating memorable experiences.
Eager to put my skills to the test, I dove in. Before starting with anything else, I managed to secure a garbage bag, and quickly hustled to gather all the small bits of garbage littering our area. My next focus was on making the activities pop a little more. Instead of just expecting the kids to run and jump and land on the mat, I started to give them challenges. I wanted to see if I could get them to cycle through at double or triple the speed, so that instead of one jump, they got two or three. With excitement in my voice, I started egging them on to see how quickly they could manage it, with the promise of extra jumps if they could hustle. With the volcanic heat of the crash mat, they had extra determination! I then asked one of the hula-hoop instructors if I could borrow one of her hoops, and started the challenge of jumping through the hoop, raising it in between each of the jumps, egging the kids on to greater heights in their jumps. The difference so far was magic. They would squeal in joy and satisfaction as they were able to jump higher and higher.
Look ma! No hands!
By now, the people in the line were starting to take more notice of what was going on. I took advantage of this and started to get them to cheer for the kids who were taking their turns jumping. Recruiting more and more people in the cheering, the line-up started to become a fun place in itself, rather than an excruciatingly boring wait. I would ask the kids in line what tricks they would try, or how high they thought they would be able to jump, which helped to build the excitement and anticipation. I essentially became the “Ringmaster” of our little area, and using nothing but my words and energy, recruited all the people around me in the transformation. Every once in a while I would get the audience really excited by taking a turn myself, jumping high and performing flips and fun poses in the air.
The increase in energy was notable and it drew more people into the line, which made it even longer, which also gave me more energy to work with. Now the line wrapped all the way around the area, and started a second loop. I made sure that those in line stood in ways that the second row behind them could see. I started to connect the kids and families who were standing in line, so that they started socializing with each other to pass the time. In between jumps, I would cycle through pumping up the “audience”, getting the other coaches to cheer on the jumping children, clearing the little bits of garbage, and celebrating the kids as they jumped.
Eventually we rotated staff in our area, with the trampoline crew cycling to the aerial hoop, the aerial hoop going on break, and new staff coming in to the trampoline. It became quickly obvious that the area was undergoing a rebirth, and what started out as a bit of confusion quickly turned to smiles and enthusiasm in our new staff crew. Now the area was a fun place to work, and they started bringing their own flavour. The trampoline games evolved to include new things like high-fiving the spotting coach, jumping through the hoop while the coach threw it in the air, and the coaches taking turns to show off. I also got the other coaches involved in picking up the bits of garbage that would float through our area. Working in a clean and tidy space affects everyone’s enjoyment.
Meanwhile I used the enthusiasm and energy that was built starting when the kids first joined the line, and their fast-pumping hearts from the trampoline area, and got them doing more advanced moves on the hoop. Encouraged by their success and the cheers from the crowd, they started coming out of their shells and were willing to try riskier and more elaborate tricks on the hoop.
We ended up handing out significantly more postcards advertising our circus programs, and had a record number of signups for our summer camps that year. In conclusion, I was able to use nothing more than words and energy to completely transform our area to one of the most engaging and attractive sections in the whole festival. It started out as a place where people were just going through the motions, and turned into a place where everybody, coaches, kids, and parents, came alive. Our area was actually the only place other than the performance stages that remained litter-free all weekend (unless you counted the shredded cabbages… but they got cleaned up promptly!)
…Was that really necessary?
Every one of us has that capacity in us, and with the right training, we can learn to let it out. Imagine what a workplace could look like if EVERYONE brought that kind of energy and enthusiasm with them. The entire world can be transformed in this same way, if we can just create the right prompts and then get out of the way.