This month, we’re wrapping up a 6 month long partnership with the State Library of North Carolina. The collaboration included a series of four IMLS grant funded virtual trainings for teen librarians. In the fall, we took approximately 50 staff from across the state through our Don’t Sweat the Flops training and have 50 more doing it in March. 

The training introduces librarians to Flop Balls as a programming tool for tweens and teens in their community. Because we have a DIY version, they can easily run flop programs virtually now and continue to run them with actual Flop Balls when we return to in-person programming again (hopefully soon). Our training models a variety of ways to use them for creative, competitive, and collaborative activities and then we break out into groups to brainstorm other applications. 

During the training, we use the Flop Balls to introduce our Flop-osophy to participants. These mindfulness strategies focus players on the process of learning new skills in order to improve performance and reduce stress to benefit both the library professionals and the teens they serve. 

Here are a few of the survey responses from our March training session:‍

"It was the best workshop I have attended in a very long time, and I look forward to sharing what I've learned with my colleagues and my teens."

"Wonderful webinar -- best of the pandemic! :) "

"I really enjoyed the spontaneity, and felt that the time passed quickly. I was really impressed with how you tied everything together."

"I really enjoyed this webinar. My first experience with Flow Circus and even though it was a virtual setting our hosts were able to make it a fun interactive learning experience."

‍Learn more about our trainings at FlowCircus.com/libraries