A world of learning designed by research professionals
for research professionals.

Click on one of the training titles below for full details 

One on One Moderator Coaching                              $300 1/2 hr  ♦ $ 500/hr
Stuck on how to get at your clients questions? Need a fresh idea for a discussion guide?  Want help interpreting some confusing data?
            Available Dates:                      Call 603-537-0775 to schedule an appointment

Tele Coaching Club                           Once per month for two hours                  $247/ month
For qualitative moderators interested in using psychological techniques for Insight Mining, In today's highly-competitive world, those of us in market research need every edge we can find to land those desirable accounts and keep them coming back for more. Books and journals help, but they're not always enough and not everyone has several days or even one entire day to devote to a seminar or course.

Projective Techniques                 2 Day Seminar                                      $1,995.00
Energizing Class with teaching, demonstration and practice several highly evocative  exercises that I’ve proven in my own research, including…

Moderator Boot Camp                 4 Day Seminar                                      $3,995.00  
4 day immersion for those with experience to hone and bump up their skills. Attendees will fill out  a questionnaire before hand on their wants and needs, the training will concentrate on the particular groups profile to get everyone what they really see as crucial to improve their own practices. 
            Available Dates:                      June 26th—29th           August 14th—17^th

Creativity Training                        2 Day Seminar                                      $1,995.00
In this intensive two day course, you will leave with an understanding of the parameters of creativity so that you can construct your own unique brand of effective creative ideation.
           Available Dates:                                  August 8th and 9^th

Medical Moderating                      1 Day Seminar                                      $1,995.00
One Day Training deals with the particular issues and stumbling blocks encountered with Doctors and Patients
            Available Dates:                                  TBD

Report Writing              Once day per week for 8 wks                                          $995.00
Training do be done via Audio Conference and Bulletin Board.  Conducting qualitative research is fun and exciting for most qualitative consultants.  Writing it up is often a horse of a different color. 
            Available Dates:                                  TBD

Market Your Research:        Week Long Retreat!                                          $4,995.00  
The Cobbler’s Children have no shoes!! We’re great at helping our clients with their marketing, but how many of us do the same for ourselves!  Reinvent yourself in your marketing arena, there are seven steps for marketing their particular brand of research.
            Available Dates:                                   TBD

 

Our Training Philosophy  Livingston Method Moderating™

Insight Mining Psychologist, Dr. Sharon Livingston is a pioneer in applying projective tehniques and state of the Art exercises grounded in the behavioral sciences to marketing research. Sharpen The Focus Institute exclusive instructors are highly skilled in depth interviewing and moderating, psychological techniques applied to marketing research and group facilitation, interpretation and presentation of findings and professional teaching methods.  In 'Livingston Method Moderating™, the moderator meets with the client to form first impressions about the issues at hand and how the results will be used.  She then creates a blueprint of the structure for the group with a series of direct and indirect probes and creative approaches to achieve the most useful and illuminating responses. The goals are to identify underlying motivations and feelings that drive behavior. Using this approach, The Method Moderator may pick out parts of the guide which seem to elicit certain emotional truths in one group but opt for other creative interventions in another. She follows the groups lead rather than the guide. In fact, the Method Moderator has the confidence of his connection with the participants to abandon the guide in terms of specific questions and exercises and follow a more evocative path to the “truth.”  Livingston Method Moderating™ teaches you how to achieve this productive, creative state that will add value to your qualitative projects. These courses provide you with many techniques and procedures to achieve those moments of inspiration from which creative work develops. Livingston MethodModerating™ teaches you how to take your qualitative work beyond the obvious, beyond the rationalized response that often is not supported in the market place. 

Contact us today for more information!

Sharpen The Focus Institute

Dr. Sharon Livingston, President

sharonl@tlgonline.com

(603) 537-0775

Sharpen The Focus classes can be viewed via Webcast on your PC with interaction through Yahoo Messenger.

We also prepare video CD's of each program which can be purchased separately.  Visit Our Store!

Tele Coaching Club    Once per month for two hours                                                 $247/ month
For qualitative moderators interested in using psychological techniques for Insight Mining, In today's highly-competitive world, those of us in market research need every edge we can find to land those desirable accounts and keep them coming back for more. Books and journals help, but they're not always enough and not everyone has several days or even one entire day to devote to a seminar or course.  The clubs meet once a month for two hours via international teleconference.

Dr. Livingston tailors a lesson plan/agenda for each teleconference, including answers to questions submitted by participants in advance.   MP3 recordings of the club are made available for personal use of coaching club members.   If calling from within the U.S., there is no cost to you for the call.   Regular international toll charges would apply from elsewhere.

Groups are kept small

Usually about 7 participants so all members can have significant input, and emphasize applied psychology for insight mining in qualitiative research

Discussion Board

There will be a special coaching club discussion board where members can discuss the outcome between calls and help shape the next agenda.

Projective Techniques                 2 Day Seminar                                      $1,995.00
Energizing Class with teaching, demonstration and practice several highly evocative  exercises that I’ve proven in my own research, including…

Marketplays ™
The story your respondents act out leads to deeper more emotional connections /span>

Sociogram  
How to get people to literally take a stand on an issue and explain why

Brand Improvasions:
Use Method acting techniques to understand the emotional valence of your brands features and functions.

Empty Chair
Help understand the conversation consumers have with their brands!

Overtones/Undertones 
Hear and see what people are willing to say out loud as well as what they are really thinking and feeling right before your eyes.

Creative Exercises
The Looking Glass Technique™  a great way to use guided imagery for rich, robust response

Archetypal Stories
how to create consumer/brand stories using the 20 Master Plots that are the underpinnings of all literature      

TouchStones™ Brand Sensing  
create brand box with – colors, textures, found objects, scent, sound, tastes to more fully dimensionalize the products and brands from the consumer sensibility

Interpretation!  Finally we will wrap up with ideas on interpreting the output! 

            Available Dates:           July 18th and 19th                   August 26 & 27th

Moderator Boot Camp                 4 Day Seminar                                      $3,995.00
4 day immersion for those with experience to hone and bump up their skills. Attendees will fill out        a questionnaire before hand on their wants and needs, the training will concentrate on the particular groups profile to get everyone what they really see as crucial  to improve their practices.  Past Boot Camps have included...

Get the client to Yes           

Selling strategies that work  based on my 24 years of experience in building my $2 M+ business, and Dr Robert

Cialdini’s proven Pillars of Influence

Deal with Difficult Participants

There are 7 types of respondents who come to every focus group, how to bring each of them to life and help them be

cooperative, vital members of the group

Get more insights

Tools and techniques to draw out more actionable responses
Reporting Skills
learn to report on the outcomes and your revelations that will animate your clients and move them to positive action

             Available Dates:           June 26th—29th                      August 14th—17th
 

Creativity Training                        2 Day Seminar                                      $1,995.00
In this intensive two day course, you will leave with an understanding of the parameters of creativity so that you can construct your own unique brand of effective creative ideation.  Most business professionals are familiar with the BASIC set of guidelines for creative brainstorming:

Go for quantity   ♦    Put all ideas on the table   ♦   Encourage each other   ♦  Avoid criticism   ♦     Try half-baked ideas   ♦  Defer judgment, etc. 

Learn secrets to put these ideas into practice, real gems to turn your everyday brainstorming session into something truly brilliant!!

How to provide an atmosphere conducive to creative ideation
What  specific types of exercises work best to get people to defer judgment,
How to deal with criticism and pre-judgment when it does arise,
How to manage anxiety and energy levels in a creative ideation session     

            Available Dates:                                  August 8th and 9th      

 Medical Moderating                     1 Day Seminar                                      $1,995.00
One Day Training deals with the particular issues and stumbling blocks encountered with Doctors and Patients e.g

How to deal with logical Doc types
When to use groups vs. IDI’s with physicians
How to deal with emotionally laden topics with patients, empathizing with their pain and
suffering while still drawing out the necessary Marketing insights

                                    Available Dates:                                  TBD; TBD; TBD 

Report Writing              Once day per week for 8 wks                                             $995.00
Training do be done via Audio Conference and Bulletin Board.  Conducting qualitative research is fun and exciting for most qualitative consultants.  Writing it up is often a horse of a different color.   

Whether as a Word document or presentation format, you will learn how  to better articulate the findings in a reader friendly, succinct but complete and actionable way. Course content and writing assignments and will be posted on an Internet Bulletin Board. 
Participants will submit their responses before the weekly telephone group meeting to discuss their approaches

                                    Available Dates:                                  TBD 

Market Your Research:        Week Long Retreat!                                          $4,995.00
The Cobbler’s Children have no shoes!! We’re great at helping our clients with their marketing, but how many of us do the same for ourselves!  Reinvent yourself in your marketing arena, there are seven steps for marketing their particular brand of research outlined here          

One on One Moderator Coaching                             $300 1/2 hr  ♦ $ 500/hr
Stuck on how to get at your clients questions? Need a fresh idea for a discussion guide?  Want help interpreting some confusing data?  Get insightful and ready to use answers to your qualitative questions with just one or a series of  a one on one phone consultations . 

Call (603) 537-0775 to schedule appointment

www.sharpenthefocusinstitute.com

sharonl@tlgonline.com