Hello Facilitators👋 I'm really curious about where everyone is from. I'd love to make this a mega post where we can see how diverse the Facilitator Club community is. Who knows, you might find a lot more people in your area than you thought! Once I have lots of answers on this post, I want to make a nice graph!

Hi team 😃 I wanted to say a quick hello! I'm really enjoying being part of this awesome likeminded group - so great to see loads of questions being asked that i've also wondered about! I also wanted to share a challenge i'm currently experiencing to see if it's something you talented people could share any experience on! So, hello! I'm Louis - i'm a London based Innovation Lead in the charity sector - i'm also a freelance innovation consultant and facilitator which i'm going full time with from May...which i'm very excited about! I am currently doing the Design Sprint and Facilitation Fundamentals course which i'm loving... Turning into something of an AJ & Smart super fan! 😁 Anyway, my interesting challenge..... I'm talking to a charity at the moment who want to run three workshops with businesses and government bodies on one big challenge which they've narrowed down to three separate territories/areas. The overall challenge is around getting businesses upskilling low paid low skill workers. One of the challenges sitting under this is how do we ensure businesses have the data they need to convince them upskilling their low paid, low skill staff is worth their time and investment. They have done a lot of research and insight work on this upfront to show why this is an important challenge to focus on. The approach they want to take is: - Run 3 separate 'co-creation' workshops on 3 separate (but linked) challenges to generate solutions. They want these to be c3 hours long with 25 people. This is with businesses and government bodies. - As they work in the policy world which are very accustomed to 'roundtables' - as far as I can tell this entails lots of chat, not much action and plenty of unstructured conversations.. 😑 - In my view as they are very complex challenges it would be more beneficial to engage a smaller amount of people for a longer amount of time and am thinking best approach would be more like a Day One of the Design Sprint with Expert interviews, Lightning Demos and Concept Sketching and if time permits prototyping and testing.

Would love to hear from anyone involved in Design Thinking and how you apply it to facilitation. Curious also about the resources you have access to, courses you've learned from and any DT community you may be a part of (I myself am a part of IxDF). Do share!

My absolute favourite icebreaker is called draw a duck, it’s as simple as it sounds. 🦆 1️⃣ Give everyone post-its and a sharpie 2️⃣ Give them 60 seconds to draw a duck 3️⃣ Have them all put their ducks on the whiteboard 4️⃣ Briefly review your ducks as a group. That’s it. I love it because it’s a quick and effective way to inject a bit of fun into the start of the workshop. Plus, it lowers the bar for visualising ideas later, showing that ability to draw doesn’t matter. Want to practice? Grab a post-it and drop a picture of your duck in the comments, then tag someone in Faciltiator club do the same! 🦆 I'll start us off in the comments! 👇

Hello dear friends, I would like to know what strategy or arguments you use so that companies hire services from external facilitators on a permanent basis. And not only when the company detects a specific problem to solve. Thank you.

Sometimes when people hear the word 'icebreaker' they cringe or might feel super anxious about taking part in one. Yes, icebreakers can make you feel a bit awkward initially, but they are proven to help enhance relationships and encourage creativity. 'Icebreakers can help increase team bonds, boost performance and creativity'—Harvard Business School study Integrating icebreakers into your workshops or meetings is a great way to get everyone relaxed and ready to participate. But how do you choose the right ones so that you avoid those dreaded awkward silences? Here are my Top 2 Icebreakers that are easy to implement (in-person or online): 1. My First Job Ask everyone in the group to write down their name, their first job, and what they learned from that job. Then go round the group and have everybody read theirs out. 2. Pointless Questions Prepare a few fun questions ahead of the workshop, then go round the room and have everybody take turns answering the questions. It’s as simple as that—you don’t even need to write anything down! Here are some question suggestions to get you started: - If you could invite a celebrity over for dinner, who would it be and why? - What is your most prized possession and why? - You can have an unlimited supply of one thing for the rest of your life. What do you choose? Here are some more icebreakers for you to explore! What's another great icebreaker that I can add to my list?

Helloooo Facilitators 👋 This is a question that comes up A LOT and I would love to hear your answers to it. What's the value of Facilitation? In other words, why do teams need Facilitation/Facilitators? It's so important to be able to answer this question because it will help you convince potential clients of the value you can add to their teams as a Facilitator. Leave your answers in the comments. Looking forward to getting a discussion going on this. Rebecca 💟

I'm curious what y'all use to bring silence back to a room (e.g. after a breakout discussion)? With the first program I was trained to facilitate (Search Inside Yourself) we used a singing bowl like the pic attached. Works like a charm, but definitely has a mindfulness vibe and isn't perfect for every setting. Are there are tools, techniques, etc. that you've found work well?

When everyone is on the same page about a way forward, it's easy to think we've done our job as a facilitator. That's certainly the end result we're looking for, after all. The problem is, if we get there too quickly, there's every chance there's been things left unsaid--or unexplored. 💭 Group-think may make finding consensus easy, but it doesn’t necessarily bring the best ideas or solutions. If you’re working with a group that is ALWAYS in agreement, try posing this question: “𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲?” 💥 Forcing a different argument is a great way to unearth new possibilities.

Howdy! For those of you here who are freelance facilitators, I have two questions: - What's been the most effective method of getting clients? - What kinds of workshops/sessions do you sell the most? I'll go first: - What's been the most effective method of getting clients? --> Creating Youtube content - What kinds of workshops/sessions do you sell the most? --> Innovation Workshops Cheers, Jonathan

Hey all! Very excited to be here in the Facilitators Club. Makes me happy to see already so many people from the Workshopper Master Community but also a lot of new faces who are interested in facilitation! I have a background in architecture and am located in Belgium. Interested in anything that has to do with facilitation, architecture, our behavior in buildings, workplaces and how that affects our mental health, productivity, collaboration and so on. Currently doing more research about it so if you know any podcasts, articles, books, people, ANYTHING 😂 please let me know! PS: I'm also a beauty and the beast fan and I can sing every word to 'Be Our Guest', but only in Dutch (with facial expressions). Working on the English version at the moment. Take care and I'll see you around!

We love conducting Design Sprints remotely! There's lots of benefits in doing so, but there are some drawbacks. One of those is the Storyboarding exercise. This has always been a struggle for us, but we've been successful incorporating an iPad/Apple Pencil into the process to sketch or wire framing in Figma and sharing that progress in real-time with the client/DS team. I'm curious though how others have handled this difficult step in the process....

I would like to create a facilitation kit for on the road and also a organised kit for in house. I'm wondering what kinds of things everyone would put in their kits. I can come up with: - Sticky notes 🗒️ - Sharpies 🖊️ - Voting dots 🔴 - Time timer ⏲️ - ... ...and also where do you put all those things in? Is it a plastic box, a suitcase or something else? Please leave your thoughts in the comments, maybe my new kit is created by all of your input.🙂

One of the toughest skills to learn as a workshop facilitator is managing circular discussions. I'm talking about those discussions where where the team goes around in circles discussing the same topic multiple times. Here’s my top tips on how to handle circular discussions: - Time-boxing - let the group know that you’re going to set a timer for this discussion, the time-pressure will help people be more concise in their thoughts. - Note taking - Listen to the discussion and add notes to your whiteboard. Visualising a discussion will help the team recognise when they’re repeating themselves. - Addressing repetition - Tell the team when they’re repeating themselves, highlight the notes on the board that cover what they’re saying and ask them (politely) to move on. - Challenge relevance - Circular discussions have a tendency to get off track, if you feel like what’s being discussed isn’t relevant to the topic at hand, highlight it with the team. - Summarising - Once you feel like enough has been said, interject with a summary, ask the group if you’ve missed anything and if not, move on. - Deciding - If the discussion needs a decision to move forward, summarise and then ask your decider to decide what you should move forward with. - Parking lot - If a discussion is stretching on too long, and its not crucial to resolve it for the purpose of your workshop, add a post-it to your parking lot and return the discussion later if you have time What are you top tips for managing discussions in a workshop?

The first time I ever facilitated a workshop, I was terrified. I had never been in charge of keeping a conversation on track before, and I certainly didn't know how to handle silence.Silence is a fundamental tool for facilitation. In fact, it can help teams to better collaborate and come up with creative solutions for highly complex problems. At first, silence may be seen as a challenge to participants, but over time, they realize that silence allows them to listen more carefully and think more deeply about their proposals.They also understand that silence gives others the opportunity to do the same, and as a result, everyone becomes more thoughtful in their interactions and produces better results. Working together-alone is a way to use silence. Walking meditation is another. How are you using silence in facilitation?

Sounds harsh I know, but it's the truth. Most workshops are time consuming, unfocused, and once they’re over, nothing happens. Here's three ways I ensure that people don't think my workshops suck; 1️⃣ Respect people’s time - Make sure your participants really need to be there, they should be engaged in the topic, and bring valuable perspective or expertise. Otherwise, you’re just wasting their time. 2️⃣ Plan for an outcome - The best workshops end with a decision, so when you’re preparing a workshop, ensure you’re ending on something actionable that you can run with after the workshop. 3️⃣ Solve problems that matter - Most meetings could have been an email, but a lot of workshops could have just been a meeting. Focus on complex, important challenges which require a lot of input and alignment. By keeping these points top of mind for any workshop I'm designing, I can be confident that participants won't leave feeling like I've just wasted their time. But what are your top tips for making sure your workshops don't suck? Let's discuss!

What do you all think about method card decks? Personally I used them a bit at university to plan/design workshops I remember liking the tactile feel instead of flipping through books like Gamestorming. But now I feel that they might be redundant or more of a novelty product. I'm still considering designing my own with my favorite methods for personal use, but I'm split in other decks as I both see reasons in paying no attention to them and hoarding them like a greedy dragon. Pros & Cons I see +Tactile +Compact +Can be displayed on the wall in the workshop room as a sort of schedule -Less information on methods than books -Planning/designing workshops can be easily done digitally or with post-it's instead when you know your favorite methods. I would like to hear other opinions on this topic as I feel like I'm missing something.

Hello everyone, what skills do you think everyone should learn to become a facilitator? and how did you learn that skill?

98% of the workshops I facilitated last year were fully remote. Even the teams I was worked were mostly distribute, some spread across multiple continents. The biggest challenge I see with remote workshops, compared to in-person, is keeping folks engaged. After all, you're literally asking them to stare at a screen with all those tempting little apps and tabs screaming for attention the whole time You can't ask people to just put stuff away, so instead I rely on momentum (or to put it another way, the pace in which you move through the workshop) Momentum encourages focus, and by keeping a brisk pace, you ensure those in the session have less time to disengage, to jump over to Slack or Email, because if they do, they’ll quickly realise that the workshop will move on without them. You should set this expectation early, let them know that they’re going to need to focus, and that if they’re distracted they might miss important information, this will ensure they recognise the behaviour. The real trick though is to make it feel natural, it shouldn't feel like you’re rushing through exercises, it should feel as though you have just the right amount of time for everything. It’s a delicate balance, but if you can find it you’ll have a much more engaged remote group.

I'm curious. I have a client who is asking for an in-person workshop (previously we have done it all online), but one of the facilitators would be on Zoom as they are on the otherside of the world. Has anyone done this? What has been your experience? How do we make it successful? Exploring ideas at the moment to see how viable this is.

In my 20+ years of facilitation, I've only ever worked with a co-facilitator a handful of times. (And on every occasion it was someone I knew well and had worked with in other contexts.) I've recently been given the opportunity to co-facilitate on a reasonably large programme of workshops, and while I'm not super-passionate about the work being proposed, I'm tempted to say yes just so I can experience co-facilitation on a different level. I'm keen to hear of your experiences co-facilitating (especially if it was with someone you didn't know well to begin with). What do I need to think about / plan for / consider in order for it to work really well? I'm really keen to explore where co-facilitated workshops fit in the mix of things.

Perhaps one of the biggest perks of a community like this is to openly share failures and have a laugh about it 😀 What were some of your most memorable fails to date throughout your facilitation journey? Either yours or that you witnessed first hand! Let’s hear it! I’ll start in the comments!

Are also facilitators here who are freaking nervous and anxious before their meeting, session or workshop starts? Do you have any advise how to not freak out before? 😅 Although I would say I am always pretty good prepared and my sessions are running smoothly I get so anxious before, struggle with my imposter syndrome and expect the worst to happen. As soon as the meeting starts I get very calm and confident, so it is actually the time before which is really stressful for me although I really love what I do and I love the role of the facilitator.

Hi facilitation nation, I'm in the process of selling a Positioning Workshop for a circular economy startup pre-launch. As I see it, their two main goals are: 1. align the leadership team on target audience and retail categories at launch 2. build conviction that it's safe to have a go to market focus that shifts over time (a few members of their team have different and strong opinions about where they *should* move after launch) Any experience conducting something similar? I'd love to hear of kick off or deep dive activities that helped leadership teams describe their hypotheses and align on which to move forward with (I suspect this will be a variation of a dot voting activity). Thank you for your input! Siena

Hey all! I thought it might be interesting to start a money/success discussion amongst the facilitation chat here as I think being a successful facilitator is just as important as being a great one. So here's a topic I believe strongly about: You have to Pay to be Successful To become successful at anything, you’ll need knowledge and experience. You’ll need to learn hard lessons. To run a successful Design Consultancy, I needed to understand how to build a design team, how to sell, how to market, how to manage and everything in between. To run a successful Online Course business I needed to understand how to build online courses, how to package them and most importantly: how to sell them. To be a high-day-rate Facilitator, I had to learn not only how to run any kind of session for any type of company, but also how to SELL facilitation to any type of company. All 3 required a lot of lessons learned to bring them to their current multi-million dollar revenue states… but I used a different “currency” to build each one. In the end, there are only 2 currencies an entrepreneur can use to learn the lessons needed to become successful: 1. Time 2. Money Time: At the beginning of my career I used the only currency I had a lot of: time. It took years of grinding before AJ&Smart even reached the 7-figure (million-dollar revenue) mark. I was shooting in the dark, trying to build something from scratch, learning the lessons in real-time as they happened. It was like hiking up a mountain with no map, no guide and no signs. Eventually, I made it to the top of the mountain but it was a painful process and it nearly burned me out. This is why I decided to try a different currency for the second business: Money Money: From the beginning of building Workshopper, in fact, even before I created the first line of dialogue for my first course, I decided to pay for the lessons I needed to learn using money! For the second business I decided that if I could pay someone who’d “already been to the top of the mountain” to tell me how to get there quicker and safer, I would pay them. I didn’t want to trudge up the mountain blindly, taking years to learn the lessons that others had already learned the hard way.

I am thinking of putting a workshop together for Experiment Design. Say the team has one or some hypothesis and they want to find out which experiment is the most appropriate one to test it? What is the data to be collected and why? How is it going to be used in evaluating the hypothesis? ... Overall, the purpose of the workshop is to design an optimized and efficient instructions package for experimenting the hypothesis. Has anyone ever done this or similar workshop for the same purpose? I would appreciate if you share your experience. 🙏

I've been playing a lot with ChatGPT in the context of facilitation. Check the overall conversation by opening the images in this post one by one! This stuff is mind-blowing!!!!! Some conclusions: ✅ ChatGPT is wonderful for inspiration! Think of it as a co-facilitator ✅ You need to know what to ask! Problem framing and critical thinking are skills even more valuable in the age of AI ✅ The robot wont run the workshop for you ;) So the whole human element and real-time ability to adapt give facilitators even more value! ✅ I cannot wait to see the amazing abilities AI will give facilitators. One example is to use AI tools to quickly capture visually some exercises outputs without the need to be a great scribbler/sketch-noter. You can try it out at chat.openai.com :) How about you? What experiments have you been doing with AI and facilitation?

Hi team. I'm curious to know how people stimulate creative thinking in problem solving / idea generation sessions. I have an exercise I use to demonstrate how the human brain works; we play the 'yeah but-yes and' game; I use prompts like Picture Cards and Story Cubes; we do Guided Visualisation; prompts like Imagine if or I wonder what would happen...what else?

Hello👋 Do we have any Design Thinking Practitioners who have facilitated workshops in Telecommunication (Telco), Media or Network domain areas ? If yes, what are the different wicked problems you have worked with the workshop participants? How has been your experience? Were you able to see any ideas getting implemented leveraging Design Thinking practices ? Would like to know more about the success story and overall journey to get better understanding 😊

One of the biggest time sinks I see in workshops is facilitators wasting time grouping post-its before voting. Here’s what I do instead; 1️⃣ I ask everyone just to vote on whichever post-it has their preferred wording. 2️⃣ I synthesize AFTER voting is complete. This way, instead of going through a bunch of irrelevant post-its that no one voted for anyway, I only need to synthesize the dozen or so post its that actually have votes. Plus, you don't end up burying a better phrasing at the bottom of a pile of post-its, and you don't kill the momentum of the workshop by spending 10 minutes sorting through a massive pool of ideas. I'd say this tweak is at least twice as fast as the alternative, which really adds up over the course of a half, or full days workshop.