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!

Hey, Workshoppers! Jonathan from AJ&Smart here! Almost every day, I receive multiple DMs and comments asking something along the lines of: "Where can we see an overview of what AJ&Smart actually does??" "What products/services do you offer clients?" "How can I/we work with AJ&Smart?" To answer this, I've decided to make a very lo-fi overview of our entire business model, our pricing, and most of the things we sell! So, if you've wondered what we do, out of either curiosity or because you're interested in working with us, then hopefully this is helpful! In a nutshell, we offer: - MOST PREMIUM: Consulting, Design Sprints, Strategy Sprints, Facilitation Training for teams, Running a company Hackathon/Keynote. This is only for larger companies. Prices range from $25k-$400k. (see more on our website) - MID-RANGE: Our Workshopper Master course & coaching program for Facilitators and Innovators who want to make a career out of Facilitation. Prices from $6k. (Learn more here) - FREE STUFF: This group, YouTube, all our books and social media channels. The video attached will tell you everything else you need to know, but above is a little summary! If you have any questions, or if I missed anything, lemme know! Cheers, Jonathan

Hey Facilitators! Last week @Rebecca Courtney hosted a special facilitation-themed live training, and it was PURE VALUE. Hundreds of people from all over the world tuned in to learn about: - The crucial role facilitation plays in driving success for your team in 2023. - The secrets to fixing broken collaboration and unlocking true team synergy. - The seven core facilitation skills. - How you can get a special, limited-time discount on our new program, Facilitation Fundamentals. My favorite part of the training was Rebecca discussing the Diamond of Participatory Decision Making (watch that part in the preview). When I first learned about this group process coined by Sam Kaner, it seriously blew my mind... I finally fully understood why we need Facilitators (and why Facilitators should unapologetically be charging top dollar for their invaluable services 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰) You can unlock the complete training here if you want to learn more. What's your take on the Diamond of Participatory Decision Making? Do you think it can transform the way teams collaborate and make decisions?

Hello Facilitator Club. I recently ran a half day workshop for a challenging technical team to help a VP of Platform build repour with their technical platform engineers, and change their mindset from technical requirements thinking into customer pain point thinking. Here is a Loom video to give you a teaser of the workshop. I have also attached a sanitised template in Mural (yes I know, its's not our beloved Miro, my hands were tied (sigh)) for anyone who wants to reuse it. If you'd like to dive deep into how I built the workshop, please reach out. Video - https://www.loom.com/share/26b7a8350450445e831fef559dfb1df8?sid=f21036a3-6057-4542-862e-b338266f5ed9 Template attached -

Hey there! 👋 Facilitator Club is THE community for Facilitators or those who want to learn the skill of facilitation, where you can… ✅ Talk about facilitation and workshops (like the Design Sprint!) ✅ Talk about facilitation careers and how to build one (and make $$$ as a Facilitator!) ✅ Share workshop/facilitation insights, experiences, and resources ✅ Ask the AJ&Smart team questions about facilitation & workshops! These documents contain important information about the group rules and getting the most out of this community, so please read through everything before you get started! 👇👇👇 👮‍♀️ Group rules 🚨 💃 How to get the most out of the Facilitator Club community 🕺 Really happy to have you here, hope you love the community as much as we do! Lots of love, The AJ&Smart team 💛

Have any of you used these books? I´m working with them to create a guide for a class on facilitation for sckool teachers. What do you think about them?

Hey Workshoppers, I'm VERY excited about this: As many of you already know, I usually only do coaching inside our high-level paid community "Inner Circle"... BUT today I'm announcing a little experiment: I'm going to run a free, 1 hour, weekly coaching session right here in this community, starting next Tuesday (August 22nd)! 👉 Watch this video if you don't feel like reading! You can join these calls and ask me anything you like about: - Building your facilitation career - Running specific workshops - Getting help with running workshops/troubleshooting - Getting advice on working with clients - Sales and marketing tips - Whatever you like! The first call starts NEXT TUESDAY (August 22nd, 4pm CET) and you can see the full schedule of upcoming calls right here on the Skool Calendar. I'll decide if I'll keep doing these based on how many people show up/ whether you all find them useful! ⚠️ 2 important bits of information: ONE: These calls will be strictly ONE hour long. We'll get through as much as we can in that time. I do a 2-3 hour coaching session every week in our "Inner Circle All-Access" community (these are recorded & transcribed), for those who want to go deeper. We can talk about this in more detail next week if anyone is interested in learning more! TWO: There won't be recordings of these free Q&A sessions. Why? For lots of reasons, but in short: just come hang out live! Hope to see some of you next week, let's go! Cheers, Jonathan

Hi everyone! Do you use landing pages to sell your facilitation services? Would you be so kind and share them with us? What are your main selling points? Thank you in advance!

Hey all! We thought some of you might find it interesting to see the hard work and CHAOS that goes into running a large-scale virtual Facilitation training so we made a sort of "making of" Vlog! Let us know if you have any questions about our tech setup, we're happy to share!

Hey all, I just wanted to say Hi! I'm lucky enough to already be in the paid for Inner Circle community having completed the Workshopper Master course (whoop whoop!) as well as successfully receiving the go ahead for my first paid-for 2-day workshop with a client 🥳💪 One of the things I would have liked was to be able to chat with someone who has recently gone through the course and had seen the benefits of it in real-time...well...here I am 🤣👀 I'll leave this as open as possible...if you have any questions on being new to the WM course or in fact how I bagged my first client just ask! Happy to help where I can. Just to add...this is off my own back, any advice or opinions I may have are mine and not AJ&Smarts 😁

I've noticed over the last few months the level of engagement on here has dropped off, and some of the earlier leaders on the Leaderboard now rarely participate. It doesn't take much to appear on the Leaderboard. An average of 1 post per day over a month will have you on the 30-day Leaderboard... in the top 20 of over 3,500 members. Though, appearance on the Leaderboard is just one criterium to measure engagement. I took screenshots of the Leaderboard 7 days apart to see what the differences actually are. Take a look at the changes. Quite a lot on the 7-day, some shifts on the 30-day, and very little movement on the All-time board. So, what do you think could be added to the site to increase the level of ongoing engagement? The point system is meaningless by the time you get to my level and no incentive (I have about a year to go at my current rate of contribution to move up a level). What else do you think needs to be added here to maintain a higher level of engagement, particularly for those who have been on here more than a few months? I'm tagging those on the All-time Leaderboard to get their thoughts on this. @Kerri Price @Shannon Wagers @Will Stammers @Joao Ribeiro @Benedict Odjobo @Hassanein Ismail @Sam Pettersson @Jeff Panning @David Finnegan @Jakub Michalski @Rebecca Courtney @Ren Yee Quek @Andrea Browne @Salah Bouchma @Claus Höfele @Austin Govella @Alina Balan @LaYinka Sanni @Abdelrahman Hussien

I've recently embarked on my freelancing journey as an innovation facilitator, and I'm in search of a peer learner. I'm looking for someone with whom I can exchange insights, support each other throughout the process, and share our experiences. I firmly believe that connecting with fellow with the same goals can greatly enhance our performance. If you're interested, please leave a comment, and I'll get in touch with you

I apologise. There, it's out of the way! I am apologising for what will sound like a sales pitch for AJ&Smart...but honestly, I am just a newbie facilitator within their Workshopper Master community! Today all 'Inner Circle' members had 6 hours (!!) within a 'How to get facilitation clients' call. Even though I have dealt with Sales & Marketing for many years, on behalf of my own business and clients....today's session was mind-blowing! The support and assistance at our fingertips is immensurable. I don't say that lightly! Plus...there's another 6 hours tomorrow! 🥳💪👀 They have covered so much in a day I can easily see why companies pay so much for their facilitation offerings as the value vs. cost is a no-brainer. I've not made so many notes in any session for years! So many gold nuggets. Seriously, if you are on the fence about joining the community, if you're wondering if you can do the job or find the clients...take the plunge! Staying still is soooo last year! Time to change 💪 ---Do you now see why I apologised? 🤣🤣---

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?

Can anyone share the courses costs, they are better guarded than the crown jewels. I want to know what level of investment is needed so i can plan. Without discovery calls and vetting

Hey Workshoppers, Ever wondered how decisions get made or how the day-to-day of working at AJ&Smart looks like? Well, we've started a weekly(ish) vlog on our channel to show you exactly that! If you're curious about the week-to-week things that happen at an agency like ours take a look! Hope you like it :)

If you missed the @Aj Smart session yesterday on the 3 secrets to building a successful facilitation career, the following three books were recommended. I found the discussion of group dynamics really interesting and all this time and who know there was science to back up the skill. But I digress…. Here are the books that were recommended by @Rebecca Courtney . What other books are you reading.. or can recommend to the group?

As some of you may know, yesterday Alex Hormozi launched his newest book $100M Leads…And he had over 500,000 registered attendees…With over 100,000 people actually showing up watching live. By all accounts, it was a massive and overwhelming success…A masterclass in how to overload people with value… And then at the end, he gave away digital copies of his book for FREE along with a legit $12k course… How can we apply his $100M frameworks to our Facilitation Offers?

Hej Workshoppers! I have been and still are battling with this question and would like to tap into the collective experience and intelligence of you. My innovation studio is officially based in Germany. My offer is running a very specific workshop, namely the AI Design Sprint™. My mission behind that: enable non-tech decision-makers to uncover valuable AI potentials & co-create meaningful AI solution concepts for their unique business context. My target audience is located in the DACH (Germany, Austria, Suisse) region which is mainly a german speaking market 🇩🇪. The intuitive thing to do would be to also have german as my main language for everything I do and publish. But currently I am using English as my default language 🇺🇸🇬🇧. LinkedIn, website, marketing material, ... I deliberately made this decision to be able to also reach people beyond this german speaking market and to be able to scale at some point. Am I loosing prospects in my current target market because they might not understand English well enough? Maybe you've had the same question and already answered it for you. It would be awesome to hear some of your experiences and thoughts on this. 🙏

Hey all, Thanks to everyone who came to todays call, I really had fun and I hope you found it valuable :) Let's keep these calls going weekly!! Cheers, Jonathan P.S. for those who were specifically interested in working with me and my team on your facilitation career here's that link I shared

Daniel Stillman is a wizard in the world of Facilitation and communication and I have been a huge fan of his work for a long time. In his latest LinkedIn post, Daniel shares an amazing article where he talks about the importance of active listening and shares a powerful conversational tool called the Listening Triangle. The Listening Triangle can help you listen to understand, not just to respond, which can foster empathy and reduce polarized conversations. As you know, active listening is a core competency for facilitators so getting this right is crucial. Have a read of the article below and let me know what think. https://www.danielstillman.com/blog/the-listening-triangle-for-deeper-conversations Rebecca 💜

After seeing the big discussion on the book launch event I will jump right to the topic as most of you seem caught up. (Link to ads part of the course: https://www.acquisition.com/training/leads/make-ads ) Have any of you used or considered using paid ads as a way to find facilitation clients/work? In that case, how have the results been? What worked and what did not? I'm currently planning to get into that game because in the best case, it will be very profitable and in the worst, I will learn an invaluable skill💸

Hey Workshoppers, I usually don't cross-post anything from our Workshopper Inner Circle community but this video I made for the group today kinda exploded and created a lot of really interesting conversations. So I said fuck it, let's pop it in here too :) P.S. Applications are still closed right now for joining our Inner Circle community, if they open again any time soon we'll post about it here 👍🏻 **************************************************here's the post*********************************** Hey all! I spend a lot of time coaching or being coached. I spend a lot of time around hyper-successful entrepreneurs and consultants, but also people who are stuck (and stay like that forever). I have some thoughts about what keeps people stuck and what makes people successful. I decided to make a little video about something I think is going to hold a LOT of you back from achieving success. It's a bit of an experiment so lemme know if it's interesting! https://www.loom.com/share/b03e24ebdf8449d3bb700abd7fa35cdc?sid=cc23381e-4203-4a6c-8057-631e886c3670 Cheers, Jonathan

I'm trying to organize potential conferences, retreats, and/or networking events I could go to this year to meet inspiring folks and get a rocket-start, mario-kart style, to my new career as a freelance. Below are the ones that I've found so far. Any other events on your radar? Factilitators Connect - 1 week in mid September, in Amsterdam. 40 attendees Together Alone Retreat - 1 week retreat in Portugal remote location. 50 attendees IAF Conference Berlin - 3 days in mid october Which event are you going to or are excited about?

Hey Facilitators! 👋 We’ve got something super exciting lined up for you! We’re hosting a live Q&A session this Wednesday, July 19th @7pm CEST with the fantastic Angela Parker, who is an EXTREMELY successful executive coach and workshop facilitator. Meet Angela: After 15 years in the fitness industry, Angela sold her business and moved into coaching. But, although she loved what she did, she was struggling to reach her lofty financial goals. She tripled her business within three months of completing the Workshopper Master Program (AJ&Smarts higher-tiered program) by incorporating Facilitation into her practice Now, she’s carved out a highly lucrative niche for herself in the facilitation industry. So how did she do it? Angela is going to share her roller-coaster journey with us, and trust us, it’s a story you don’t want to miss! In this live Q&A, you'll also get the inside scoop on what our Workshopper Master program is really like, and how it enabled Angela to grow her business. 👉 So, here’s the plan: 📅 When? Wednesday, July 19th at 7pm CEST. 🗺️ Where? LIVE on Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/7016895859297/WN_zsRsBxJCQ4yGwb64nKTTVw This is a golden opportunity to glean insights, ask questions, and see how you can chart a similar course. Will I see you there?

Hey Facilitators! We’re hosting a special Design Sprint-themed Q&A session with Jake Knapp, the creator of the Design Sprint & NY Times Bestselling Author. The session kicks off on Tuesday, July 25th, at 5 pm CEST (Berlin time). Here’s what we’ll cover: - What is the Design Sprint? - When to facilitate the Design Sprint? - Common pitfalls to avoid - What makes a Design Sprint successful? - The best way to learn the Design Sprint - AND MORE! Save your spot here 🎟 If you have ANY questions about the Design Sprint and/or want to know how YOU can leverage Design Sprints in your work, then I’d urge you to come along to the Q&A session tomorrow - it’s going to be fun! Who is joining us? Let me know in the comments below 💛

Hey Facilitators 👋 I wanted to share my journey to Facilitation with you all. Maybe some of you have a similar journey or are thinking of changing careers but are hesitant to do so. Let's go 🔙 Before I started working with AJ&Smart, I was working as a Primary School Teacher and I loved it BUT, I noticed a few things over time: ❌ “Busywork” made up 80%-90% of my day ❌ During staff meetings, it felt like we spent more time talking about “how” to do something, rather than doing the work itself ❌ Collaboration in every school I worked in was ineffective and broken ❌ I didn’t have a say in any of the decisions being made in the school ❌ I had no freedom to use my creativity, I had to stick to the curriculum ❌ I felt stagnant, that I wasn't being challenged enough to grow and develop new skills. I felt stuck! While I was having these realisations and feelings around teaching, I was having lots of conversations with Jonathan (CEO of AJ&Smart, my brother) who was also experiencing similar challenges but in different industries. And it all comes down to one simple fact: collaboration, in all shapes and forms, in all types of work, is incredibly complex. People (in most companies/industries/organisations) don’t know how to productively collaborate in groups. No one has ever taught us how to effectively and efficiently think, share our thoughts, and listen to others’ opinions in groups. Given the lack of awareness about the topic, it's unsurprising that collaborating in groups often becomes messy and ultimately breaks down. 💡 The solution to this problem? After years of trial and error, reading every book, doing every training, Jonathan realised that ALL groups need someone to guide them through solving problems and making decisions. ALL groups need a Facilitator! After seeing the power of Facilitation and how AJ&Smart was helping so many companies with their problems, I knew I needed to be part of it. I needed to be part of changing the way groups make decisions and work together.

Hi all! I left my full-time consulting job to start a business earlier this year. One of my main offerings is workshop design and facilitation to help teams solve complex problems more collaboratively. So things like brainstorming, pain point identification, stakeholder alignment, etc. I define workshops as collaborative working sessions with targeted activities that encourage attendee participation and more focused discussion on specific challenges. They are alternatives to traditional meetings to help teams spend their time more productively and reach actionable next steps in a short period of time. However, as I’ve been researching and conducting informational interviews, I’ve realized that “workshops” means something different to different people. Some think of it like I do, others like a training session, and still others have a different definition. While I understand that we could call these workshops anything we want (we could even make up a name!), because the important part is the value we bring, I’m still finding it hard to connect with potential customers at times because of the disconnect with the term “workshops”. So my question to all of you who are facilitators offering similar workshops….what do you call them?! If you call them workshops, how do you communicate with people what that means on your websites and in your conversations? We’ve had some suggestions from people to call them “working sessions” to indicate that work is done in the workshop and it’s not just training. Or, do you stay away from mentioning the “method” (which is a workshop) entirely on your website/marketing materials and use your introduction conversations to focus on the value you bring? For example, something like “We can help your stakeholders create a shared vision and kick off this initiative on the same page and with the same priorities" and then just talk through my definition of a workshop. I am curious to hear any advice from you all!

Hey everyone! Last year, we had an absolutely delightful 1.5-day team retreat with a major corporate group at our AJ&Smart office in Berlin. Let me tell you, it was GREAT! We got creative with the LDJ Royale and added some cool activities for starting strong and ending even stronger. Here are some highlights: - @Jonathan Courtney facilitated the session with help from @Rebecca Courtney - We didn't have any slides! We went all authentic and created all the visuals by hand on a massive King Flipchart. - We added excursions like a walk to our local ice cream shop and a meetup at our favorite cafe on day two (very much inspired by The Power of Moments). - The feedback from the client was the icing on the cake – “everything was perfect”! That made us super happy! Here's how the days unfolded: Day 1: - We started with a light intro to workshopping. - Warmup: An improv exercise we learned from a public speaking coach, David JP Phillips - We then dived into the Sailboat activity, where we crafted a challenge statement. - And then, the much-awaited LUNCH! - After lunch, we dived into Lightning Demos and 10 for 10. - We concluded with reflections on the day and shared what we learned about workshopping – as we brought in some Champagne! 🍾 - We ended the day with a dinner in one of our favorite restaurants near the office. Day 2: - We started with a talk on the 4C's Framework and the principles of Workshopping. - We continued with The Action Board (and it worked very well!) - The Tony Robbins "Gratitude Meditation" really resonated (there may have been a tear or two). - LUNCH with a side of Champagne was a lovely touch. The LDJ Royale was a great choice for the team retreat. It’s always amazing to see the principles we teach in our courses come to life and make an impact. ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ We regularly share "inside scoop" posts like this inside our Workshopper Master community (our high-level program/community for those who want to build a high-paid Facilitation career). DM me if you want to learn more about joining! 🤗

Is anyone here an IAF Certified™ Professional Facilitator? I've only recently discovered them, and am wondering if anyone here has engaged with that org, and what your experience was like with them. Maybe this is a silly question or no brainer, but I genuinely don't know. Appreciate any insights you're willing to share. : )