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 Facilitators! 👋 We’ve got something super exciting lined up for you! We’re hosting a live Q&A session with the fantastic @Nathy Ravez, who is not only a workshop facilitator and collaboration coach, but also a podcast host! Nathy’s life took a 180-degree turn when she chose to dive into the world of facilitation. She’s going to share her roller-coaster journey with us, and trust us, it’s a story you don’t want to miss! 👉 So, here’s the plan: 📅 When? Wednesday, May 24th at 12pm CEST. 🗺️ Where? LIVE on Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85414950665 This is a golden opportunity to glean insights, ask questions, and see how you can chart a similar course. Will I see you there?

How do you make your slides/whiteboards look really professional & not too "home-made"? I find the Designer function in powerpoint is very helpful, but it doesn't always work for slides that are more complex than simple text & pictures. What other options are there to improve slides? I have pretty good ppt skills but I do want to be a team coach not a graphic designer :-)

During one of my team building programs, a very exciting participant wasn't satisfied about the result and she argued loudly and aggressively demanding extra points for her team, and this is the moment for us as facilitators to show our strength and wisdom, it was very tough moments for me, how to handle it, because if I let it go it ll ruin the whole program, I changed the debriefing around that point and linked it with the objectives of the game and involved her at the discussion along the way several times, later I had a conversation with the manager who were attending, she told me that I was watching and waiting for you to handle it :) - Have you eve faced a vert tough participant or similar situation ? - How you handled the situation, or what tools you used?

At AJ&Smart, we're all about kickstarting workshops with a bang, and that often includes an engaging icebreaker. But, we're always open to different perspectives, so let's dive into an alternative take from the one and only Jake Knapp, author of the game-changing book "Sprint." Jake says, “I’m not a fan of icebreakers. A goofy ice breaker starts you off with a credibility deficit if there are any skeptics in the room. I want the team to have confidence that I’m going to make excellent use of their time and attention. That doesn’t mean we can’t have fun, but I want to start things off fast and pragmatic. And eventually the ice breaks on its own. Be patient and do not assume that you have to have an ice breaker just because it’s the default for workshops—yes, it’ll be a little awkward at first, but trust that people will get comfortable. They always do, and you’ll be glad to have the extra time later on.” (source: https://sprintstories.com/23-facilitation-tips-for-design-sprints-34d876aa5317) Now that's an interesting angle! Jake's all about getting down to business, and we can't argue with the importance of saving precious workshop time. Plus, it's true that people tend to warm up naturally as things progress. That said, we still believe a carefully crafted icebreaker can work wonders, especially when you're dealing with a group of fresh faces. It's all about striking the right balance and adapting to the situation at hand. So, what's your take? Do you believe in including Icebreakers in your workshops or do you prefer to get straight down to business? Let's get the conversation rolling!

I see a lot people wanting to get started in Facilitation. Real superheroes today don't leap buildings in a single bound, but take small determined steps each day (Persist!) over time. If you not familiar with the work of Todd Henry - check him out. Todd went to college with me and is another great resource to help ignite your next BIG thing. Here's a great video of Todd to encourage your journey.

Pleasen pray for us, we are living a war in the city for 8 days and it is continuing in Sudan, Khartoum

Hi there! what are the best exercises you use during your workshops to gather needs and goals/objectives of your customers?

Just completing the Workshopper video course by Jonathan... has helped me with the difference between facilitating and FACILITATOR. It has caused a shift for me now I see we are providing solutions and helping companies and others organize better to commit and get results, through our workshops. Please share your views on this .🙏 Thank you AJ& Smart for this great platform, I am completely open to learning 📕 We moooooove as we groooooove in FC 😊

Hey Facilitators! I want to take a moment to express our gratitude for your dedication, collaboration, and enthusiasm in the Facilitator Club community. Your consistent engagement, insightful advice, and willingness to share your knowledge have been instrumental in nurturing the growth of the Facilitator Club. We are SUPPPPPPPER grateful for the amazing energy you bring to this community and can't thank you enough for your contributions. Huge shout-out to everyone on the leaderboard! 🥳 @Shannon Wagers @David Finnegan @David Newman @Jan Keck @Benedict Odjobo @LaYinka Sanni @Kerri Price @Msoo Mee @Brendon Cappelletti @Austin Govella @Tomoo Okubo @Shaul Nemtzov @Joao Ribeiro @Donna Benjamin @Will Stammers @Jeff Panning @Hassanein Ismail @Sam Pettersson

Hi everyone, I´m Dafne, originally from Italy and now living in Denmark for a few years. I have just finished the Facilitation course and I am really glad to be part of this community, I´ve already found a lot of very useful tips for my workshops and hope to give some myself 😊 I am working in a big danish company as a UX specialist. But I must say that at the end of the day I do a lot of product management as well 😆 I really had the feeling I had to sharpen my skills in facilitation because I run a lot of workshops internally with all the countries worldwide I work with. Shortly, we are implementing a new learning tool and I am responsible of guiding different stakeholders if they to open an online learning community, and that includes setting the project, create content, to design something attractive and always to consider the end users 🚀 That was a long intro, have a great day! ☀️

I might be late to the Butter party, but I've recently discovered it and I absolutely LOVE it so far. The nature of interaction feels a lot easier to develop psychological safety in virtual sessions and seems more fun. Does anyone else use Butter or has used Butter? What did you like or dislike about it?

Hi All, who recently joined facilitation fundamentals training?

When did it occur to you and how were you able to transition into facilitation as a career? Let's share our transition stories in a paragraph...🙏

How are you dealing with the time before everyone has entered the room (virtually or in person)? At the moment, all my sessions are virtual, and sometimes it takes a good 5-10 minutes before everyone has arrived and we can actually start with an icebreaker. This means that by that time, the majority of the participants have already decided if this is going to be worth their time or not. I personally tried a variety of things but am interested in hearing how you handle this. - Have smalltalk with the organizer or with people who entered the room - Play music and not say much until the start - Share a countdown clock - Do a "drop-in icebreaker" (f.ex, which type of dog/sheep/lego construction/... are you today?) What's your take?

Just went to the 6-figure Facilitator training course with Jonathan at AJ&Smart. Wow! So much energy, so much truth and authenticity. It ended up being a weird mix of training and therapy. Jonathan cut through the bs and had some really great guidance for a budding facilitator like me. I am not a UX designer but have experienced a lot of the frustration that was discussed, I’ve probably caused some of the frustrations too…oops. I'm sure a lot of you here were there and they didn’t record it but would definitely recommend going if and when they do more. Thank you AJ&Smart

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?

I often run solo sprints just to figure things out on my own. I'm curious to see what you all are up to 😉

So, I'm new around here and new to facilitation.... Im not going to lie, I have no background in this or in cooperate. I'm a firefighter here in England. So what am I doing here I hear you ask, well I saw this ad from this crazy guy Jonathan and he got me just at the right time.... You see I've been looking for a new career, a change in direction, you know something where I'm not risking my health by going into a burning building or climbing a tree with a chainsaw or throwing myself down an off-piste ski run. I have been on my own personal growth journey now for about 5 or 6 years, in truth it really started when I became a dad 8 years ago but my desire to help others has taken many strange turns and I've been down a few roads and blind alleys in my time and then I came across this group of folk called facilitators or "workshoppers" who say you don't need to have all the answers but instead need to be the guide. WOW! Now that sounds interesting, not only that but if you can become good or even great then the money can be a little better than the pat on the back for risking your life! Now, I know I can learn new skills and I love meeting people and finding out about their worlds, you know, that energy that sparks in people when your conversation brings something out of them that really fires them up. I guess you could call it tapping into their life force or something spiritual like that. Time to stop being the hero and to start being the guide? So look there's a little snippet about me, but I'm curious, what's your story? What brought you here to this space known as the Facilitators club?

I'm going to share the top 5 things you can do to set your video conference meetings apart from 80% of other meetings like them in your organization. The nice thing is that these are simple to do and you can start them today. #1 Welcome people by name as they join the meeting. There's nothing worse than sitting in awkward silence as people are joining the meeting. Welcoming people breaks the silence and sets you apart from other meeting hosts. #2 At the end of the meeting, thank people for their time and for joining the meeting. Let them know they are appreciated. #3 Start your meeting at 5 minutes past the hour or half-hour and end your meeting at 5 minutes before the hour or half-hour. This will help people take a quick break that have back-to-back meetings. Sure, you have 10 minutes less time in the meeting so you will need to use an agenda, keep people on task, use a parking lot for longer conversations, etc. You should be doing these things anyway. #4 Share meeting notes quickly after the meeting ends. If there are any loose ends, follow-up after they are resolved. #5 Only invite people to the people that need to be there. Share the meeting notes with others that may be interested by didn't need to sit through the meeting. They will appreciate it. I'll admit that I don't do all of these for all meetings. I'm working on it. However, when I do these simple things they set my video conference calls apart from most of the other ones people join throughout the day. Do you have any more suggestions to add to the list?

Just wanted to say hello and say that I am grateful to be a part of this community!

so what do you think about the role of Entrepreneurship in Project Management? share your opinion

I purchased these about a year ago. Anyone else use these to map out their workshops? If so, what do you think of them?

This is one of the things I struggle to do well....when the group is engaged in conversation or generally chatting during a break, are there any more creative / effective ways of getting their attention, other than shouting 'OK, time to move on!'. I've seen some faciliators use airhorns but that seems a bit extreme 😁. And it's great to be here to learn alongside all of you!

Hi everyone! As someone from an education background, I found observations incredibly useful to be able to see what I've learned in action, and it got me wondering whether observing a workshop or facilitation session is a thing. Is it a done thing? I know it's something I'd massively benefit from, and would love an opportunity to see a facilitator in action in order to tie things together visually. I'd love thoughts from experienced facilitators who pivoted into facilitation from another industry/career path.

Hi everybody, it is a great pleasure to be part of this community. I have no much practical experience in workshopping. Yesterday, I had a chat with customer of mine that shared he has a lot of ideas in his head but lack of structure and needs help with that issue. How would you recommend me to start and what kind of workshop to propose to him, what exercises would be best to include?

Hello! I am excited to be a part of the community of Facilitators. Just joined today!

Hey guys I wanted to ask you : what’s your key(s)to growth personally or professionally ? Can’t wait for your answers 😁

Hi, I'm Isabella. I'm from Colombia and living in Chicago. In university I did Graphic Design, mostly interested in illustration, packaging (and surprisingly to me at that time - I was seriously thinking I wouldn't like it) UX/UI. I first learned about facilitation and workshops when I graduated and was very lost and unsure on how to go forward. I found it so fun and interesting, but to be honest it took me two more years before I decided to give it a shot. Now, I recently did the Design Sprint Masterclass and I'm excited to start workshopping!

Hi, everyone! I'm on the tail end of the AJ&Smart Facilitation Fundamentals programme, and have loved every part of it and would like to dive into facilitation by seeing it in action. I'd love to volunteer to co-facilitate a session for anyone who'd benefit from the support and I'd be able to have more of a hands-on/experiential insight into facilitation. If you're looking for a tech-savvy people-person, I'm your woman. 😁 I'm open to gaining as much co-facilitation as possible remotely or in locations close to London, UK.