Master Facilitator Journal | Setting the Stage for Inspired Workshops

	Master Facilitator Journal \| Issue #0440, April 20, 2010

Dear Friends,

I'm in Chicago this week to attend the International Association of Facilitator's (IAF) Conference. Please email me if you're attending so that we can connect. This week's article, Setting the Stage for Inspired Workshops, explores actions you can take to start facilitating your group before you actually meet. We explore the use of media ranging from books, articles, movies, plays, blogs, and music. If you have any suggestions to add to the list, please post them using the link at the end of the article.

JOFC Madison! Our Summer session of the JOFC Workshop is meeting the week of June 7th in Madison, Wisconsin. Many participants who have attended this workshop have come away transformed in their view of facilitation and their behavior as leaders, facilitators, and as people in general. Even those with intermediate and advanced skills leave the workshop having been impacted both personally and professionally. I'd love to take this workshop journey with you as well if you feel so inclined. Click here for details and registration.

I can honestly say that this workshop transformed my approach to dealing with myself, group dynamics, teaching, and everyday problem solving. I could sing the course praises that would cover the Skagit River shorelines, but I think the best approach would be to experience it yourself! --2009 Workshop Participant--

IAF Chicago. My colleagues Darin and Harry and I will be presenting a 90-minute session at the IAF conference this Friday afternoon in Chicago. We'll be offering a primer on the theory of our JOFC workshop as well as the opportunity to experience activities and perspectives that facilitate flow and high performance in groups. Please let me know if you'll be there so we can connect.

We hope our work continues to bring inspiration to your world. Thank you for being a part of our growing community. Please continue to send the wonderful feedback.

Blessings,

Steve Davis
Founder, FacilitatorU.com

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The Point

Setting the Stage for Inspired Workshops
Start facilitating your group before you meet.

Logistics Skill

I'm sure many of you have had the experience of an inner shift beginning once you've committed to some important future action. This might be enrolling in a spiritual retreat, an intensive personal growth program, a graduate program, a commitment to counseling or coaching, etc.

This is testament to the fact that whatever we put our attention on grows. When we begin to to be "witness" to our own self-awareness, skills, attitudes, or behaviors, they have a way of self-adjusting. And, our capacity for change and development around the point of focus intensifies.

I find that there are some relatively easy things we can do with our groups before we actually meet with them. These activities can be as simple as suggesting ways for participants to begin to shift their attention in the direction of the work they're about to do with their upcoming workshop. We've included some ideas below you might like to consider when setting the stage for your future groups.

Application

Tips for warming up your workshop participants prior to an event:

1. Suggest certain books or articles to read. Send these suggestions to participants before the workshop giving them enough time to read and digest them. Include short articles, summaries, or key points for those who might not have time to read a lot before hand. You may also pose a couple of questions for them to consider as they reflect on their reading in service to your work together.

2. Create a set of sequential questions, that build upon each other, to evoke thinking about the topic. Send them to the participants using a sequential autoresponder. Either collect the answers and use them as part of the meeting documentation or just pose them as a way to stimulate thinking in preparation for your workshop.

3. Suggest listening to musical selections. Consider the emotional tone that certain musical pieces might elicit to align participants with the theme of your work together. These pieces can be reused in your workshop to recall and reinforce this tone while you're engaged in the work. Here's a site that offers a good overview of how to use various musical styles in presentations: www.slideshare.net/yannkee502/making-presentation-music

4. Suggest viewing a movie or a segment of a movie. Movies can have a powerful impact on us. Imagine assigning movies for participants to watch prior to coming to your workshop. For example, think about the movie, "Mission," and how it spoke to man's ability to creating a sense of purpose and how to forgive one's self. Consider the barn raising scene from "Witness" in support of team-building. Or think about how "Phenomenon" made you feel about what human's are capable of.

5. Prepare your group with a fresh, provocative and inspiring performance work. A close friend of mine and true Master Facilitator, Debbie Phillips, once led a workshop called, "Igniting The Possibilities Within You" in New York City. In preparation for this workshop the night before, she hosted a private performance of a fabulous play called "Women On Fire" by playwright Irene O'Garden. By doing this, Debbie created a rich context to draw upon with the group the next day.

6. Use technology to begin community building. In many of my classes, I begin to get people engaged about a week before the class starts. I direct everyone to a class blog and invite introductions, query people about what they want out of the class, and inspire interaction so that people get a sense of each other before the official start of the class. This gives the group a head start in breaking the ice, and gives me a head start in getting to know them and tailoring the class to their needs.

7. Have a series of specific pre-meetings to prepare the group for the main event. These meetings can focus on preparing the group for one specific aspect of the larger overall meeting. For example, you and your participants might find it very useful to know and understand their Myers-Briggs Temperaments or Learning Styles prior to engaging in deeper work with the group.

8. Hold pre-event interviews with the participants. By asking the participants specific and probing questions around the meeting subjects, the facilitator can begin stimulating thinking about topics to be covered. This is also a powerful tool for discovering where the group happens to be around the topics to be covered.

Add Your Comments

Action

What could you do to more effectively "set the stage" for your future workshop? We'd love to hear from you. Please click on the Add Your Comments link above and share your thoughts, stories, and experiences. I'd love to hear from you!

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I became inspired and awakened to a new possibility. It's a possibility that instead of being a teacher, I discovered that I am very passionate about facilitating learning. This is what I am fundamentally all about, and I was turned on by the conversation, the facilitation, the tools and the community of learners that were present.
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About the satisfaction guarantee

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