Facilitation Skill Up: Resources, Recording, & an Invitation
led by experienced facilitators Rev. Cathy Rion Starr, Side with Love Leadership Development Specialist; and Elisse Ghitelman, Side with Love Squad Leader
View the Skill up on Vimeo
Skill Up Slide Deck - includes all the links & resources shared Sunday and those below
Chat thread from the training
How to Facilitate Meetings the NO Magic way – 350.org – really solid & simple guide
350.org Online Training Monster Manual – Slide Deck Template with a lot of great online activities (See more Facilitation resources from 350.org)
Meetings that Work – UUA from 2005 – lots of good stuff, even though some is outdated
More Tools:
Building Safety In a Group – Training for Change Handout
Sequencing Activities in a Workshop – Training for Change handout
Liberating Structures - an app & website with lots of exercises/tools for conversation
Public Speaking & Facilitation workshop YOU can lead with your folks
CFJ's Facilitation Tips (from Californians For Justice, where Rev. Cathy got their organizing training)
Welcoming and Warming up Participants
Make people feel welcomed. Go up to people you don’t know, talk, make sure no one feels left out or alone – help cliques break up.
Pick an effective icebreaker. Get people to loosen up, and interact with each other. Re-seat people and mix up groups so they get to know each other.
Do a team building activity. This gets people involved together in a group activity and creates the importance of group teamwork. Debrief and reflect!
Setting the tone
Lively facilitation. You have to convey your own energy and commitment for the topic that you are facilitation so others feel it too.
Speak clearly and loudly. So that everyone can hear.
Pace your presentation so that it is not rushed. Give participants time to absorb and think about it so that they have time to ask questions before you move on.
Set agreements and stick to them! Use agreements to keep people on track. You can set agreements at the beginning of the session.
Encourage participation and listening
Reinforce participation. Look at participants when they speak. Nod in agreement. Smile!
Keep order. If there are many people that want to speak, say & write their names down in a “stack” & call them to speak in order.
Diversify speakers. Make sure that the order you choose has a balance of men, women, people of color, youth speaking, etc. Make sure you are valuing a diversity of opinions.
Make sure people can hear each other. Ask a participant who is speaking quietly to speak up . Say things like “Did everyone hear that?
Make sure that participants respond to each other’s comments. Keeps the participants responding to each other rather than to just the facilitator.
Call for a go-around. If you want to make sure everyone has a chance to speak to the topic, call for a “go-around” to have each participant speak, or pass
Presentation and Move it Forward Tips
Use visual aides to help clarify points and make things more interesting. Write legibly and large and make sure everyone can see it.
Summarize main points to move discussion forward. After everyone has spoken, pause and summarize the main points so that people have a clear idea of what has been said.
Find the proposal. The facilitator’s job is to “find” the proposal – to pull together ideas and present it to the group.
Keep comments to the point. If someone brings up an issue that doesn’t relate to the topic, respectfully ask them to hold that point, or “park it” for later discussion.
Create Next Steps: never let anyone leave the meeting before reaffirming the commitments (sign ups) they have made.
Thanks to Cal Ball, Paige Bacon, Barb Rodman, Lora Powell-Haney, and Wendy Weirick for volunteering with our Squads to make our training smooth.
