Group Facilitation is a foundational course for professional facilitators and will give you a thorough grounding in facilitation practice of two core facilitation methods.
Focused Conversation Method
Consensus Workshop Method
This interactive course will be offered for 4 consecutive days from July 6 through July 9, 2020 on the online meeting platforms Zoom and Linoit. It is taught by a skilled team including a lead trainer and a technical lead who will acquaint you with the necessary technology.
A workbook and e-books are included with the course.
The whole course involves
12 hours class time over 4 days, 2 hours per session
4 hours of reading and individual “homework” between class sessions, 1 hour per session
2 practice sessions, one for each method, with a small group of real life people in your own situation
Necessary preparation before the course: Read assigned pages of the manual. Get familiar with the technology through provided videos and pages. Get commitment from 3-4 people to participate in your practice sessions – can be work colleagues or family members, or friends.
| Focused Conversation Method | Consensus Workshop Method | |||
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | |
| AM | 10 am -12 online session: Demo conversations, theory, exercise1 hour individual work: Unscrambling questions | Lead a Focused Conversation with a small group of your choice – f2f or online | 10 am-12 online session: Demo Consensus Workshop, reflection on experience, theory overview1 hour individual work: Design a focus question | Lead a Consensus Workshop with a small group of your choice – f2f or online |
| PM | 2-4 pm online session: Debriefing Unscrambled Questions exercise, Designing a conversation1 hour individual work: Design a conversation | 2-4 pm online session:Reports on Conversation Practice, extended theory, small group practice options, Closing | 2-4 pm online session: Reports on focus questions, extended theory, planning steps of a workshop1 hour individual work: Plan steps of workshop | 2-4 pm online session:Reports on Workshop Practice, extended theory, small group practice options,
Evaluation Closing |
Your commitment
We will expect you to make a commitment to full time participation in the online sessions as well as the practice.
Please note that this course is not designed to teach online facilitation in general. We are using online technology to teach the same Group Facilitation Methods that are taught in the face-to-face course, so that you can use them either online or face to face.
