Posts

Like salt in a recipe… participant engagement is everything!

/0 Comments/in /by

Quick, tell me the first thing that pops into your head when I say, “You have an opportunity to facilitate a session on the topic of facilitating sessions at a virtual conference.”

What areas immediately come to mind?

Logistics

Number of people, length of session, time of day/time zones, platforms and apps, tech partner, end-of-event survey

Content

Philosophy underlying personal practice, the universe of possible topics to address, resources to share

Processes

Dependent on: group size, platform, participant knowledge with platforms and apps, familiarity with each other

Personal expertise

Philosophy re: facilitation, knowledge of models and methods, strengths and preferences re: content and processes — including participants’ autonomy, methods for tracking participant engagement (with the understanding of the impact of differences re: communication styles and learning preferences and differences on participation), personal need/desire for knowledge about an understanding of participants learning.

Setting

Conference session not participants’ own work environment (which might run the gamut from consultant to corporate) which may impact participant commitment and engagement

Participants

Range of knowledge of the  topic, background (academic and  experience in the field), ages, races, genders, cultures, and classes, (i.e., the reality of power dynamics in the room re: areas of DEI), degree of interest in the topic, and accountability

Where do you begin?

Maybe it’s not so much about where you begin, because all of these factors are important (and it’s not an exhaustive list, of course, there are more factors and variables). Perhaps, it’s more about your priorities and how you effectively integrate these different areas to create stellar experiences.

What’s your vision?

And, what is a stellar experience? I believe there’s not one kind of stellar experience because of all the variables listed. The creation of facilitation is both an art and science from my perspective, and every experience is different! I will say though, as  I wrote about on LinkedIn earlier this week, I believe that participant engagement is like the salt in all my recipes—the essential ingredient!

Just this week, Karina Antons, Charles-Louis de Maere, and Yasmine Corda and I discussed a few of these variables during the bikablo Meet up on the subject of autonomy in facilitated meetings. Of course, we wanted people to not only discuss the topic of autonomy but also to experience it. Participants had the opportunity to experience degrees of autonomy within the two breakout sessions and in the larger group. our 90 minutes together flew by and we just scratched the surface of these topics. We will be continuing the conversation in a few months with more ideas and methods to share. I hope you’ll join us. You can sign up for bikablo Meetups here!

“Use a picture. It’s worth a thousand words”

/0 Comments/in /by

Tess Flanders (news editor from The Post-Standard, 1911), had it right! Here’s a quick drawing of my recent experiences!

Just this week I’ve been reflecting on my experiences with groups. They have run the gamut—from well-coordinated and productive to organized and lackluster to chaotic. No doubt there are factors that contribute, in varying degrees, to the functioning of these particular groups:

  • attention to processes for increasing group cohesion
  • clarity of vision, mission, purpose
  • commitment of participants (time, energy, resources)
  • planning for achieving goals
  • accountability of all involved
  • the ability to reflect and course-correct (when the need arises)

It was a delight to think about my universe of interactions, discovering in which groups I feel like a member of the team and really invested in the people, the work, and the outcomes… and where I do not. It’s been enlightening and cause for action—particularly in those groups in which I am feeling degrees of disconnection.

How about you?

As you reflect on your meetings of the past few weeks, where do you feel most connected and productive? What is the harmony that needs to exist between those elements to make it a great experience for you? To me it more about complementarity than balance… I’d love to hear what you’re thinking!