The Co-Co Lunchtime Conversation: Facilitating a Successful Workshop

Written By Betty Galvan

by Jen Milnes, Leadership Coach and Community Associate at The Co-Co

What does your power pose look like? What dog are you out of this selection of dog pictures (have pictures of dogs with different emotions)? What’s one word to describe how you feel today? Can everyone think of 3 good things?

Above are just a few examples of ice breakers that we discussed during the Facilitating a Successful Workshop session on May 26th at The Co-Co. Our icebreaker that participants answered was, “When facilitating a workshop, what is your biggest concern?” We tried to answer as many of these as possible with a supportive group.

We modeled how to create a welcoming environment by clarifying some ground rules or agreements for the session:

  • If virtual, use technology to get people interacting, such as chat, emojis, or whiteboard

  • Set up key agreements, including that facilitator has permission to interrupt to ensure everyone’s voices can be heard

  • Minimize reliance on PowerPoint to make it engaging

  • Be clear on follow-up after the workshop (notes captured here in the blog!)

We had an experienced panel of coaches sharing their insights along with participants, some who are leading Camp Co-Co events this summer. Below are some of the key tips from our panelists:

  • Have a plan, but hold things lightly. Kelly Falcone shared her stories about accidentally splashing water on herself before a presentation or mixing up notecards. Even though you wouldn’t want these things to happen, give yourself compassion and get back to the plan as much as possible.

  • Be prepared – know your material to feel more confident. Cindy Fleischer also recommends knowing your audience to deliver a successful workshop.

  • Ana Jorge reminded us to calm the nerves by being early, get the logistics right, and use your power pose while reminding yourself “I am capable!”.

  • In the beginning, remind your participants that what they walk away from the experience is in direct proportion to what they put into it. Christina Langdon further suggests asking your participants to engage and interact – it’s not all on the facilitator.

  • Get clear on what you’re supposed to be doing in the room – are you delivering content or being the expert? Deb Cummins Stellato reminded the group that the role of a facilitator is to let go of the outcome and trust where the conversation will go to support the group. Work on building familiarity, comfort, and trust for the group to deliver on your intentions.

As a facilitator and Leadership Coach, I want participants to be responsible for walking away from each session with one key insight. People have so many choices on how to spend their time so I always ask the participants to think about, what’s their one insight that they are walking away with? This helps focus attendees and releases pressure from the facilitator. With that in mind, below are some highlights from the informative and inspiring session:

  • Follow up techniques with participants – get the email addresses of participants by having people sign up ahead of time. Create a system that adds the participants into your journey. Follow up within 24 hours with a give and take.

  • Create agreements in the beginning of a session to help creating a safe space. Some ideas to include are – create a parking lot for topics/ideas that are off-topic or need more in-depth conversation, permission to interrupt, how to follow up after the workshop, what will follow up look like.

  • Know there will be different types of personalities and learners in the room. Prepare for how to engage quieter participants and soften louder participants to make space for others. Embrace each person’s unique personality while also creating a safe space for all.

  • If the workshop is about building community, focus on creating space within the session for people to interact, build connections, and ask questions. Sessions don’t need to be a download of all your expertise. Adult learners can only handle a few key nuggets from a session.

  • When considering PowerPoint slides, remember that people tend to lose engagement if slides are showing for too long. Prepare your slides to help you feel more confident and ready, but don’t focus on them too tightly. Allow yourself and participants to dance in the moment.

  • Be flexible. Things may go wrong – stuff happens. Adopt a mindset of self-compassion and grace for whatever issues may arise. Release some of the expectations or pressure – be present with the people. Focus on what you do know.

  • In a more technical workshop, if people are trying to jump ahead in the content, acknowledge what they are asking and remind them the content is coming. Use a parking lot as a tactical solution and release pressure to be perfect as a facilitator.

  • Think about how to incorporate accessibility, especially closed captioning for virtual meetings. Resources shared by participant Danielle:

Thank you to our amazing panelists and participants that made our session a huge success! And remember, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~Maya Angelou

 

Betty Galvan
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