A 10th annual review of my freelance facilitation practice, 2024-25

For what turns out to be my tenth annual review of my freelance facilitation practice, after missing a few in my early years, I shall once again share in this longer post some data and some reflections on my last year.

In this past year to June 2025 I delivered 16 contracts for 12 clients. That compares with 16 contracts for 11 clients the year before and 14 for 12 the year before that. This past year’s contracts involved 3 individual online sessions plus 17 in-person and 1 hybrid event. Events were in Belfast, Birmingham, Brussels, Lisbon, London and Lomazzo. That compares with 2 online sessions, 13 in-person and 2 hybrid events the previous year and 7, 10 and 3 the year before that.

So, it appears that my contracts, clients, sessions and events have settled into a fairly consistent pattern these past three post-Covid years, notwithstanding a further slight fall in online and hybrid delivery. Happily, and as intended, that pattern involves considerably less of everything than my bumper lock-down year to June 2021 (32 contracts for 22 clients involving over 100 online sessions), and the also busy, largely pre-Covid years to June 2019 and to June 2020 which saw 25 contracts each.

Also happily, as I resolved in January 2020, I have again been able to restrict my travel mostly to places accessible to London without flying. For the first time in five years I did find it necessary to fly, from each of Lisbon and Lomazzo to London. To get to each, however, I enjoyed rail travel from Sitges, Barcelona, with stops along the way in Spain and France.

I was sub-contracted by colleagues for two contracts this year, and for one contract I sub-contracted to a colleague myself. That compares to 2 & 2 last year and none & 3 the year before. So it appears that my new post-Covid pattern of working in-person, often with travel, continues to be associated with working largely solo and less as part of a team.

Partners that I have contracted with this past year included again ICA:UK and IAF colleagues Orla Cronin and Marie Dubost.

Clients I have worked with this past year have again included UK and European charities and NGOs, professional and trade associations, multi-sector partnerships and UK local and devolved government.

Of this past year’s contracts, 8 involved facilitation while 7 involved training and one involved coaching and consulting. That compares to 9 facilitation, 7 training and none coaching & consulting the year before, and 10, 3 and one the year before that. So the proportion of facilitation to training remains close to 50/50, while coaching and consulting remains close to zero.

Facilitation contracts this past year have ranged in scale from a single evening workshop to several two day events, for groups ranging from less than 10 to around 55:

with the Royal Academy of Engineering, design and facilitation of one-day workshop “the Future of Neighbourhood Health for coastal communities” involving around 55 of the Academy community, experts and policy thinkers in London
with the European Union Drugs Agency, design and facilitation of a two-day strategic planning retreat involving 9 staff of the EUDA Communications Unit in Lisbon
with IDH Trade, design and facilitation of a one day hybrid workshop for around 15 in London and 20 online, representatives of European partner organisations working to develop joint commitments on living wages in Banana supply chains – case study
with the Society of Audiovisual Authors, design and facilitation of a one-day Board & Secretariat strategy workshop for around 12 in Brussels
with the Royal Society on behalf of Orla Cronin Research, co-facilitation of a Workshop: The Role of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage in a Sustainable Future involving around 35 experts in London
with To Zero, design and facilitation of a pair of online sessions with the virtual Implementation Team of nine to draw conclusions and agree next steps following a major global consultation on working together to end childhood sexual violence worldwide
with the Oak Foundation, design and facilitation of a two day meeting for a group of 11 in London to build a model by which it and partner foundations might best collaborate as donors in support of working together to end childhood sexual violence worldwide
with Islington Borough Council and Clerkenwell Design Week, design and facilitation of a public meeting in Clerkenwell to engage with local residents and other stakeholders on the use of local parks for the annual design festival

Shelley Heckman wrote, May 2025 – case study:

“The iStandUK Executive Board met in London to talk ambitiously about our collective commitment to data standards for public services. I’ve never been as inspired and energised about the topic of data standards as I have been today with this fantastic group of people!”

Annica Ryng wrote, November 2024:

“I first had the pleasure of working with Martin in 2014. A decade later, when I was looking for a facilitator to help our team develop a new multi-annual strategic plan, Martin was my first choice. On both occasions, in two very different organisational settings, Martin facilitated excellently. He brought a clear, structured process and adaptability to the needs and dynamics of the group. His calm, respectful, and cheerful demeanour created an environment where participants felt comfortable and engaged. With his extensive facilitation experience and knowledge of the pan-European not-for-profit sector and member-led organisations, Martin would be an asset to any team looking to create impactful strategic plans.”

In-house training contracts this past year comprised just one course with a repeat client:

with the Northern Ireland Assembly, ToP Focused Conversation training for around 10 staff in Belfast

Public training courses grew, in contrast, with the expansion of my regular schedule of public ToP facilitation training for 2025 and my renewed partnership offer ToP facilitation training at your place – and free places for you!

Regularly scheduled courses included Brussels again, as well as London, after a Covid-induced break since 2020, and partnership courses were in Birmingham and Lomazzo:

with ICA:UK in London, three pairs of scheduled courses comprising Group Facilitation Methods plus Action Planning (twice) and Participatory Strategic Planning (once)
with ICA:UK in Brussels, one pair of scheduled courses comprising Group Facilitation Methods and Action Planning
with ICA:UK and IAF England & Wales, a ToP masterclass: Facilitating dialogue, learning, consensus & change for delegates of the IAF E&W annual conference in Birmingham
with IAF Italy, a 2-day ToP facilitation masterclass: Group Facilitation Methods and Participatory Strategic Planning for nine in Lomazzo, Italy

Annekatrin Madlung wrote, June 2025:

“Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the ICA:UK ToP Action Planning workshop in London, led by the brilliant and deeply experienced Martin Gilbraith. Martin’s facilitation style was generous, thoughtful, clear, and quietly powerful. He really brings the ICA’s ToP methods to life — a set of structured, participatory processes that help groups move from shared vision to concrete action in a way that is collaborative, focused, and energising. It felt like a masterclass in effective group process!”

Maria Elena Luccerini wrote, May 2025:

“An incredibly useful and applicable framework — not just for facilitators, but for anyone leading change, innovation, or transformation… the ToP Participatory Strategic Planning process. Thanks to Martin for being so clear and generous with lots of tips, and to the other participants… your perspectives made this learning journey truly meaningful and inspiring!”

Rosemary Forest wrote, December 2024:

“Several years ago I attended both the ToP Group Facilitation Methods and Strategic Planning courses with Martin. These were by far the best courses I’ve ever done and were highly helpful in my work at the time. Little did I know they’d spark such a love of facilitation that I’d eventually work as a facilitator!”

My coaching and mentoring this past year has again been mostly pro bono. As well as one paid client contract, it has included four younger facilitators taking up my offer of free facilitation coaching in support of their work for climate justice, gender equity or anti-racism (four last year), eight ToP facilitation trainees taking up my offer of an hour’s free post-course coaching (six last year) and my support of another three on their journey to become ICA:UK ToP trainers (three last year).

I continued to serve as well as a volunteer mentor in the IAF mentoring programme, working again with two mentees of each six-month cohort.

For the Power of Facilitation, I continued to support IAF colleagues around the world to work to translate the book into more than a dozen languages. During the year, additional translated editions were launched in Persian and Polish.

Also this past year I was pleased to support also a new initiative of the IAF Global Book Club, to convene a one-year programme of online book club sessions to discuss each of the chapters in turn, in English and in Mandarin.

My free facilitation webinars this year were limited again to one session, this time with Jo Nelson of ICA Associates, Canada, General Editor of the new, second edition of The Art of Focused Conversation: More Than 100 Ways to Access Group Wisdom in Your Organization. The session attracted around 40 participants – see session recording and slides.

I was pleased this year to make a guest appearance on the new Candid Convos video podcast of Ramesh Srinivasan of IAF India – see A candid conversation with LeadFac Solutions.

In my own professional development I have continued to value the professional community and facilitation meetups of IAF England & Wales, and particularly again the in-person conference in Birmingham in April, this year titled Facilitate 2025: What; How; Who; Why. I have also enjoyed continuing to share in the hosting of regular IAF coffee meetups in London, and helping to launch a new regular meetup in Stroud.

For one of the regular Brussels meetups of IAF Belgium, I led Facilitating a culture of participation in international organisations – demonstrating the ToP Historical Scan method, with a group of 15 or so, to reflect and learn together from diverse experience and perspectives on facilitating a culture of participation in international organisations.

My volunteering with the Gay Outdoor Club has grown again to enjoyably absorb more of my time in the past year, as it continues to provide more opportunities to apply some of my professional experience as well.

I continued to host regular online socials again this past year, and I continued my Board role as Website & IT manager. In addition, in October, I hosted 36 members on a first GOC Midweek walking “weekend” in Sitges. In April I stepped up to the role as interim Vice-Chair, to support the outgoing Chair in the recruitment and induction of his successor, and to help to fill other current and upcoming vacancies – see GOC committee vacancies – your club needs you!

Thank you for following!

See also about me, how I work, who I work with and recommendations & case studies, and please contact me about how we might work together.

Reflecting on another year in freelance facilitation, 2023-24

As last summer, when I reviewed the year to June 2023, I shall share in this longer read some data and reflections on the last year of my professional practice.

In this past year to June 2024 I delivered 16 contracts for 11 clients. That compares with 14 contracts for 12 clients the year before and 19 for 15 the year before that. This past year’s contracts involved just 2 individual online sessions plus 13 wholly in-person and 2 hybrid events. Events were in Birmingham, Brussels, Leeds, London, Madrid, Sevenoaks and Windsor. That compares with 7 online sessions, 10 in-person & 3 hybrid events last year and 76 online and just 2 in-person the year before that to June 2022, still in the midst of the COVID pandemic.

So contracts have risen a little this year while clients have fallen slightly, however both remain considerably fewer than the largely pre-Covid years to June 2019 and to June 2020 which saw 25 contracts each. The continuing decline in online and hybrid events may partly reflect a continuing post-pandemic return to more in-person collaboration where possible. The lower numbers of clients, contracts and events at least in part reflects my own choices – pre-pandemic to work more locally and online, and post-pandemic to work more selectively and less.

I resolved in January 2020 to restrict my travel mostly to places accessible to London without flying, and to try to travel less and work more online, and happily that is exactly what I have been able to do since then – albeit without working much online this year. Having also begun to spend more time more often in Sitges, near Barcelona, as I had also resolved then, it was fortunate that the invitation to work in Madrid came at a time when I was scheduled to be there. So I have not flown for work since February 2020, and I have not been tempted to do so.

I was sub-contracted by colleagues for two contracts this year, and for two contracts I sub-contracted to colleagues myself. That compares to none & 3 last year and 1 & 9 the year before. So my return to more working in-person and with travel continues to be associated with more working solo and less as part of a team.

Partners that I have contracted with this past year included ICA:UK colleagues Alan Heckman and IAF colleagues Marie Dubost and Camilla Gordon.

Clients I have worked with this past year have again included UK and European charities, NGOs, and professional & trade associations and multi-sector partnerships. This year also I have worked again with UK local government, with the health service and with Universities.

Of this past year’s contracts, 9 involved facilitation while 7 involved training and none involved coaching and consulting. That compares to 10 facilitation, 3 training and one coaching & consulting the year before, and 7, 7 and 6 the year before that. So the proportion of facilitation to training has returned to close to 50/50, while that of coaching and consulting this year has returned to zero. Perhaps that reflects a return to pre-pandemic business as usual.

Facilitation contracts this past year have ranged in scale from a single half-day workshop to a 3 day retreat, for groups ranging from less than 10 to around 100:

with the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and NHS England, design and facilitation of a workshop in London for around 25 stakeholders to build collaboration to improve eye care in England
with the Architects Council of Europe design and facilitation of a strategy retreat involving around 15 staff & Board members in Brussels
with Amnesty International, design and facilitation of a 2-day global strategy and team-building retreat for around 55 member Fundraising Directors and Secretariat fundraising staff in London and online
with iStandUK, design and facilitation of a strategy away day in London for partners working on data standards in UK public services
with Amnesty International, design and facilitation of a pair of tri-lingual, cross-regional online consultation sessions on global governance, involving 2-3 delegates of each of around 70 member entities worldwide
with Shelter, design and facilitation of a 2-day ‘Changemakers Summit’ for around 100 staff of the Communications, Policy & Campaigns Directorate and others in London
with Amnesty International, design and facilitation of a one day retreat of the Regional Human Rights Impact Directorate of the International Secretariat in Windsor
with Amnesty International, design and facilitation of a 3-day team retreat in Sevenoaks for around 30 members of the East Europe & Central Asia Regional Office of the International Secretariat
with IDH Trade, design and facilitation of a one day hybrid workshop for around 30 in Madrid and a dozen online, representatives of European partner organisations working to develop joint commitments on living wages in Banana supply chains – case study

Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE-CAE), wrote on LinkedIn:

“Reflecting on last week’s inspiring #strategy workshop! The ACE Executive Board came together in #Brussels to #brainstorm and pave the path for the future of the organisation. Strategic workshops are not just about planning for the future; they are about transforming vision into actionable steps, highlighted Ruth Schagemann, ACE President. Over the course of this collaborative and creative day, we engaged in strategic discussions about how to leverage impactful advocacy and the organisation’s agenda for action. Excited for what’s ahead and proud of what we’ve accomplished together!”

Shelley Heckman, Deputy Director at iNetwork wrote on LinkedIn:

“I’ve never been as inspired and energised about the topic of data standards as I have been today with this fantastic group of people! The iStandUK Executive Board met in London to talk ambitiously about our collective commitment to data standards for public services.”

Training contracts this past year have involved more or less tailored delivery of three standard ICA:UK ToP facilitation training courses:

with NESTA, ToP Focused Conversation training for around 10 staff of the Centre for Collective Intelligence in Design
with ICA:UK and IAF England & Wales, the ToP masterclass: Facilitating dialogue, learning, consensus & change in conjunction with the IAF E&W annual conference in Birmingham
with Lifelong Learning Platform, the one day ToP masterclass: Facilitating dialogue, learning, consensus & change for around a dozen member representatives in Brussels
with the Leeds University Digital Education Service, Group Facilitation Methods training for around 15 staff in Leeds
with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Group Facilitation Methods training for around 15 staff in London
with ICA:UK, two scheduled, public Group Facilitation Methods training courses in London for around 10 each

During this past year I relaunched my own regular schedule of public ToP facilitation training under license with ICA:UK, in collaboration with the ICA:UK team of ToP Associates and in support of a wider ICA:UK organisational restructure. As part of that restructure I have taken on a volunteer role supporting ICA:UK with it’s website, mailing list and social media.

In my new schedule for 2024 I re-established my pre-COVID pattern of offering three pairs of courses per year in London plus occasional courses elsewhere, in partnership or on demand – so far in Birmingham and Bristol. I also re-established my 2013 partnership offer ToP facilitation training at your place – and free places for you!. I am particularly interested to partner to offer public courses in Brussels again, as I did from 2014-2020, and/or in Barcelona.

Abi Green, Company Director at The Conscious Project, wrote this year:

“I attended [Group Facilitation Methods] a few years ago, and I have been using what I learned ever since! In my experience you are a patient teacher who accurately judges the individual’s need for stretch or reassurance. As a facilitator, you create a space where people can listen to each other and be heard. I’d wholeheartedly recommend both your courses and your practice.”

Trey Darley, cat herder; bit-flipper; human, wrote this year:

“Martin Gilbraith’s group facilitation training was a terrific investment of three days, the best training of my career hands-down…”

My coaching and mentoring this past year has all been pro bono. It has included four younger facilitators taking up my offer of free facilitation coaching in support of their work for climate justice, gender equity or anti-racism, six ToP trainees taking up my offer of an hour’s free post-course coaching and my support of another three on their journey to become ICA:UK ToP trainers.

For IAF I continue to serve as a volunteer mentor in the IAF mentoring programme, working with two mentees of each six-month cohort. I have been in conversation this past year with members of the IAF Board to support a new programme along similar lines, by which incoming new Board members could be supported in their roles by former Board members such as me.

For the Power of Facilitation, I continued to support more than 80 IAF colleagues around the world to work to translate the book into more than a dozen languages. Additional translated editions were launched during the year in Japanese, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian & Spanish

My free facilitation webinars this year were limited to one further session on Feminist Facilitation, for Facilitation Week 2023, following two on the same topic the previous year. This year’s attracted 95 participants.

I have also enjoyed returning to share in the hosting of IAF coffee meetups in London, after taking a break since I hosted such meetups for 5 years until 2020.

My volunteering with the Gay Outdoor Club has grown to enjoyably absorb more of my time in the past year, as it increasingly provides opportunities to apply my professional experience as well.

In addition to hosting regular online socials this past year, in my Board role as Website & IT manager I have led a redesign of the GOC website and marketing materials for our 50th anniversary year in 2024, a member engagement process to develop a new strategy for the club and a social media advertising campaign that generated over 400 new members.

Having discovered the great hiking opportunities to be had around Sitges, near Barcelona, now that I am spending more of my time there, I have also applied my professional skills to offer a Midweek Walking “Weekend” in Sitges in October for 35 members at least – like a team retreat or a conference, but sunnier and more fun!

Thank you for following. If you don’t find me online, or in facilitation, training and consulting, you might find me outdoors or in Sitges!

See also about me, how I work, who I work with and recommendations & case studies, and please contact me about how we might work together.

Reflecting on a year in freelance facilitation, 2022-23

As last summer, when I reviewed the year to June 2022, I shall share here in this longer read some data and reflections on the last year of my professional practice, and some insights and implications for my future practice and professional development. It is broadly a four-level ORID reflection again, of course (albeit long on the ‘O’).

In this past year to June 2023 I delivered 14 contracts for 12 clients. That compares with 19 contracts for 15 clients the year before and 32 for 22 the year before that.

This past year’s contracts involved a total of 7 individual online sessions and 10 in-person & 3 hybrid events – in London, Oxford, Belfast, Brussels & Lille. That compares with 76 online and 2 in person last year to June 2022 and more than 100 online sessions and none in-person the year before that to June 2021, in the midst of the COVID pandemic.

So clients, contracts, sessions and events have all been markedly fewer this past year compared to the previous two, and contracts considerably fewer also than the 25 each year to June 2019 and to June 2020. I think that reflects my post-pandemic return to largely in-person events, albeit with a great deal less in-person preparation and follow-up, coupled with my post-pandemic choice to work less and more selectively and locally.

I resolved in January 2020 to restrict my travel mostly to places accessible to London without flying, and to try to travel less and work more online. While my work has now returned to more in person and with travel, and less online, I have not found myself tempted to fly and I have not found it difficult not to, so I am glad of that. I am fortunate indeed to be located in London, close and accessible to so many client opportunities.

I was not sub-contracted to colleagues for any contracts this year, but for three contracts I sub-contracted to or licensed one or more colleagues myself. That compares to one & nine last year and 10 & 19 the year before. So my return to more working in-person and with travel has been associated with more working solo again, and less as one of a team, which I do not find surprising. While I was delighted to be able to work more collaboratively when I was working largely online, I have not much missed that this past year of working more in person, so I am glad of that too.

Partners that I have contracted with this past year included again ICA:UK colleagues Megan Evans and Orla Cronin. I have otherwise collaborated also with others of the ICA:UK team and with IAF and other colleagues – some mentioned below.

Clients I have worked with have again included UK charities and international NGOs and devolved government, plus this year both UK and European professional and trade associations and multi-sector partnerships.

Of this past year’s contracts, 10 involved facilitation while 3 involved training and one involved coaching and consulting. That compares to 7 facilitation, 7 training and 6 coaching & consulting the year before, and 11, 18 and 7 the year before that. So the proportion of facilitation to training, coaching and consulting this year has been significantly higher than in recent years, both mid- and pre-pandemic. Perhaps that reflects the renewed appetite that many groups seem to have had to meet again in person this past year, coupled with the tightened budgets for training and development that many have had to contend with, at least in the UK.

Facilitation contracts this past year have ranged in scale from a single half-day or one-day workshop at relatively short notice to 3 days over one or two events, collaboratively designed and prepared over several months:

with Amnesty International, design and facilitation of a one day hybrid team retreat for the 6 members of the Campaigns and Education Management Team of the International Secretariat in London
with the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, design and facilitation of a 3-day in person meeting in Lille for around 30 delegates to support learning and collaboration on Dramatically Reducing Embodied Carbon in Europe’s Built Environment – see video
with IDH Trade, design and facilitation of a series of three half-day workshops in London and Brussels for up to around 30 representatives of partner organisations to develop a joint commitment on living wage in Tea supply chains
with EFFA, design and facilitation of a one-day Board & Secretariat strategy meeting for 12 in Brussels
with the Commonwealth Foundation, design and facilitation of a two-part, 3-day retreat for the staff team of around 25 in London
with Girls Not Brides, design and facilitation of a 2-day hybrid Board retreat for Trustees and senior staff in London and online
with IDH Trade, design and facilitation of a half-day workshop in London, for around 15 representatives of UK retailers to develop a joint commitment on living wages in Banana supply chains
with the Royal Academy of Engineering, design and facilitation of a series of online workshops for around 30, including experts of the NEPC Net Zero working Group plus Policy and Communications staff from the Academy and partner Professional Engineering Institutions, to develop joint messaging on systems approaches to Net Zero
with the Northern Ireland Human Rights Partnership, design and facilitation of a half-day reflective partnership workshop for around 20 partner staff and Trustees in Belfast
with Amnesty International, design and facilitation of a one day in-person team retreat for members of the global Law & Policy team near Oxford

Amanda Penn, Senior Partnerships Manager at IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative

“The top 9 UK retailers launched a living wage commitment in March. On numerous occasions the CSR managers who attended the workshop you led credited that day with being a pivotal moment in the process and paving the way for the ultimate result. So, thank you!”

Training contracts this past year have ranged in scale from a single introductory session for one group, to multiple sessions for multiple groups:

with the Northern Ireland Assembly, two ToP Focused Conversation training days for a total of around 40 diverse staff in Belfast
with the Brooke, online ToP Focused Conversation training for diverse staff in the UK and overseas
with BOND, Introduction to Facilitation Online training, contracted and delivered under licence by Orla Cronin.

As in the previous year, I chose to offer no scheduled public ToP facilitation training myself this past year, and instead invited participants to register with ICA:UK or another ICA worldwide.

As ICA:UK undertakes an organisational restructure this summer, and prepares to license Associates to offer UK public ToP training instead of offering them itself, I have been working with Trustees and other Associates to develop this new operating model and to offer my own scheduled public ToP facilitation training again in London – watch this space!

Coaching and consulting contracts this past year comprised just one contract of two online sessions and one in person:

with the Ethical Tea Partnership, consulting support for the design and preparation of a hybrid multi-stakeholder dialogue on gender in the global tea sector involving around 70 in London and online.

I also continued to offer free facilitation coaching throughout the year, more or less formally supporting eight mostly young people during the year in their work for climate justice, gender equity or anti-racism.

For IAF, I continued to serve as a volunteer mentor in the IAF mentoring programme, working again with two mentees in parallel this past year.

Siew Onn Wan, Mindset Coach

“With the help of mentor Martin, I have made significant progress in facilitation mastery and business development. To my surprise, he helps me to see new possibilities when I hesitate to take action. I also learn much from mentor Martin on inner work as a helping professional. Greatly appreciate my mentor’s questions and nudges in the journey of professional development as a process facilitator. Here are some details on the IAF mentoring program.”

For the Power of Facilitation, I continued to work with fellow contributors to promote the book, including with colleagues of IAF France in their Facilitation Week session in October, LUNCH LAB “the Power of Facilitation”.

I also continued throughout the year to support more than 80 IAF colleagues around the world to work to translate the book into more than a dozen languages. The first translated edition was launched in November, simplified Chinese. Another three are preparing to launch during Facilitation Week 2023 next week, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.

For SessionLab‘s first comprehensive survey on the state of facilitation, 2023 edition, I was pleased to have the opportunity to share some reflections in the Resources & Communities section on How do (ToP) facilitators keep learning? It is a comprehensive survey indeed, rich with insight and with much food for thought for all of us who are seeking to promote the power of facilitation worldwide.

My free facilitation webinars this year comprised two sessions, both exploring feminist facilitation. The first in January was part of the ICA:UK Online Focused Conversation Series, and attracted around 30 participants.

The second in May was in partnership with IAF Social Inclusion Facilitators and We Are Feminist Leaders as well as ICA:UK. This session attracted 208 participants to share their experience and insights, and no less than 717 who expressed an interest by registering for the session. So we were very excited that the topic and the session generated so much interest.

We met several times since May to consider how we might continue to collaborate together on our own learning journeys, and also to challenge and support others to make their facilitation practice more feminist and their feminist practice more facilitative. We have scheduled a further session for Facilitation Week 2023, on Monday 11 September, so do join us then to connect, share & learn.

I expect the questions raised by all of these sessions to remain a key focus for my own professional development this coming year:

“What does feminism bring to facilitation, and what does feminist facilitation look like? How can I ensure that my own practice as a professional facilitator is more effectively and explicitly feminist, anti-racist and anti-oppressive? How can I ensure that my own practice as a professional facilitator is more effectively and explicitly feminist, anti-racist and anti-oppressive?”

In my own professional development I have continued to value the professional community and facilitation meetups of IAF England & Wales, and particularly this year’s in-person conference in Birmingham in April, titled #Facilitate2023: Celebrating and sharing the diversity of facilitation.

It was a richly diverse group and a richly diverse programme, featuring numerous sessions focusing on aspects of diversity, inclusivity and lived experience including dyslexia & neurodiversity, power dynamics & protected characteristics and language. Having not attended an in-person conference since 2019, and having stood down as chapter Chair in 2020, I was as excited by the number of new faces, and the youth and diversity of many of them, as I was by the programme.

In my volunteering for the Gay Outdoor Club, I stepped up in October from my marketing & social media and Online Group Co-ordinator roles to join the GOC Board as Trustee and Website & IT manager as well. While I do not regard myself as a specialist in websites & IT any more than in marketing & social media, and I did not join GOC to work on those at my computer screen any more than I did to host online socials, I have enjoyed being able to apply some of my professional skills and experience to a club that I and others have derived so much value from, and to find them valuable and valued.

Being supported by the professional web developer who built the GOC site, my new role is in fact as much if not more about member engagement than it is about the website and IT, and I have approached the role on that basis. A GOC website & IT user feedback survey in January provided invaluable feedback and suggestions for numerous incremental improvements thereafter to the functionality and ease of use of the website, as did a GOC website design refresh & branding survey in July to inform a refreshed GOC branding and design and also a new strategic plan for the club.

Drawing on 5 years of experience of hosting meetups for IAF England & Wales, I have introduced a new GOC Meetup group to attract new members there, and drawing on the IAF England & Wales conference in Birmingham in April, I have been able to recommend consultants to provide training and support as part of GOC’s Inclusion and Diversity strategy. I was interested to take a Stonewall training workshop with other GOC members as part of that as well, and find that to contribute helpfully to my own professional development. I am looking forward to supporting the club further next year in all of those areas, as we celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2024.

Thank you for following. If you don’t find me online, or in facilitation, training and consulting, you might find me outdoors!

See also about me, how I work, who I work with and recommendations & case studies, and please contact me about how we might work together.

Another year in freelance facilitation, now both online and in-person again, 2021-22

Last summer as I reviewed the year to June 2021, I wondered when I might finally be tempted to accept any face-to-face work again. As it turned out, after 2 years of the COVID19 pandemic spent working exclusively online, the last quarter of this year to June (and July too) were all about in-person events.

As in previous years, I shall share here in this longer read some data and reflections on the last year of my professional practice, and some insights and implications for my future practice and professional development. It is broadly a four-level ORID reflection again, of course.

In this past year to June 2022 I delivered 19 contracts for 15 clients. That compares with 32 contracts for 22 clients the year before, and 25 for 19 the year before that. I had been so busy in 2020-21 that I had resolved to be more selective this year in my client commitments. Whether that is what resulted in the reduced workload or whether fewer opportunities came my way, the outcome was welcome and I was very pleased to have had the contracts that I did.

This past year’s contracts involved a total 76 individual online sessions and 2 in-person events in Belfast and London. That compares with more than 100 online sessions and none in-person the year before; and before that 14 in-person, one ‘hybrid’ and 16 wholly virtual events (of one or more sessions).

I resolved in January 2020 to restrict my travel mostly to places accessible to London without flying, and of course to try to travel less and work more online (that worked out well). So it suited me well that my international clients continued largely to request online work and my first two contracts for in-person events were both in the UK and one within walking distance in London. I have been happy to return to working in-person only in the last quarter and to return to hybrid working not at all (yet), and I have been happy to better acquaint myself with rail & ferry routes to Northern Ireland.

For one contract this year I was sub-contracted to a colleague and for nine I sub-contracted to one or more colleagues myself (or in one case licensed a colleague to deliver a training session independently). That compares to 10 & 19 last year and 7 & 4 the year before. So I have returned to working more on my own client contracts, compared to last year. Compared to before the pandemic, however, my work has continued to be more collaborative and involve much more co-facilitation. My contracts have often been larger as well.

Partners that I have contracted with this past year include again ICA:UK colleagues Megan Evans and Orla Cronin, and this year IAF colleagues Marie Dubost, Charo Lanao and Hector Villarreal Lozoya. I have otherwise collaborated also with others of the ICA:UK team and that of Orla Cronin, and with many IAF colleagues – some mentioned below.

Clients I have worked with have again included largely UK charities and international NGOs, although this year also UK devolved government and no European agencies, contractors, associations or NGO networks.

Of this past year’s contracts, 7 involved facilitation while 7 involved training and 6 involved coaching and consulting. That compares to 11 facilitation, 18 training and 7 coaching & consulting the year before, and 7 facilitation & 16 training the year before that. So my facilitation and training work have returned to their previous more or less equal balance, and the proportion of contracts involving coaching and consulting has continued to rise – that too has been welcome.

Facilitation contracts this past year have ranged in scale from a single session of 60-90 minutes at relatively short notice to as many as 17 sessions collaboratively designed and prepared over several months:

with Amnesty International, design and lead facilitation of a series of 17 sessions of the online 2021 Global Assembly, involving a multilingual team of 5 facilitators and 3-4 delegates of each of almost 70 member entities worldwide working in English, French and Spanish
with Oxford Properties on behalf of Traction Strategy, breakout session facilitation for an online Global Leadership Conference of around 300 delegates
with the Portuguese Refugee Council and Amnesty International Ireland, design and facilitation of a second online Best Practice Convening session of around 50 key actors in Community Sponsorship of Refugees across Europe
with Amnesty International, design and facilitation of an online team-building session for the International Board, Coalition Leadership Team and Governance Programme staff of the International Secretariat
with the Natural History Consortium, design and facilitation of a series of six online conversations bringing together 90 diverse stakeholders at ‘Communicate’, the UK’s conference for environmental communicators
with Amnesty International, Europe & Central Asia region, lead design and facilitation of a 5-session online Regional Forum involving over 100 delegates from around 25 member organisations
with Global Fishing Watch, design and facilitation of a 3-day retreat of the global Executive Team of 14 in London

Ann Burroughs, Chair of the 2021 Global Assembly and Preparatory Committee, Amnesty International, wrote in a recommendation:

“Martin and his team provided outstanding support during Amnesty International’s 2021 Global Assembly which for the first time was held entirely online. They were integral in the planning of the model which helped to ensure broad participation and access for delegates of almost 70 member entities. Their experience and familiarity with facilitating online spaces were game changing and were critical in helping to build trust in the process and in a new model of digital governance.”

Savita Willmott, CEO, The Natural History Consortium, wrote:

“Martin supported our charity in January 2022 to bring together 90 diverse stakeholders into a series of six online conversations in a single day. We were looking to tackle complex environmental topics, and have strong outputs. His advice and support was invaluable to design an effective programme for the day as well as to expertly facilitate the session alongside another facilitator. We achieved our aim of avoiding a “talking shop” – the outputs of the session are informing our strategic work six months later, and the connections made between organisations are thriving. Martin strikes a brilliant balance between flexibility and attention to detail, and we’d recommend him without hesitation.”

Training contracts this past year have ranged in scale from a single introductory session for one group to a series of multi-session courses for multiple groups:

with Brighter Places, tailored in-house Introduction to Facilitation Online training around 15 staff and residents in Bristol
with the Brooke, online ToP Focused Conversation training for around 12 staff in the UK and overseas
with the Northern Ireland Assembly, Introduction to Facilitation Online and ToP Focused Conversation training for around 20 diverse staff in Belfast

For the first year since 2014, I offered no scheduled public ToP facilitation training myself this past year. Instead, I have invited participants to register with ICA:UK or another ICA worldwide. I have welcomed the reduced workload and risk that has resulted, and I have no plans at present to resume a paid public training offering.

I have expanded and clarified my offering of in-house facilitation training to include tailored courses that were not previously offered on a public schedule, and to make clearer which courses are now available online or in-person or both.

Coaching and consulting contracts this past year have again ranged in scale from one or two one-hour sessions with a single coachee to providing coaching and consulting support for multiple teams to design and lead a multi-session international event:

with Lindsey Green of Frankly Green +Webb, facilitation coaching in support of strategic planning with clients in the museum and arts sector
with Nicole Moran of Advisory & Facilitation Services, facilitation coaching in support of online strategic planning and focus group sessions
with Action Aid International, facilitation coaching and support for the Convener, Organising Committee and Governance staff of the Global Secretariat in preparation for sessions of the online Annual General Meeting

Nicole Moran, Global Development Advisory & Facilitation Services, wrote in a recommendation:

“Martin is the perfect coach, blending expertise and experience in the finest manner to provide excellent coaching and training support to me. His professional, encouraging and non-judgmental approach helped me venture to use a range of approaches, online platforms and tools – whether for training, review meetings, presenting the results of an evaluation. Since 2020 when Covid redefined our ways of working and relating, my work has shifted almost entirely to the virtual platform. I felt it important to get some expert guidance to ensure that I select the right tools and approaches for online working and continue to remain as efficient and effective as possible with my clients, my team and others. I am grateful for the professional support and guidance of Martin and looking forward to Martin’s continued guidance.”

In my volunteering, I have not (yet) been tempted to take up any new leadership role and have instead enjoyed contributing on a more ad hoc basis to a number of projects, more and less facilitation-related.

I continued my social media support by tweeting for Facilitation Week, as I have since the first #FacWeek in 2013, and by managing the website and social media for the Power of Facilitation book project. Having managed the website and social media for ICA International since I stood down as President in 2016, I was pleased to be able to support the new ICAI Board this year to appoint a new website and social media manager to succeed me (the fabulous Rena Koç) and to see a welcome refresh of the ICAI website.

For Facilitation Week I also co-hosted two sessions of the IAF Facilitation Summit in October – ‘Facilitating Breakthrough: How to Remove Obstacles, Bridge Differences, and Move Forward Together’ with Adam Kahane and ‘Scaling Up Engagement & Dialogue’ with Michael Ambjorn, both drawing on recently released publications.

For the Power of Facilitation I also continued to work with fellow contributors to promote the book, during Facilitation Week and otherwise, and so to use the book to promote the power of facilitation worldwide. As well as supporting and promoting online ‘meet the author’ sessions and articles, book reviews etc, I supported more than 80 IAF colleagues around the world to convene and start to work to translate the book into more than a dozen languages.

For ICA:UK and ICA International, I also continued to participate in the UK ToP Associates network and the ICAI Global ToP Advisory Group, and latterly in the new ICAI Global ToP Community of Practice.

For IAF, I continued to serve as a mentor in the IAF mentoring programme, working again with two mentees in parallel this past year.

Manal Sayid, Facilitator, Consultant and Trainer, wrote:

“Martin has provided everything I could hope for in a mentorship relationship! He was super helpful in his sharing of relevant resources, his guidance in terms of all the questions I had, and I felt like we built great rapport and therefore could share some challenges and vulnerabilities candidly!”

I began to offer free facilitation coaching in November, which enabled me to support six young people during the year in their work for climate justice, gender equity or anti-racism.

Jacob Warn, Activist, Teacher & Consultant, Europe Must Act, wrote:

“What a fabulous [free facilitation coaching] session! Can I just say on behalf of us all how thankful we are – what an ‘espresso-shot’ of insight and wisdom, it’s really so generous of you to support in this open way and just so appreciated. I can’t wait to explore the various links you’ve shared and reflect more on the questions you’ve prompted, and we would really gladly take up your offer to have another session to workshop our upcoming strategy session in 2022!”

I have been glad to be able to support Ukrainian colleagues in Ukraine and elsewhere since the Russian invasion in February, not least as part of a loose network of facilitators, trainers and consultants in Ukraine and around the world that has met weekly online led by ICA USA ToP colleagues of the Global Synergy Group.

I have been awed and inspired by much of the resolve, resistance, solidarity and leadership that I have seen in response to the war, and grateful to those colleagues in Kyiv who have challenged me to realise that every show of support is valued, and that support that is unseen and unheard is no support at all – see Facilitator neutrality in the context of war and oppression #StandWithUkraine.

For the Gay Outdoor Club I stepped up from my social media support role to launch and co-ordinate a new Online group as well, and to host regular online socials – inspired in no small part by my 5 years of hosting free facilitation meetups of IAF England & Wales. Of course I didn’t join GOC to attend online meetings, least of all to lead them! It has turned out, however, that there is a real interest in connecting, meeting and socialising online, even among members of an outdoor club like GOC, as evidenced by responses to a feedback survey in May. I have been glad to be able to apply my professional skills to support the club and fellow members in this way.

My professional development has been focused largely on Exploring feminist facilitation and, more broadly, how I can ensure that my own practice as a professional facilitator is more effectively and explicitly feminist, anti-racist and anti-oppressive.

What was most helpful for me in this was participating this year in the 12-week online feminist leadership development programme of We Are Feminist Leaders. This provided me with a comprehensive framework by which to understand what feminism brings to leadership, and thus to facilitation, and also a powerful demonstration of what feminist, anti-racist and anti-oppressive facilitation can look like in practice.

I have continued to value the professional community and facilitation meetups of IAF England & Wales as a participant, and particularly this year’s hybrid Re-Facilitation Conference which I attended online. I found that an inspiring demonstration of how effective hybrid facilitation can be, even with a minimal budget but at least a collaborative team of experienced facilitators and a lot of good will. It inspired a number of valuable articles and blog posts too, not least from SessionLab the very thorough An honest* guide to planning and facilitating successful hybrid events.

My recent return to in-person working has led me to reflect and draw some initial conclusions on Mitigating COVID risks for in person and hybrid events to inform contracting discussions with future clients and groups.

While for many in the UK the COVID pandemic is effectively over, for others here and elsewhere it clearly isn’t. There are risks to my own work and health to consider as well as those of my clients and groups, and some potential for ethical dilemmas to arise. With a more or less equal mix of online and in-person events in the pipeline for the coming months, I do now feel better prepared to navigate the risks.

I shall certainly take advantage of the autumn booster vaccination promised for over-50s in the UK as soon as that is available. I shall continue to approach opportunities for prospective hybrid events with even greater caution than I did before the pandemic, careful to try to ensure that expectation and ambition are aligned with resources (or vice versa) and that valuable opportunities for asynchronous collaboration are not overlooked in a rush to synchronous hybrid working.

Another rail route that I have been happy to acquaint myself with has been the high-speed line from Paris to Barcelona, after I resolved during something of a sabbatical in Sitges two years ago to try to spend more time there more often. It is a real privilege to be able to work in such a way as to be able to do that, and I am thankful that COVID-related travel disruptions affected our last trip barely at all for the first time since we went back.

Such disruptions did prevent me from taking more than one week of intensive Spanish class while I was there, but I have taken to attending Spanish conversation meetups in London now as well. It was a wet and windy week in the Outer Hebrides this month that distracted me from my daily Duolingo Spanish practice sufficiently to bring and end to more than a year-long streak in the Diamond League – if you are familiar with that little green owl, you may feel my disappointment!

Thank you for following…

See also about me, how I work, who I work with and recommendations & case studies, and please contact me about how we might work together.

Reflecting on a year of freelance facilitation online, 2020-21, and looking ahead

This time last summer, as I reviewed the year to June 2020, I reflected that my January 2020 resolution to travel less and work more online had worked out well so far. I am still wondering when I might finally be tempted to accept any face-to-face work.

As in previous years, I shall share here some data and reflections on the last year of my professional practice, and some insights and implications for my future practice and professional development. It is a four-level ORID reflection, of course.

In the year to June 2021 I delivered 32 contracts for 22 clients. That compares with 25 contracts for 19 clients the year before, and 25 for 14 the year before that. As my work has gone wholly online the past year, and part of the year before, numbers of contracts and clients have risen. It has felt busier too. After deciding and then failing to keep this summer largely free of client commitments, I am appreciating that I have now finally made some time to catch up and reflect.

This past year’s contracts involved a total of more than 100 individual online sessions and no travel at all. That compares to 14 face-to-face, one ‘hybrid’ and 16 wholly virtual events (of one or more sessions) the year before, involving 28 nights away from home for work; and 31 face-to-face and just one virtual event the year before that, with 47 nights away. My business expenses for travel and accommodation fell to zero for the past year, and with them the associated carbon impact (and the many transactions to be recorded and reconciled in the accounts).

Because most online sessions require a producer as well as a facilitator, or two or more facilitators to share those roles, most of these these contracts have involved working as a team. For ten I was sub-contracted to a colleague, and for 19 I sub-contracted one or more colleagues myself. That compares to 7 and 4 the year before. This past year I have worked solo hardly at all, whereas before the pandemic I worked alone more often than not. I have very much enjoyed the opportunities for broader and deeper collaboration with colleagues.

Partners that I have contracted with this past year include ICA colleagues Megan Evans, Alan Heckman, Jo Nelson and particularly Orla Cronin, and IAF collegues Marie Dubost and Bruno Selun. I have collaborated too with others of the ICA:UK team, and that of Orla Cronin, and with many IAF colleagues – some mentioned below.

Clients I have worked with have again been largely UK charities and international NGOs, European agencies and contractors, NGO networks, Associations and a few others. In addition to my usual mix of clients and projects in the fields of international development, humanitarian response and human rights, this past year has seen a welcome increase for me in environmental and climate justice work (another January 2020 resolution) as well as in health and education.

Of this past year’s contracts, 11 involved facilitation while 18 involved training and 7 involved coaching and consulting. That compares to 7 facilitation & 16 training the year before, and 14 facilitation & 14 training the year before that. So I find myself providing increasingly more training relative to facilitation, and increasingly coaching and consulting as well. I have enjoyed devoting more of my energy to supporting others in their facilitation roles and practice, and less doing it for them myself.

Facilitation contracts this past year have ranged in scale from a single session of 90 minutes at relatively short notice to a series of 20 sessions collaboratively designed and prepared over several months:

with NIHR on behalf of Orla Cronin Research, technical support and moderation for the online skills session ‘How to facilitate virtual PPI meetings and events’ at the Academy Members’ Conference 2020
with the Architects Council of Europe, design and facilitation of an online strategy workshop involving around 35 staff, Board & member representatives
with Amnesty International Ireland and the Portuguese Refugee Council, design and facilitation of an online Best Practice Convening session of around 50 key actors in Community Sponsorship of Refugees across Europe
with the Royal Society on behalf of Orla Cronin Research, technical support for facilitation of online Misinformation and Climate Change Roundtable events involving around 25 experts each
for ICUU, UUPCC and UUA, design & facilitation of a 2-session online Vision workshop for 9 members of the International Unitarian Universalist Collaboration Group
with Arden University on behalf of Alan Heckman Facilitation & Training, co-facilitation of a series of 4 online Digital Strategy planning workshops for around 20 academic and administrative staff
with Amnesty International, design and facilitation of a series of six online Global Strategy Labs involving around 150 delegates representing 70 national entities worldwide working in English, French and Spanish – recommendations
with Amnesty International, Europe & Central Asia region, lead design and facilitation of a 4-week online Regional Forum involving over 100 delegates from around 25 member organisations in over 20 sessions

Julie Deutschmann, Communication Officer at Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE-CAE), wrote in a recommendation:

“We would like to thank and congratulate Martin for the work done to facilitate the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE) online Strategic Development Session. The preparation went very well and the integration of new digital tools into the session was very helpful in allowing for the valuable contribution from our members. The excellent facilitation provided by Martin and his colleague Orla allowed participants to articulate strategic thinking while sticking to the aims of the workshop.”

Barbara Weber, Director, Global Strategy and Impact at Amnesty International, wrote:

“Thanks for facilitating our online Strategy Labs – cross-regional, multiple languages. You supported us in focusing on the main issues. Very much appreciated.”

My scheduled public training this past year has been limited to my Introduction to Facilitation Online session, which I provided 6 times publicly during the year and 9 times in-house. I worked with fellow ICA:UK trainers to develop and deliver the new Group Facilitation Methods I Online and with Orla Cronin to deliver and offer the new Introduction to Producing Virtual Events I Online session and Facilitating Virtual Events I Online course as well. Instead of offering the longer courses publicly myself, I have chosen to offer them in-house only and to refer individuals to the ICA:UK schedule.

Training contracts this past year have ranged in scale from a single introductory session for one group to a series of multi-session courses for multiple groups:

with the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, tailored in-house Introduction to Facilitation Online training for around 25 staff
with Unitarian College, tailored in-house Introduction to Facilitation Online training for 3 groups of ministers and lay leaders around the UK
with Light for the World on behalf of ICA:UK, co-design & delivery of a 4-session online ToP Focused Conversation training with 12 staff in Europe & Africa
with staff of the Health Foundation, ICA:UK Group Facilitation Methods training over 8x 2-hour online sessions
in partnership with ICA Associates Inc., Group Facilitation Methods I Online training for members of IAF Portugal and others
with EMCDDA, tailored in-house online training for around 40 staff in Lisbon including Introduction to Facilitation Online, Meetings That Work and Facilitating Virtual Events over a total of 13 sessions.

Louise Reeve, Policy and Communications Business Partner at Newcastle City Council, wrote in a recommendation:

“Some training to recommend from Martin Gilbraith – I attended his Introduction to Facilitation Online course. Whatever your experience level, you should find something in this training which can make your online sessions just that bit better and more enjoyable”

Enrico Teotti, Agile coach and (visual) facilitator at Avanscoperta, wrote:

“I attended Martin’s ORID class online Group Facilitation Methods Online. The class was divided with practical homework and exercises which I find a great way to learn. Martin and Jo were great hosts able get in to deeper conversations when the group desired that still respecting the course agenda.”

Coaching and consulting contracts this past year have ranged in scale from one or two one-hour sessions with a single coachee to providing training, coaching and consulting support for multiple teams to design and lead multi-session and multi-lingual international conferences for hundreds of delegates:

with Nicole Moran of Advisory & Facilitation Services, facilitation coaching in support of online strategic planning and focus group sessions
with Oxfam Ireland, online facilitation training and coaching with staff in Ireland and of six African programme partners, in support of their first online Annual Partnership Meeting together
with ISEAL Alliance, online facilitation training and coaching in support of their first online global ‘Members’ Month’
with OMCT, design consulting and facilitation training over 3 months in support of the first online Global Week Against Torture
with ILGA Europe on behalf of Kumquat Consult, design consulting and facilitation training over 4 months in support of the first online ILGA Europe 2020 Annual Conference
with Amnesty International UK and it’s partners in the #RightsBridge initiative, online facilitation, training and consulting over 18 months in support of ‘Building a Human Rights Bridge out of Poverty’ in the UK

Rosa Brandon, Programme Quality Officer at Oxfam Ireland, wrote in a recommendation:

“Martin provided invaluable support to Oxfam Ireland in the build-up to a series of multi-stakeholder online workshops. He provided tailored ‘coaching sessions’ to our team, which helped us to prepare and deliver several engaging virtual sessions. These sessions directly catered to our needs, building our ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ virtual facilitation skills and knowledge. Furthermore, he also co-facilitated an in-house “Introduction to Facilitation Online” workshop with colleagues across Southern and Eastern Africa. This excellent workshop was well received by all participants. Thanks, Martin!”

Björn van Roozendaal, Programmes Director at ILGA-Europe, wrote:

“Together with other folks at the Kumquat team Martin helped us to organize the ILGA-Europe Gathering Online 2020. Organizing a large event online for the first time came with many questions and challenges. Martin particularly helped us with providing training and assistance to put together the flow of the programme and to ensure that we were ready to facilitate the many spaces that our event was made up with. It was a pleasure working with Martin!”

Just as last year was drawing to a close in June, a new contract with Amnesty International was getting underway in preparation for its first online Global Assembly. This involved me and my team of Marie Dubost, Orla Cronin, Hector Villarreal Lozoya & Charo Lanao in the design and facilitation of a series of 16 Discussion Group sessions in July & August and parts of last week’s plenary meeting as well, with 3-4 delegates of each of 65 national entities worldwide working in English, French and Spanish.

Anjhula Mya Singh Bais, Interim Chair of the International Board, wrote:

“Martin has been an asset to Amnesty International. He was a consistent and compassionate presence through multicultural regional meetings and strategy sessions. Throughout 16 sessions of the online 2021 Global Assembly of Amnesty International, he demonstrated a high technical proficiency on the complexity of organisational procedures, terminology, and processes. He demonstrates that he truly hears and sees everyone and increased the quality of our participation.”

In my volunteering, I completed 5 years of chapter leadership with IAF England & Wales in December. That left me (happily) without regular Board meetings to attend for the first time in perhaps 25 years!

For International Facilitation Week in October, the first online IAF England & Wales Annual Conference had attracted over 100 participants for a full week’s programme of over 25 peer-led learning and networking sessions, led largely this year by Susannah Raffe and others of the IAF E&W Leadership Team. The regular schedule of several free, online facilitation meetups each month continues still.

I continued to serve as a mentor in the IAF mentoring programme, stepping up my commitment this year to working with two mentees in parallel. I have continued to gain as much as I have given, and have very much enjoyed the opportunity to accompany fellow facilitators on their professional journey in this way.

Chizu Matsushita, Facilitator of dialogue and participatory community/team development, wrote:

“I grew from being not confident at all to quite confident about the facilitation skills I have been developing. I have felt a tangible impact. I now believe that a professional facilitator is a real and incredibly impactful profession through which I can make contributions in areas I deeply care.”

I have not been anxious to take on another long-term leadership role, but I have diversified my volunteer interests a little by turning my social media experience to tweeting since last September for the Gay Outdoor Club. This is a group that I have appreciated participating in for many years, all the more since I have been travelling less and keen to be outdoors more. I have continued to serve as volunteer webmaster for ICA International and to tweet for International Facilitation Week.

I continued to host free facilitation webinars, although somewhat less regularly this past year and mostly only in response to invitations from partners. This happened to result in two sessions for different groups on Facilitation Competencies for Agilists, plus Is there a single, universal principle of facilitation? with IAF Belgium and Scaling up engagement and dialogue for the IAF global webinar series.

This last session drew on insights of previous work with Michael Ambjorn of AlignYourOrg on the power of partnership between facilitation and communication, including research for a chapter in the book the Power of Facilitation #FacPower.

Now available since May, this book is free to download in order to enable and encourage everyone to read it and to share it.

For your free copy please click here or on the image (right), and for recordings of ‘meet the author’ sessions held over the summer see News – #FacPower.

I have been increasingly been invited this past year to contribute to, endorse or help to promote the publications of other colleagues as well, and I have been pleased to be able to do that. This has included an endorsement and an online session in support of More Than Halfway to Somewhere: how exposure to other cultures has shaped our lives with ICA colleague John Burbidge, a Foreword to How to Facilitate LEGO Serious Play Online by Sean Blair and most recently an endorsement and an online session (next month) in support of Facilitating Breakthrough: How to Remove Obstacles, Bridge Differences, and Move Forward Together by Adam Kahane. I am more than a little awe-struck to find my endorsement for that latter book listed next to one from Nelson Mandela.

In September I joined IAF Chair Vinay Kumar in exploring the rapidly growing field of virtual facilitation in a podcast Re-Tooling for Virtual Facilitation.

So what I have learned, and what are some implications for my future practice and professional development?

If keeping my resolution to travel less and work more online was ever going to be difficult, it didn’t turn out that way. Before the pandemic I had found it difficult to commit to multiple short online sessions over time while remaining available to commit to several days or a week at a time for a face-to-face event plus travel. Since my schedule has filled with short online sessions that can be delivered from home, or even elsewhere, I have had no appetite to commit to being in a particular place to deliver, nor to accept the risks and uncertainties now associated with working face-to-face. When I am finally tempted to accept face-to-face work again, it will most likely be at short notice and local to me or at least easy to reach without flying. My expectation is that I shall continue to work mostly if not wholly online.

I find that there is ample continuing demand for online facilitation services, not least among international organizations and other distributed groups who may also be concerned to reduce the expense and carbon impact associated with meeting face-to-face. My experience has been that many clients and groups have been pleasantly surprised and impressed over the past year and more by what can be achieved online, that they continue to recognize that they have much to learn in order to best reap the benefits and avoid the pitfalls, and so they continue to recognize the potential added value of professional facilitation services more than for the face-to-face context with which they are still much more familiar. While they are finding that meeting effectively online does not save all of the costs of meeting face-to-face, the savings can allow them to budget for facilitation that they otherwise may not have.

After growing and leading a team of Associates with ICA:UK over many years, and leading and managing larger and more collaborative client projects, I chose to keep my practice small and work largely solo since I went freelance in 2012. While I have enjoyed that, I find now that I have enjoyed leading and managing larger and more collaborative client projects again, online, so I am inclined to allow that to grow further.

After choosing to keep my taxable business turnover below the threshold at which I would be required to register for VAT, partly in order not to make my services more expensive to unregistered smaller clients and individuals on public courses, I have found myself unable to maintain that this year and I have had to apply to register. So I am inclined to accept the administration of VAT in preference to that of public courses, and to accept the potential loss of smaller clients and projects in favour of fewer larger ones.

I have enjoyed the growth of coaching, consulting and mentoring that has occurred organically in my practice over the past year and more, so I shall include those more explicitly in my offer in order to grow them further.

I have enjoyed working on several client projects involving international governance this past year, and finding my own governance experience relevant and helpful for that, so I am interested to see that grow further – and therefore I am interested that two such new opportunities have just arisen already in the past weeks.

I have been challenged by the Black Lives Matter movement and other recent manifestations and responses to systemic injustice and oppression, and by clients who have been similarly challenged, to reflect on how I might ensure that my own practice is more effectively and explicitly anti-racist, feminist and anti-oppressive, and to commit to working on that.

I have enjoyed continuing to advance my Spanish learning since returning from Sitges into lockdown last year, and finally being able to return for a first visit again last month. I hope to continue advance, and to continue to visit.

Thank you for following!

See also about me, how I work, who I work with and recommendations & case studies, and please contact me about how we might work together.

Martin Gilbraith

Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF | Master), Trainer & Consultant

Tag Archives: Freelance

Another year in freelance facilitation, now both online and in-person again, 2021-22

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Reflecting on a year of freelance facilitation online, 2020-21, and looking ahead

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