technology of particpation – Martin Gilbraith

Thank you again to the 250 or so people in total that attended today’s free facilitation webinar, in all or in part, and especially to my fellow trainers of the ICA:UK Facilitating Virtual Events course Megan, Dawn, Orla, Alan, Nileen & Ester Mae for co-hosting with me – see our profiles. Here below you will find the session recording and other outputs.

This was the second of two sessions scheduled in partnership with ICA:UK as part of its new Online Focused Conversation Series: Taking time to connect, learn and reflect.

The aim of all these sessions is for participants to connect, share and learn with others sharing their interest the topic, while experiencing ICA’s ToP Focused Conversation method.

In this session the method was adapted to accommodate the number attending, using only the basic tools within the Zoom platform – audio, video, text chat, break-out rooms, screen sharing and polling.

For more on ICA’s Technology of Participation and facilitation online, register now for these further upcoming training & learning sessions:

Free facilitation webinars – next up “When is online better than face-to-face?”, next week on 17 June
Introduction to Facilitation Online – Introducing the role of the facilitator and the ToP approach, plus some key tips & tools, 2.5 hours, next on 8 July & 8 September
Group Facilitation Methods Online – Introducing the foundations of the ToP approach, two powerful techniques for structuring effective conversations and building group consensus – a series of 6 x2 hour sessions, next from 22 June to 2 July
Facilitating Virtual Events Online – Learn about and practice ways to make online events participatory, engaging and productive – a series of 7 x2 hour sessions, next from 15 September to 8 October

For details of remaining sessions of this series with other ICA:UK lead ToP trainers, and to register for those, please see the ICA:UK Online Focused Conversation Series.

Our meetings, workshops and events, our world, are increasingly moving online – now more than ever! So as leaders and facilitators we must be prepared to move with them. Virtual sessions can have advantages over face-to-face, but disadvantages too – not least, shorter attention spans and greater potential for distractions. How can we keep people engaged and focused when meeting online?

The recording, slides and chat transcript follow here. Thanks also to Carolyn Xie for her beautiful sketchnote and to Archana Pingle & Susanne Dunne for their tweets and Michelle Deacon for her LinkedIn post.

Great facilitation session today. Thank you @martingilbraith
Fab to see @lisawales27 @maclean_jo 🥰 pic.twitter.com/dEV4A5HEZH

— Susanne Dunne (@susanne_dunne) June 10, 2020

Very delighted to catch up with close to 200 #facilitators and people interested in making #virtualfacilitation from all across the globe. Thank you very much @martingilbraith @IAFacilitators @IAFEnglandWales @iaf_eme pic.twitter.com/oeV5zkIQlv

— Archana Pingle (@ArchanaPingle) June 10, 2020

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.

What skills, knowledge, and behaviours must facilitators have in order to be successful facilitating in a wide variety of environments? To what extent do these vary, if at all, when working online rather than face-to-face? What can we do, individually and together as peers, to develop our own facilitation competence?

Thank you again to IAF Romania for the invitation to lead yesterday’s online session Facilitation Competencies, to Bogdan Grigore in particular for also co-facilitating with me and of course to all those who attended and participated.

Here below you will find the session recording and other outputs.

The session was adapted from the format of the new ICA:UK Online Focused Conversation Series: Taking time to connect, learn and reflect.

The aim of all these sessions is for participants to connect, share and learn with others sharing their interest the topic, while experiencing ICA’s ToP Focused Conversation method. Each 60-minute session in Zoom consists of a facilitated conversation followed by a brief introduction to the method used.

In this session we used break-out groups and JamBoard to get acquainted with the IAF Core Facilitation Competencies and share experience of their application, both online and face-to-face. In plenary we reflected on the extent to which these competencies vary when working online rather than face-to-face, if at all. Participants also reflected on what they could do, individually and together as peers, to develop their own facilitation competence.

For more on ICA’s Technology of Participation and facilitation online, register now for these further upcoming training & learning sessions:

Free facilitation webinars – next up “How engaging can your online session be?” and “When is online better than face-to-face?”, both in June
Introduction to Facilitation Online – Introducing the role of the facilitator and the ToP approach, plus some key tips & tools, 2.5 hours, starting in June & July
Facilitating Virtual Events I Online – Learn and practice ways to make online events participatory, engaging and productive – a series of 6-7 x2 hour sessions, online
Group Facilitation Methods Online – Introducing the foundations of the ToP approach, two powerful techniques for structuring effective conversations and building group consensus – a series of 6 x2 hour sessions in June/July.

See also Brian Stanfield’s ‘Art of Focused Conversation: 100 Ways to Access Group Wisdom in the Workplace and Jo Nelson’s ‘The Art of Focused Conversation for Schools: Over 100 Ways to Guide Clear Thinking and Promote Learning‘.

For details of additional sessions with other ICA:UK lead ToP trainers, and to register for those, please see the ICA:UK Online Focused Conversation Series.

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. Please do not delay before contacting me – the earlier I hear from you, the more chance that I will be able to help and the more helpful I may be able to be.

Register now on Eventbrite also for my regularly scheduled ToP facilitation training courses in London and Brussels, and now also online.