Blog
Facilitation
Playing with time when facilitating a session
Playing with time when facilitating a session When facilitating a session, time is often the dimension that gets away from us and is the undoing of an otherwise wonderful event. You are facilitating a session It’s an important topic - that’s why it’s on the agenda and...
How do you get groups out of their comfort zone without resistance?
How do you get groups out of their comfort zone without resistance? "I have a presentation coming up for a large group of 270. I am invited to take them out of their comfort zone", a colleague told me recently. This was a corporate audience, with 50 minutes for a...
How NOT to end a session on time
How not to end a session on time If you want to end a session on time, don’t make your final activity an open question-and-answer session. You lose control, as the audience takes over. I’ve seen one presenter faced with an endless stream of questions, each of which...
How a conference organiser can strip a facilitator’s credibility with a single gesture
How a conference organiser can strip a facilitator’s credibility with a single gesture Most speakers (and I studied this during a recent lengthy conference, so it’s proper research) have trouble sticking to time. They tend to run over if allowed. Which may be mildly...
How to transform a bored audience into a keen bunch of listeners?
How to transform a bored audience into a keen bunch of listeners Give the audience a task at the start of any talk or lecture that's going to last more than 5 minutes. For example, 'Pick out the most important idea’, or ‘Prepare 3 questions you might like to ask the...
Are you destroying the success of your activities by the words you use to introduce them?
Are you destroying the success of your activities by the words you use to introduce them? I watched a facilitator introduce a fairly simple circle activity to a group during a conference. While asking for 20 or so volunteers from a group of around 30, he assured the...
How to get a conference off on the right foot
How to get a conference off on the right foot Letting people speak to each other at the beginning of a conference has many benefits. It gets us relaxed and contextualised. You start to know who the people are around you. They become both humanised and professional....
How a facilitator raises the prospects of better conversations
How a facilitator raises the prospects of better conversations We all want better conversations at work and in other aspects of our lives. Yet you have probably noticed that good conversations don’t break out automatically simply because people get together and talk....
How to tell if you are the facilitator
How to tell if you are the facilitator When you are young, your aunts and uncles will ask you what you want to be when you grow up. It’s a rare child who says, 'I want to be a facilitator’. Facilitation is more something you gradually discover and can get drawn to....
What to look out for on the edge of your vision
What to look out for on the edge of your vision One of the most important skills of a facilitator is having good peripheralvision - an awareness of those things happening just out of your focus.This is a handy ability in life, too, of course, and it protects us...
Does everyone need coffee right now?
Does everyone need coffee right now? Is it even possible to get it? I watched an ugly facilitation moment the other day, in which participants who were deeply involved in an activity were wrenched out of it by a facilitator who seemed to think it important that...
The point is not powerpoint
The point is not the powerpoint There were at least 20 presentations during the conference I attended recently, and in half of them the PowerPoint was not starting on time. That's to say that the audience watched the presenter fumbling with projection equipment and...
The Inspirational Facilitator *OFFLINE* Programme – for the course you can start today!
Applied Improvisation Online Course
Paul Jackson Associates Limited. A registered company in England and Wales. Company Number 09564618. VAT Number GB 213 379812. Registered Address 10 Greville House, Lower Road, Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex, HA2 0HB. Postal Address 34a Clarence Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 4NG Telephone 01727 843 820 Mobile 07973 953 586
© 2009-2018 Paul Jackson Associates / The Improvisation Academy - All Rights Reserved
