by Paul Z Jackson | Nov 26, 2020 | Blog, Creativity, Facilitation
Your team has been working hard in a difficult and novel working environment, and you’d like to reward them for their efforts.
In your next online team meeting you want to involve them in deciding on a treat. You ask them for ideas: ‘What would everyone like to do? How can we spend our budget?’
by Paul Z Jackson | Nov 26, 2020 | Blog, Creativity, Facilitation
We’re told that people are getting ‘Zoom Fatigue’, which results in meetings that lack energy and get too little accomplished.
When people are logged-in to one monotonous meeting after another, each one demanding intense concentration, it’s no surprise they are switching off. Switching off their cameras, sound and engagement.
by Paul Z Jackson | May 28, 2020 | Blog, Creativity, Facilitation
If you put your participants into breakout rooms, you can’t expect great conversations online to break out automatically. They might, but equally might not. And this is an instance where you need to take even more care in an online world than when facilitating at a f-2-f conference or workshop event. In the latter, there’s…
by Paul Z Jackson | May 15, 2020 | Blog, Creativity, Improvisation
This week a group of us re-watched, via a Facebook Watch Party, one of the most impactful talks ever given at an Applied Improvisation Network (AIN) Conference. It was Pablo Suarez speaking about adapting what we know (i.e. improvisation) to the field of disaster preparedness.
Pablo, from the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, was with us to…
by Paul Z Jackson | Apr 16, 2020 | Blog, Creativity, Facilitation
During a recent webinar on facilitation trends, I asked a group of practitioners for their tips on making space safer. Here are our top ten:
1. Articulate goals and expectations upfront and early, so everyone is clear about what we’re there to do.
2. To keep it constructive and relevant, ask ‘What needs to happen here today for it to be useful to you?’
by Paul Z Jackson | Apr 1, 2020 | Blog, Creativity, Improvisation
If you are stuck with a problem or want to generate new ideas for a project, here’s a great activity to prompt fresh thinking. It’s also a handy way to banish writers’ block. Here’s what I wrote in a recent workshop, led by Trevor Day for the AMED Writers Group. Trevor provided a selection of objects for us on a table.