Facilitating meetings for active participation

EMIF workshopBrussels, March 17, 2010, 12:30-5:00PM

Ib Ravn, Ph.D., Associate Professor Aarhus University, Denmark, www.dpu.dk/fv

1. Today’s program

12:30 How to design meetings that inspire and involve participants? Presentation, reflection and demonstration

1:45 Break 2:00 Lessons learnt so far2:30 Designing your own meeting3:15 Break3:30 Presenting your meetings designs and facilitating

discussion of them 5:00 End

2. The problem: Meetingstreat participants as recipients

As it is DrawbacksOne-way People: two-wayPassivity Use it or lose itQ and A Silence, or ”I’m clever, too!”Debates Many tangents. Success is randomWorkshops So many mini-conferencesPanels Congestion on One-Way Street

3. The transfer model of teaching

4. The conference as a forum for human co-flourishing

• People have potentials, interests and projects• We want to learn and flourish• We go to conferences to get inspired by others and

grow

5. Design principles for learning meetings

BlahBlah 1. Concise presentations

2. Active interpretation

3. Self-formulation

4. Networking and knowledge sharing

●●●

5. Competent facilitation

6. The design principles (for your own reading)

1. Concise presentations. Fewer, shorter, more provocative.2. Active interpretation. There must be processes that help

participants actively relate what they hear to their own experience. Time to digest, think and talk.

3. Self-formulation. There must be opportunities in pairs and small groups for everyone to talk about the personal interests and projects that brought them to the conference in the first place.

4. Networking and knowledge sharing. Facilitated activities that help the participants discover each other as resources.

5. Competent facilitation. The facilitator must create a safe and trusting space where people will go along with the new learning processes.

7. What was interesting ?

In my presentation, what did you find interesting?

• Jot down a few things (2 minutes)• Share them with your neighbor (6-8 minutes)• Let’s hear some of them, and your questions and

comments

8. Techniques (with page numbers)

1. Semicircular seating(?); so everyone can see and take part (17)

2. Meet people; warms up the room, creates trust (58)3. Ask a few delegates what’s nice about beeing here (60)4. Concise presentation, cut in two; helps attention (64)5. “What was interesting?”; focus on the constructive (24)6. Silent reflection and notetaking; clarifies thoughts (70)7. Minimeetings; pair and share, ideas are tested (72) 8. Take inspirations; helps people inspire each other (76)9. Always a bit of Q&A; otherwise people feel cheated

9. More techniques that activate participants

10. Separate colleagues after lunch; people perk up (58)

11. Question cards; easier for timid folks to contribute (68)

12. Start your future, here, now; use today’s material (86)

13. Take-aways: Reflection, minimeetings, sharing, at the end

14. Facilitate all presentations; don’t let the presenter (60)

15. Use a script; blow-by-blow, for internal use, ≠ program (46):

10.00 Welcome10.10 Meet people10.20 Presentation, etc.

10. Task: Design a meeting

• Design a 2-4 hour meeting using a few techniques• Write a script (6-10 lines/elements)• Print large and legibly on flip chart. Hang it on wall• Take a break at _______ and be back by _______

11.Your role as a facilitator

1. You host the event, helping everyone’s participate optimally

2. Explain your role to speakers, so they let you3. Introduce speaker, including length of presentation4. Finish speaker and elicit applause5. Do a technique, or take questions for speaker6. If questions and debate move along spontaneously,

fine. But stay up front, for easy intervention 7. Check bad questions. Refer them to later, if necessary 8. Finish when the time is up, even if more questions9. Conclude by thanking the presenter; elicit applause

again

12.Running a participative technique

1. Don’t speak until you have everyone’s attention 100%2. Be friendly, calm and firm as you ask delegates to do

X and Y3. Never ask if the delegates would like to do it. Assume

they will do what they are asked to4. Help the delegates do it in practice (pair up, find

paper, etc.) 5. Accept without comment if someone chooses not to do

it –unless it disturbs other people6. Say ”Thank you” afterwards and little else. Don’t

apologize if the process did not seem a success. Move on.

13. Today’s basic ideas

• Meetings need techniques/processes that involve particpants

• Active participants learn more, have more fun & come back

• A script details all processes• A facilitator hosts the meeting and helps everyone be

their best

14. More about facilitating meetings

• Steen Elsborg and Ib Ravn: Learning Meetings and Conferences in Practice. Copenhagen: People’s Press, 2007.

• Various papers (”The Learning Conference” and ”Creating Learning at Conferences Through Participant Involvement”): www.dpu.dk/om/ibr, click ”Publikationer”

• About our group, ”Facilitating Knowledge Processes”: www.dpu.dk/fv, and minor texts of ours at: fac-vid.squarespace.com

• My blog on facilitation: www.ibravn.blogspot.com• The Learning Meeting Module: A web-based tool. www.ims.dk• International Association of Facilitators: www.iaf-world.org