The Secret to Participation (is Facilitation) - a workshop!
This three-hour in person workshop is about the game-changing skill of facilitation. Whether you’re a classroom teacher, run meetings in your organizations, or you simply believe that facilitation is one of the skills we most need for a better future THIS WORKSHOP IS FOR YOU!
In this workshop we’re going to cover many things including:
How to get everyone participating (while undermining default power dynamics)
How to create spaces for vulnerability and honesty (while working with social/emotional risk)
How to navigate personal topics and challenging conversations without overwhelming people
And much more! Facilitation is the key to helping people go to places they didn’t know they could reach (individually and as a collective) and we can create powerful pathways forward when we know what tools are available for us to use.
A Note on Pricing
If your organization is able to pay for this workshop, the suggested price is $149 with the option to pay as low as $100. If that is too high for your organization feel free to use the Individual Rates (we can still invoice your org either way!)
If you’re paying out of your own pocket for this workshop the suggested rate is $89 with the option to pay less, down to $40.
If you would like to attend this workshop and price is a barrier, reach out to me, MegBolger@gmail.com and let me know what you’d like to pay/trade/etc!
Regardless of what you pay all attending the workshop will also receive a deck of Facilitator Cards ($74.99) included in the ticket price!
WHAT THIS WORKSHOP IS ABOUT
When we gather people together, whether it's students, community members, or colleagues we want people to be actively involved in the process. We want them to participate and share their thoughts, ideas, and questions.
Getting people to participate can be a challenge because:
There is social risk when we share an idea, question, or comment especially in front of colleagues and peers
You may be challenging a norm of sit-and-get meetings/workshops where participation isn’t expected
Different personality types and processing styles means finding ways to both share the mic and take the mic
There are so many distractions that we’re going up against (both in-person and online) it can feel impossible to hold people’s attention (you read this whole list!? Amazing!)
And the truth of it is that most of us have never been taught how to get people to participate.
The Secret of Facilitation is a workshop where we are focused on technologies of participation that will make all the difference in the spaces you lead.
THIS SESSION WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND
How to mitigate social risk and create psychological safety that guarantees participation
How to prepare your group to participate, to engage, or to learn
The three keys to participation and how to use them to unlock group potential
You'll leave knowing specific methods for the most common participation roadblocks: dealing with dominant participants, over-talkers, and no one sharing in the large group.
Whether you’re working with a group of 6 or 300+, this session will help resource you to have a greater impact for those groups and move your important work in the world forward.
WHO’S LEADING THE SESSION
Meg Bolger! An expert facilitator, social justice educator, and participatory educator who lives in Plainfield, VT.
Meg has been facilitating for over a decade and is currently the head of Facilitator Cards and POP Facilitation. Meg co-founded numerous projects and businesses including The Safe Zone Project, FacilitatingXYZ, Unlocking the Magic of Facilitation, and Facilitator Cards and spent much of the last decade training trainers from around the country (and world) on the art of facilitation.
Meg’s roots in facilitation came from her work in social justice education and gender and sexuality workshops. She believes that facilitation is one of the key skills of educators, leaders, organizers, and facilitators who are trying to bring about meaningful change in the world. Her work in social justice spaces also gave her years of navigating hot topics, challenging conversations, and loaded disagreements in group settings.
Meg is passionate about the subtleties of what helps groups work, learn, collaborate, and connect with each other. She loves to break down the art of facilitation into skills that people can use to help humans collaborate, communicate, and connect better together.
Her mission is to share everything she knows about facilitation to support everyone who is doing meaningful change work in the world.
WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE?
This workshop is a highly participatory session. It is a real “show” over “tell” type session where you’ll get to experience our recommendations of how to facilitate first hand. Other than a mid-point break you’ll be actively engaging and participating throughout the entire workshop.
We’ll use a variety of methods including journaling, pairs, fishbowls, small group work, large-group discussions, and more.
This session is limited to 25 participants.
The workshop will start promptly at 10:10, if you need to leave early you can but strongly request that you do not join late so that everyone can go through the full learning experience together. Refunds offered for day-of-life-kerfuffles.
WHEN YOU SIGN UP YOU’LL RECEIVE
After signing up for The Secret to Participation you’ll receive an email with a link to add it to your calendar.