When you’re facilitating, where are you? In your head, your body, a role? There are no wrong answers, but there are plenty of interesting questions you can ask to better understand how you facilitate.Anna Momber-Heers can share a lot of interesting insights, as her background is as a performance and communication coach. She helps professionals use tools and ideas from acting to get into their bodies and into a more settled place in their minds.The closer we can get to our bodies, the clearer we can get in our minds. And, in fact, the more we can start to use one to influence the other. Learn about embodied facilitation and how to act like the facilitator you want to be in this episode.Find out about:Why creating a facilitator ‘role’ for yourself can make it easier to focus on your jobHow we can use acting tools to connect us to our minds, bodies, and emotionsWhat changes when facilitators have a stronger connection to their physical and mental experiencesWhy trust is irreplaceable in workshop settingsDifferentiating between our private selves and our present selves in the roomHow to handle the tension between encouraging improvisation and managing timeHow to train your body to prompt and support your mind in different statesDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Anna’s websiteConnect to Anna:On LinkedInOn TwitterSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

How often do you walk away from a conversation feeling heard, like you put across the things you wanted to? Feeling relaxed, not frantic?And how often do you workshops produce those same sensations?If it’s less often than you’d like, Johnnie Moore can help, with his Unhurried model for conversation (and more).As facilitators, we can learn a lot — directly and indirectly — from this approach. Unhurried might make you think ‘slow’, but it’s not necessarily so. Rather than purely slowing down, Johnnie explores what happens when we add layers and awareness to our interactions. When we take time to share, listen, and reflect, the conversation sounds very different.In an increasingly demanding and results-oriented professional space, this is becoming a rare skill. And, as it becomes rarer, it will become vital that we reclaim the time and space to be unhurried.Find out about:How Johnnie developed the concept of unhurried conversations to what it is todayWhy slowness isn’t necessarily the goal of being unhurriedHow to use props and models as guides to ease your way into unhurried conversationWhy Johnnie’s reflective practice uses a sliding scale of satisfaction, rather than failure vs. successHow to own your role in the conversation and step into honest relating about your experienceWhat ‘airtime’ in conversation is and why it is often the root of frustrationsHow to have an effective conversation while speaking gibberishDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Johnnie’s websiteThe Unhurried websiteConnect to Johnnie:On LinkedInSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Language is messy. It comes with assumptions, uncertainties, and contradictions — but what else can we use to facilitate?Florentine Versteeg would never claim to have all the answer, but she is certainly asking all the right questions. Her thoughts on facilitation and the inherent privileges in our language take us on a fascinating journey in this episode.We challenge our ideas about communication, inclusivity, and bias — and what we aim to achieve by challenging them in the first place!If you’re a facilitator who enjoys questioning things you’d never think to question, stepping into big challenges, and learning new ways to see things… this might be the perfect episode.Find out about:How to overcome bias towards articulation and adopt new ways to listenUnlocking a broader conversation by including non-verbal communication stylesWhy facilitation is not democratic (nor should it be our goal)Why universal representation is a greater priority than universal agreementWhether defaulting to English is always a positive choiceWhy inclusion leads to expression, and why expression can lead us anywhereDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Connect to Florentine:On LinkedInSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

As facilitation has grown in popularity and awareness over the last decade. And, as markets grow, dilution and variance begins to naturally occur. Marcus Crow has been pondering this issue for a while — chewing over formalization, authentication, and accreditation in our profession.An idea he wanted to explore more (and what better stage than this podcast?) is what a degree in facilitation might look like.Is facilitation something you can teach in an academic space? What disciplines and related fields would inform the curriculum? Where would our field trips take us?Head back to school with us in this curious and joyful episode!Find out about:Why Marcus keeps questioning whether formalization will help or hinder facilitationThe disciplines and ideas that might inform a Bachelor’s-style programmeWhether facilitation is static or context-independent enough to be academizedHow facilitation might become a constant feature of CPD plans in the near-futureWhy Marcus would take his class to a military barracksWhat the common threads and techniques are between different types of facilitators Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.Links10,000 Hours — Marcus’ companyConnect to Marcus:On LinkedInSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Facilitation might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of courage — we do not charge valiantly into battle or wrestle wild animals! — but the closer one looks at it, the more the connection becomes visible.It takes courage to bring a group of people together and challenge them to grow and make progress. It takes courage to stand up and say “I will do this”. It takes courage to ask difficult questions.And it takes courage to get out of our own way — and the group’s.Roi Ben-Yehuda joins me in this episode to dissect what it means to facilitate with courage, why questions are the currency of the courageous, and what he’d plan to say if zombies attacked.Find out about:Why courage has nothing to do with escaping fear, but everything to do with contextualising itWhy open vs. closed questions is an outdated binary — and Roi’s more qualitative alternativeHow collectivism operates as a shortcut to courageHow the magic of workshops isn’t in the content, but in how the group interact with the contentWhat you can do to prevent being triggered out of courageWhere leadership and facilitation intersect — and why collaboration and cocreation are critical to bothDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Next Arrow, Roi’s companyConnect to Roi:On LinkedInOn TwitterSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Facilitation might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of courage — we do not charge valiantly into battle or wrestle wild animals! — but the closer one looks at it, the more the connection becomes visible.It takes courage to bring a group of people together and challenge them to grow and make progress. It takes courage to stand up and say “I will do this”. It takes courage to ask difficult questions.And it takes courage to get out of our own way — and the group’s.Roi Ben-Yehuda joins me in this episode to dissect what it means to facilitate with courage, why questions are the currency of the courageous, and what he’d plan to say if zombies attacked.Find out about:Why courage has nothing to do with escaping fear, but everything to do with contextualising itWhy open vs. closed questions is an outdated binary — and Roi’s more qualitative alternativeHow collectivism operates as a shortcut to courageHow the magic of workshops isn’t in the content, but in how the group interact with the contentWhat you can do to prevent being triggered out of courageWhere leadership and facilitation intersect — and why collaboration and cocreation are critical to bothDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Next Arrow, Roi’s companyConnect to Roi:On LinkedInOn TwitterSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Improvisation seems to have an inescapable connection with facilitation. It’s a topic we’ve touched on many times in this podcast but, to really dig into its depths, it made sense to speak with the man who — quite literally — wrote the book on it!Robert Poynton is the multi-talented author of Do Improvise and Do Pause, creator of Yellow (a unique online learning programme), and the fabled On Your Feet experiential workshop studio.In this episode, we explore what it means to improvise — by saying no as much as yes, by learning to trust our embodied instinct and responsiveness, and by trusting that there are no wrong roads in the journey towards facilitating change.Find out about:Why the unpredictable flow of a workshop is the only flow it can realistically takeHow to facilitate with instinct, as well as intellectHow to embrace ideas, challenges, and interruptions in your workshops as creative inputs Why a workshop that meets your expectations may not be so successfulHow to pan for golden nuggets in a stream of silenceWhy Robert disagrees that improv is all about saying ‘yes’What acceptance, rather than agreement, does to transform the roomDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Robert’s websiteThe Everyday Improviser (online course)The Do Books: Do Improvise and Do PauseYellow, Robert’s online learning programmeConnect to Robert:On LinkedInOn InstagramOn TwitterSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Accessibility — ensuring the spaces we create are open, welcoming, and easy for everyone to join — is a critical, but often neglected, issue in facilitation. It took the rise of online workshops to take accessibility from an afterthought to a main event.But this increased focus on accessibility, long overdue as it was, has proven to be to everyone’s benefit. A rising tide lifts all boats and more accessible workshops help everybody feel included.Marie Dubost has been shouting for accessibility in facilitated spaces for many years and it’s a joy to know that her voice is now being heard. In this episode, we focus on the specifics of how we can make our online workshops more accessible, whilst also touching on some broader reflections on facilitation and inclusivity.Find out about:What percentage of internet users have access needsHow much variation there is in access needs, from colour-blindness to traumasHow to become a proactively inclusive facilitatorWhy accessibility starts long before the workshop beginsThe quick wins you can start practicing today to create greater accessibility in your workshopsWhy accessibility in workshops is more about mindfulness than deep expertise  Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.UX Facilitation Hub Connect to Marie:On LinkedInOn TwitterSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Some of you who listen to this episode will not have been alive for 30 years, which gives Barb Pedersen the wonderful claim that she’s been facilitating since before you were born!Not that she would boast in such a way; Barb’s approach is informed by humility, curiosity, and positivity (as you will quickly come to learn in this episode).Those tenets have served her brilliantly in her three decades of facilitation and, you may not be surprised to hear, she has seen a lot of change in that time. This episode was our opportunity to zoom out and look at the macro changes in facilitation over the course of a working life — as well as the constants and evergreen skills.Find out about:How facilitation has changed over the three decades of Barb’s practiceThe ever-increasing awareness of facilitation within organisationsWhat online facilitation has changed about our work — and which parts remain the sameHow to empower groups to solve individual issues in a workshopWhy great recording and note-taking is an art of synthesis, not verbatim writingWhy prioritising your values and beliefs serves you better than perfecting a facilitation methodDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Barb’s websiteConnect to Barbara:On LinkedInOn TwitterOn InstagramSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Some episodes of this podcast have an extremely tight focus — a specific topic, inspected under scrutiny. Some episodes are like walks through a beautiful park, stopping and admiring different beautiful moments and places.My conversation with Francis Laleman — a trainer-of-trainers, a facilitation teacher, and an excellent facilitator in his own right — was most certainly one in the latter category. We spent an hour or so weaving our way through big questions and small curiosities. It was a joy and an opportunity for both of us to think more deeply about the fundamentals of our work.Explore the depths of change, the art of not doing anything, and the hidden designs we create in our lives and work.Find out about:Why change is the common goal that links facilitation, training, and coachingWhat Francis aims to achieve by hosting workshops with ‘provocative absence’ and invisibilityWhy the ‘you’ that facilitates a group is unique to each groupHow learning is a cooperative affair and, so, training is a matter of creating readiness for cooperationWhat ‘exformative’ learning and facilitation areTaking inspiration from acting and theatreWhy our view of workshops as singular events can inhibit our effectivenessDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.LinksWatch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Visit Francis’ website.Connect to Francis:On LinkedInSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!