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There are currently 7 responses to “How do you facilitate for a large audience?”

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1. 1 On January 23rd, 2008, Tom Tiernan said:

   Hi Mike

   A large-audience virtual meeting? You do like a challenge.

   A couple of thoughts. The facilitator would need to set up a visual presentation with the images (slides) changing at a fast clip as this is what seems to hold people’s attention. The other is to have the audience interact in some way. One of our goals is to be able to put our visual tools on the web so that virtual teams/ audiences could be doing some process work. By giving the participants the ability to do something that contributes to the presentation/facilitation is a good attention grabber/holder.

   Thanks for your comment.

2. 2 On January 23rd, 2008, Tom Tiernan said:

   Hi Betsy

   Christine will be using our VisualsSpeak ImageSet for this session. Actually about 40 of them. We are also preparing a handout with detailed instructions for each table. In large groups there is a tendency to make things up if people don’t have easy access to the facilitator.

   In this case the audience consists of visual communication specialists or people interested enough in the field to attend the conference so that we have that basis from which to work. You’re absolutely right that if the facilitator doesn’t know what the audience’s interests are that’s an invitation to disconnect from the presentation.

   Christine will be addressing some of these points on how to facilitate large audiences in our next newsletter. If you’re interested you can go to VisualsSpeak.com and subscribe in the sign-up field on the left side of the webpage.

   Some good input. Thanks

3. 3 On January 23rd, 2008, Christine Martell said:

   Thanks Mike. Virtually, I think there are some different challenges. Keeping people focused being a large one. I know I am off doing other things most of the time during virtual meetings unless the visuals are not only compelling, but highly relevant. Even better if I really need to see the image in order to understand the concept. I think it also helps to keep shifting the type of image. A photograph, an illustration, a chart. Stories help too.

4. 4 On January 23rd, 2008, Christine Martell said:

   Hi Betsy,
   I’m going to have each table make an image, similar to how we did it at the SIETAR conference. The nice thing about owning the company is I have lots of Imagesets
   I think you are so right in needing to hold a group this size. My heart goes out the the NAFSA presenter. I have been very fortunate to have most people stay through my sessions at conferences. Must be hard to have people walking out en masse.

   I’m really excited to be going to work with a whole room full of people who are passionate about visuals. I’ll be reporting back how it all goes.

   Thanks for all your insights and best wishes.

5. 5 On January 24th, 2008, Ken Homer said:

   Hello,   I’d like to respond to your questions about large group facilitation. First, however, I need to make a distinction between facilitation and training, or between facilitation and presentation. Training and presentation tend to foster and direct the collective focus of the group  on the presenter or trainer for the majority of the time. Rooms set up in a theater configuration with rows  of chairs and a platform, stage or podium at the front immediately convey to those walking into the room that they are going to be trained or presented to.   Facilitation for me, is when the collective focus of the group is directed at the facilitator for a minimum amount of time, primarily to understand context and instructions, with the majority of the time spent in inquiry, listening and learning processes that occur between people and in small and large groups. Rooms set up with chair clusters, café tables, circles and open spaces alert people that they are going to be engaged in a more informal kind of learning process.   Are the group dynamics of a large audience different than small groups?   Yes and no. Yes in the sense that logistical challenges often present limitations as to what is possible — it is much easier to do a harvesting of group wisdom from 50 people than it is from 800.   No in the sense that every group is a living being. It has both conscious and unconscious aspects, is made up of people who share common concerns as well as idiosyncratic ones, suffers from ADD and knows it wants something but until it sees it, it has a hard time articulating exactly what that something is. Processes of connection serve to bring about a more coherent sense of the group as a whole resulting in a recognition of a “we” that exists among us. Getting that “we” into the room is a primary aim of effective facilitation.   Some things like diversity of perspective are merely raised an order of magnitude by larger sizes, but you can find huge diversity of opinions among small groups of supposedly like minded individuals.   How do you prepare for an audience you’ve never met?   I make sure I know why I am there. I inquire deeply with the people who invited me understand what will be satisfying and fulfilling outcomes. I also inquire as to why the people who will make up the audience are coming. I want to know what expectations have been set forth. I want to see the invitation and talk to the organizers about any promises that have been made to the participants prior to my walking into the room.   Then I inquire into my own reasons for being there. What do I think is possible? What is my intent? What kinds of outcomes will be satisfying and fulfilling to me?   While I am designing, I hold in mind the goal that people will be delighted and filled with goodwill and humor as they go through the process I am crafting for them. I use my body in designing. If after coming up with a design, and talking it through with a trusted colleague, it does not feel right in my body, I revise it until it does. I also try to incorporate  the bodies of those who will be in the audience, by including some breath or movement process as well as something that engages the right brain  I trust that there is great wisdom and ability in groups, and that as a facilitator, my job is to bring that out. I seek to serve the humanity I know is at the core of every person, even the ones I am most inclined to judge, so that when I am in front of that room, I am a channel to bring that humanity forward,  venue for a larger intelligence to arise in each person in that room and recognize itself when it looks into another person’s eyes.     How do you make sure your program is tight enough in order to minimize disruptions?   I run through the design both mentally and with some other folks who have skill in design and facilitation and look for weak spots. Are there areas where directions need to be honed and refined and made really explicit and clear so that time is not wasted in answering unnecessary questions? Is it reasonable to assume that people will be able accomplish the task I have requested them to do in the time allotted and feel they had enough time?  And hardest of all, I am trying to squeeze five pounds into a three pound sack?   Once I have a design that feels good in my body and makes my heart happy, I use an excel spreadsheet and plot everything out to the minute. I allot extra time to allow for late starts, questions that need to be addressed before moving forward, possibility of things arising that will require more time than I thought.   How do you use any tools or props? This is a question that gets specific to the situation. In general, I use tools and props exactly as that, tools or props. They should be supportive to the process and not distracting from it.   I hope these thoughts are useful to you and I wish you much success at your conference.   Ken Homer 
     

6. 6 On January 25th, 2008, Christine Martell said:

   Great input Ken. I hear the wisdom of a long time facilitator. You are right, so different than training and presentation. The piece you mention that I’m fascinated by is mapping a session out in a spreadsheet to the minute. Now, I do have time frames in my mind when I facilitate, and I am time conscious and seldom run overtime. But the details seldom play out exactly with real live people. Are you using the spreadsheets just as guides, or do you actually track to the time when you are live?

   I appreciate all the reflection questions. I am reviewing my design with these in mind…and continuing to refine!

7. 7 On January 25th, 2008, Ken Homer said:

   Thanks Christine.
   Yes of course, I use the spreadsheet as a guide and not a rigid frame — I have never had a session follow my map exactly. But I do have it with me, and if I see that one part of the session has run over by ten minutes I can use the map to shave off a few minutes here and a few minutes there to get back on track. When I am in front of the room I need to be able to shift and turn on the fly in response to what is arising with the audience. These maps allow me to do that while still maintaining the overall integrity of the design for the session.

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