Virtual Facilitation - 10 Top Challenges & What To Do About Them

It’s wonderful that we can connect through a variety of brilliant, intuitive and affordable online meeting tools, especially during times such as these. These tools, such as Zoom, Teams and others, make it so easy that I’ve witnessed a lack in creativity and engagement in some online sessions I’ve attended as a delegate.

To get the best results and deliver a great experience for our delegates, as facilitators we need to innovate how we design and manage our online workshops. That means all the way through, not just going for a quirky icebreaker before settling back into the ordinariness of a boring and uninspiring core.

You'll especially enjoy this solo episode if:

• You already facilitate online meetings, manage a remote or socially distanced team, and want your online work to be more creative, collaborative and effective
• You want to make your online training and development sessions more engaging and inclusive
• You want to lead online meetings that are just as, if not even more engaging and effective than in-person sessions

I’ve written this blog with the aim of helping you, as a virtual facilitator, to:

• Overcome any perceived challenges of virtual facilitation; and
• Suggest some ways in which you can be more creative and add more value in your sessions.

I’d also love to hear from you on any other challenges or tips that you have, so please do leave me some comments below.

Listen in to hear the top 10 challenges of virtual facilitation and practical things you can do to easily overcome them.

If you'd like to read more about this, check out my blog on the topic here: https://bigbangpartnership.co.uk/virtual-facilitation-10-top-challenges-what-to-do-about-them/

If you’re interested in facilitation and developing your professional practice as a facilitator, I’d love you to come and join me in my free, private Facebook Group, Idea Time for Workshop Facilitators.

As well as a fantastic community of likeminded people, you will get access to free facilitation trainings, tools, techniques and time savers.

If you’d like to book us to deliver some professional virtual facilitation for you and your team, or would like a one-to-one virtual facilitation training and coaching session, you can find out more about what we do here, or contact me direct and I’ll get straight back to you.

Hope to hear from you in so that we can chat about all things virtual facilitation! x

Business Bullet-Proofing. Get Clarity, Make Better Business Decisions.

With so many people in business experiencing slow down, cancellations and having to adapt to more remote working, plus others finding brand new business opportunities, I wanted to do something to help and support.

These are unprecedented  times for many of us, I’m sure. But knowing that we have got a flexible plan to get through, make the most of opportunities and emerge stronger on the other side is a massive help.

In this podcast I share how to:

• Take a step back from your business, think about your immediate priorities and get an action plan together for dealing with the challenges and opportunities ahead
• Work out how you can adapt more of what you do to be delivered online – and quickly
• Use any additional time to prioritise and progress some of those things you’ve been meaning to do for ages

If you'd like to download my free resources or join my free online programme to help bullet-proof your business, here is the link to access them.

Easy, Proactive & Free Development for Facilitators

In this solo episode, I share some of the easy, proactive & free things I have been doing to both help me through this lockdown period as a facilitator, as well as to develop my facilitation skills and continue to strengthen my business.

Activities include:

 - Journaling my facilitation experiences, ideas, getting creative and emptying my head

 - Asking for structured, specific feedback on perceptions of my social media brand and image, so that I can build on the positives and spot and work on development opportunities

 - Going out of my way to experiment with new and creative virtual facilitation tools and techniques

For more information and free resources for facilitators, go to my free Content Studio on my website.

Story Techniques for Facilitators

In this episode I explain why and how using story-based techniques can increase the creativity and impact of your workshop facilitation.

I share 10 story-based creative facilitation techniques that you can use in your workshops, too - and if you'd like to download the free resource pack that goes with this episode, please go to my Content Studio here, scroll down to the section called 'Facilitation Toolkits' and grab the Story Techniques for Facilitators toolkit.

Video & podcast tips from a pro - with Gareth Harrison

Join me and Gareth Harrison, professional video and podcast editor, for his 10 top tips on how to create and level up your own videos and podcasts.

Gareth is a freelance video editor based in Leeds, West Yorkshire – with over 15 years experience in post-production, editing content for tv and online commercials, corporate videos, internal communications, live events, charities and social media.

Gareth also has a mobile edit suite, if required, offering the flexibility to work on location or from his own office (when we aren't in lockdown, of course).

Using the current lockdown to create more and better video and podcast media is a great, productive and creative use of time.

Listen in for Gareth's advice on how to  make better videos and podcasts cheaply and effectively, if you're just starting out or want to take your output to the next level.

If you'd like to contact Gareth direct, you can reach him via his website here. 

You can also connect with Gareth on Linkedin.

notes for the Top Ten Tips:

Your Creative Brain - Insights for Facilitators

This episode is all about you and your ideas. An idea is when two thoughts connect. Having an idea is a physical activity. It is chemical and electrical. Sometimes we think we are having a moment of insight that comes from nowhere, but actually our mind and our creative subconscious have been working on it in the background. It is only when it becomes apparent that a connection is made, that the background work surfaces to create an idea.

 I share science-based insights on how ideas happen and give you some practical, fun tips on how you can become even more creative! There’s a great activity for you try – check out my video here, too. And check out my article here for even more info and tips: You and Your Ideas. Learn How to Be More Creative At Work.  

Innovation Culture and Opportunities with Dr. Mo Khan

Dr. Mo Khan is my guest on this special edition podcast on innovation culture and opportunities in challenging times.

Mo is the founder of Enhance Innovation and author of the e-book, The Innovator's Treasure Chest, which you can download for free here.

Mo has had a fantastic career and worked internationally with world-class engineering businesses. We discuss how important innovation is in challenging times, how some businesses don't give their employees the scope and space to innovate, and how collaboration fuels innovation.

If you'd like to find out more and sign up for the free Creative Reset programme for small  to medium-sized businesses that I talk about in the podcast, just click here.

You can see Mo in action on his YouTube Channel

Connect with him at:

Linkedin

Instagram

Twitter

Productivity Hacks for Facilitators

Listen in for my productivity hacks that I have put together specifically for workshop facilitators. 

Save time and energy, so that you can spend the time doing what you do best. Being creative, engaging and facilitating your delegates and getting your target results and impacts from your workshops.

If you'd like to go one step further, you'll also love my free playbook download, Productivity for Innovators, available here. Just scroll down to the Personal Development section at the bottom of the page and you'll find it there.

Dynamic Business in Unprecedented Times - Idea Time with Georgia Duffee

Join me and Georgia Duffee from Benedetto in this special podcast episode to help with planning and strategising in these exceptionally challenging times. 

The episode was recorded at lunchtime on Friday 20th March 2020.

Georgia has participated as a delegate in both my paid and free programmes for business leaders, including one that I'm running right now - Creative Reset -  to support business owners to navigate through these unprecedented times. If you'd like to join my free Creative Reset programme, you'll find more details here.

Georgia is also a member of my free Facebook group - Idea Time for Workshop Facilitators - which she mentions in the podcast. If you'd like to join, here's the link.

She also talks about my free Resilience playbook, which you can download here.

In this episode, Georgia shares the tools and techniques that she has used to shape her business plan for dealing with the current coronavirus situation, plus how she has successfully launched and sold out three online programmes for her different target customer segments.

Georgia would love to hear from you.

To find out all about Georgia's services and programmes, here are the links:

Benedetto Accounts & Tax Website

LinkedIn

Facebook

Instagram

Let me know what you think of the podcast - I'd love to hear from you!

Mindset, Resilience and Change in Challenging Times

In this solo episode I share my thoughts, experiences and tips on how to maintain a resilient, focused and healthy mindset when navigating your business through what is a period of change and uncertainty.

I explore the theme of resilience and why it's important, and show how we can use the change curve to manage our own wellbeing and business decision-making to get better outcomes.

If you'd like to find our more about and join my free Creative Reset programme, you can see all the info and sign up here.

You can also download my free Resilience Playbook from the resources section in my Content Library.