Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JULY 24, 2013

I enjoy meetings when there has been a lot given to the design and you have expert facilitators in the room because I not only learn about the content, but also learn some new facilitation techniques.

Facilitation 100

Facilitation Technique Map Network 100

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

This is especially important if there are small group exercises. We used sticky notes and the mandala template. David modeled a full group discussion to gather up all the ideas – using a template that used the basic flows of facilitation – attention, energy, information, and operations.

Facilitation 109

Facilitation Technique Template Skills 109

Kindful

MARCH 11, 2021

Have you ever sat through a board retreat and spent more time watching the clock, daydreaming, and checking texts than listening to the facilitator? Did your last facilitator stand behind a lectern and drone on like a record playing in slow motion? Facilitate and engage with confidence. Were they unengaging? Credibility.

Facilitation 98

Facilitation Fun Exercise PowerPoint 98

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

Workplace flexibility creates a need for better skills in facilitating virtual meetings and hybrid meetings where some participants are in the room and others participate are using audio-only or video conferencing platform. That’s why I’ve added a new workshop on running and facilitating effective virtual meetings.

Facilitation 112

Facilitation Virtual Effective Practice 112

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JULY 25, 2017

Recently, a colleague asked me a wonderful question: How did you learn to become a good facilitator and trainer? Evaluate your content, facilitation, and logistical skills against participant evaluations. Evaluate your content, facilitation, and logistical skills against participant evaluations. Here’s what I learned.

Participatory 79

Participatory Facilitation Technique Exercise 79

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

Last week I facilitated the “ Impact Leadership Track ” at the NTEN Leading Change Summit with John Kenyon, Elissa Perry, and Londell Jackson. Here’s what I learned: Facilitation Teams. Often, facilitation teams are brought together by an event host. Photo by Trav Williams. Do you have a preferred method?

Reflection 127

Reflection NTEN Change Facilitation 127

Nonprofit Tech for Good

OCTOBER 30, 2021

When performing a facilitated discovery in advance of a tech change, unknowns are surfaced, assumptions are validated, refined or debunked, and obstacles to adoption and long-term viability are removed. Discoveries are essentially risk mitigation exercises, and they should be a separate contract from the build phase whenever possible.

Project 269

Project Tech Nonprofit Phase 269

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JULY 31, 2017

This post shares a useful exercise for your digital team to reflect on what not to do for your digital strategy! Strategy as We-Care: An Exercise – guest post by Miriam Brosseau, Director of Engagement, See3 Communications. Organizational self-care needs a strategy, as we all learned in “ The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit.”

Exercise 68

Exercise Strategy Storytelling Story 68

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

FEBRUARY 15, 2007

The online facilitation list recently had a thread about choosing wikis. So, I went poking around the wiki and I discovered this wonderful exercise she created to get people comfortable. I'm also reminded of Andy Robert's wiki on wiki facilitation. Origina l photo CC by license in Flickr User Start Cooking.

Wiki 50

Wiki Exercise Remix Flickr 50

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

OCTOBER 27, 2014

Last week I was lucky enough to facilitate a mini-innovation lab for 60 community foundation program officers at the first meeting of ProNet during the Council on Foundations conference in Cleveland, Ohio that celebrated 100 years of community philanthropy. The best ideas would be given small discretionary giving grants to test out the idea.

Foundation 104

Foundation Community Design Work 104

.orgSource

OCTOBER 17, 2023

Launch the Conversation Sometimes an outside facilitator can move the group forward more quickly. Discussions about best practices, strategic planning sessions, or board development exercises can launch conversations about how and when to evaluate the board’s performance. This exercise takes a little practice.

Evaluation 193

Evaluation Director Government Leadership 193

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

FEBRUARY 11, 2014

As a trainer and facilitator who works with nonprofit organizations and staffers, you have to be obsessed with learning theory to design and deliver effective instruction, have productive meetings, or embark on your own self-directed learning path. It is a more structured body break and incorporates more in-depth debrief on content.

Learning 139

Learning Learning Theory Brain Nonprofit 139

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

FEBRUARY 18, 2014

I’m co-facilitating a session on Nonprofit Training Design and Delivery with colleagues John Kenyon, Andrea Berry, and Cindy Leonard at the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference on Friday March 14th at 10:30 am! I also ask for feedback on what exercises or content in the workshop helped learning and what should be changed.

Evaluation 131

Evaluation Training Train Tips 131

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MAY 17, 2011

Present a concept for 15 minutes, break people into small groups with a particular exercise to apply the material, and then come back as a full group for a report out. Here’s some reflections: 1.) Small Group Composition: How you select people to put into small groups may or may not be important to a small group exercise.

Design 109

Design Effective Experiment Learning 109

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

APRIL 8, 2020

See the small group exercises timing charts in this document ). If participants are working through an exercise or set of discussion questions, create a google document with your prompts and include space for taking notes. 1-2-4-All: This facilitation process comes from Liberating Structures. Small Group Activities.

Exercise 177

Exercise Reflection Consultant Discussion 177

.orgSource

MAY 1, 2023

Identify staffers who can be your IT ambassadors and fill these significant roles: Strategists Strategists are the visionaries, facilitators, and problem-solvers who inspire curiosity throughout the organization. Strategists are visionaries, facilitators, and problem-solvers. Start Small Start with small, manageable projects.

Collaboration 44

Collaboration Digital Organization Build 44

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

NOVEMBER 4, 2014

I always incorporate an icebreaker, a short exercise that lets people introduce themselves and tap into existing knowledge. Last week, Janice from Exponent Philanthropy and I led a conference session called Facilitation: Tools of the Trade. Group selfie ice breakers in our facilitation meeting! Icebreakers Can Be Fun!

Fun 131

Fun Training Train Facilitation 131

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MAY 15, 2012

Here’s a few facilitation techniques that I learned from documenting the session. The second exercise was done in small groups and a report the whole group answering the questions, “What are your hopes and fears for the program?” I facilitated a session that introduced networks, networking, and the Networked NGO.

Rwanda 116

Rwanda Social Media Leadership Training 116

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JANUARY 5, 2012

The instructor’s role should be to facilitate this understanding for their students, not dump content on them. This gave me an excuse to look at different types of peer learning exercises and facilitation techniques. Allan Gunn from Aspiration and his legendary facilitation skills and knowledge.

Learning 119

Learning Experiment Create Technique 119

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

APRIL 1, 2020

1: Get Enough Sleep, Nutrition, and Exercise. Focus on these three activities: sleep, nutrition and exercise to help strengthen your immune system and feel better. The blessing of shelter in place is that you can still exercise by walking, jogging, or running as long as keep your distance from other people.

Tips 171

Tips Nonprofit Exercise News 171

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MARCH 24, 2020

Since those days, I have continued to hone my virtual facilitation skills to design and deliver effective virtual meetings and trainings. This post is #2 in a series I’ll be publishing on virtual meeting facilitation. The first post was an overview of 9 virtual facilitation tips. Or the last photo in their phone.

Virtual 132

Virtual Facilitation Exercise Training 132

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JANUARY 23, 2014

Graduate Students at MIIS Class Doing Group Exercise in Flexible Classroom Space. The instructional design included different delivery methods: interactive lecture with slides and whiteboard, facilitation with sticky notes, small group exercises, posters, group discussion, self-directed activities, and self-directed online activities.

Training 126

Training Train Design Classroom 126

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

” I attended a fantastic workshop facilitated by Michelle Gislason , Senior Project Director, CompassPoint, called “ How to Fail Spectacularly (and What You Can Learn from It) ” Here’s a few key takeaways and resources. The exercise is based on failfare.

Exercise 128

Exercise Facilitation NGO Project 128

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

APRIL 27, 2012

It marked the start of a six month peer learning exchange where I, along with colleague Stephanie Rudat will work remotely with grantees as they implement an action learning project to put techniques into practice and facilitate organizational change from the inside out. There is also an self-assessment exercise.

Pakistan 113

Pakistan NGO Network Exercise 113

.orgSource

MARCH 11, 2024

There are role-playing exercises, and the final activity is a cultural fit session. Using Suzanne Bell’s example, it can be helpful to consider both the technical and psychosocial roles that will facilitate the work. Our interview process is rigorous.

Team 221

Team Build Skills Culture 221

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

OCTOBER 24, 2014

Earlier this month, I had an opportunity to facilitate a full-day innovation lab for an amazing group of network thinkers using human design methods to inform the design of a leadership network. It has been exactly a year since I have committed to practicing the methods from Luma Institute as part of improving my facilitation practice.

Professional 102

Professional Network Learning Map 102

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

OCTOBER 7, 2019

We will be doing early morning sessions to engage participants in some mindful moment and movement exercises. I’m going to share different techniques for weaving mindful moment and exercises into your workday. You can practice these exercises alone or with your team. I also use them a lot when I doing full-day trainings.

Tips 107

Tips Work Exercise Personal 107

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MARCH 30, 2012

It was also an opportunity for me to co-facilitate with in-country team, meet the NGOs and hear their stories first-hand, and learn a lot about modeling and adapting interactive training techniques for different cultures. 1. Facilitating Tri-Lingual Events: Not Lost in Translation. Group Photo with Certificates.

Morocco 102

Morocco Conference Reflection Tunisia 102

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MAY 26, 2015

I also wanted to experiment with translating some facilitation techniques I use for face-to-face meetings (like sticky note facilitation ) to virtual meetings. In a face-to-face training, I might do an exercise with sticky notes where I get participants to write down answers to a question or two related to the content on sticky notes.

Facilitation 50

Facilitation Virtual Arts Participatory 50

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

DECEMBER 31, 2013

International Training Work: Most of my work is designing and delivering capacity building projects for nonprofits literally all over the world. This past year I had the honor of facilitating an intense training in Tunisia in January for Women Entrepreneurs that included leadership, entrepreneurship, business planning, and communications.

Tunisia 127

Tunisia Facilitation Foundation Technique 127

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MARCH 9, 2011

Illustration by Jonny Goldstein who will provide live graphic facilitation of this highly interactive and fun panel. Jonny Goldstein will be our graphic facilitator and capture the conversation – these images will be shared on Twitter with NGOs around the world. Here’s what will happen: 1.)

Discussion 117

Discussion Free Network Global 117

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

I’ve just returned from an inspiring week in Kiev, Ukraine where I got to facilitate a training for women’s organizations organized by Wake , an amazing start up founded by two respected colleagues Trish Tierney and Heather Ramsey. You have to think of your interpreters as extensions of your facilitation techniques.

Facilitation 50

Facilitation Training Train International 50

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JUNE 10, 2014

I gave a keynote about the Human Side of Data for Good and facilitated a mini-innovation lab to brainstorm creative ideas around the challenge of communicating about the value of shared data and becoming the community knowledge center for shared data for donors, nonprofits, and other stakeholders. Data Facilitation'

Reflection 114

Reflection Conference Learning Homeless 114

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

OCTOBER 28, 2013

Last week was a busy week, after keynoting the Nonprofit Solutions Conference in Kansas City , I facilitated a one-day workshop for the Center for Nonprofits on developing and measuring a sustainable integrated social media strategy. The secret is in the structure and design of the small group exercises.

Training 98

Training Train Reflection Design 98

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

The mindmap offers a lot of good suggestions for rituals – from decluttering your workspace to healthy habits like sleep and exercise. 3.) Establish Rituals: Rituals in your work life are valuable. Establish Rituals: Rituals in your work life are valuable.

Content 139

Content Tips Help Exercise 139

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

NOVEMBER 6, 2014

As a trainer and subject matter expert, I fight a big battle when designing a workshop. Balancing the amount of content delivery with exercises and right sizing given the available time for the workshop. This where design thinking methods and innovation lab facilitation techniques can be helpful.

Active 107

Active Activism Activities Integration 107

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

AUGUST 14, 2015

I’ve had the honor of facilitating an online peer learning exchange of Knight Grantees that are hosting Giving Days, applying and iterating on the Giving Day Playbook since 2013. Yesterday, I facilitated the first webinar in a series hosted by the Knight Foundation on taking the practice of Giving Days to the next level.

Facilitation 50

Facilitation Interaction Reflection Design 50