How do you evaluate large group facilitation without common pitfalls?

1 Define your criteria

Before you facilitate a large group, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you will measure it. This will help you design your facilitation process, select your methods and tools, and communicate your expectations to the group. Your criteria should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, you might want to increase the group's understanding of a topic, generate creative ideas, or reach a consensus on a decision.

2 Collect feedback

One of the most effective ways to evaluate your large group facilitation is to ask for feedback from the participants. You can use different methods, such as surveys, polls, interviews, focus groups, or observation, depending on your goals and resources. You should ask for feedback both during and after the facilitation, to monitor the group's progress, satisfaction, and learning. You should also ask for feedback from yourself, by reflecting on your strengths and weaknesses as a facilitator.

3 Analyze the data

Once you have collected feedback, you need to analyze it to identify the patterns, trends, and insights that can help you improve your large group facilitation. You can use quantitative or qualitative methods, or a combination of both, depending on the type and amount of data you have. You should look for both positive and negative aspects of your facilitation, such as what worked well, what didn't work well, what surprised you, what challenged you, and what you learned.

4 Avoid biases

When you evaluate your large group facilitation, you need to be aware of the potential biases that can affect your judgment and interpretation of the data. Some of the common biases are confirmation bias, self-serving bias, halo effect, and groupthink. To avoid these biases, you should seek multiple perspectives, be open to feedback, question your assumptions, and compare your results with other sources of information.

5 Implement changes

The final step of evaluating your large group facilitation is to implement the changes that you have identified based on the data and feedback. You should prioritize the most important and urgent areas of improvement, and plan how you will address them in your next facilitation. You should also celebrate your successes and acknowledge your achievements, and share your learnings with others who can benefit from them.

6 Keep learning

Evaluating your large group facilitation is not a one-time event, but a continuous process of learning and improvement. You should always seek new opportunities to facilitate large groups, experiment with different methods and tools, and learn from other facilitators. You should also review your criteria and feedback regularly, and adapt them to the changing needs and expectations of the groups you work with.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?