You're a Large Group Facilitator. How can you improve your communication skills?

Having clarity on your purpose when engaging in facilitation and creating an experience for learning is paramount. Keeping all kinds of different learners engaged is no small feat. However when you are connected to your WHY and what you are intending for the session, it will be a big support to you in the moment. For example, my purpose and intention when facilitating is connection and providing the space for insights to occur. I know we only really learn when we can internalize something and relate to it, preferably, straight away. Otherwise you risk being a talking head. I share my intention with every group and invite them to challenge me by asking questions even if it feels slightly off script. Our purpose is key.

You can really challenge your facilitation skills when you research and anticipate your audience. This allows the foresight to adjust and adapt learning theory and approaches to the participants. If you have participants from varying skill sets and or experience levels, you can group the participants in ways that will assist the subject matter being received. It may make sense to put same together. Alternatively, it can often create a powerful learning experience when mixing it up. Allowing yourself to be very intentional with how you create the environment for group is the best way to maximize learning, and success! Hence knowing who your participants will be is a key part of preparation.

Knowing your method can help. A lot of individuals especially when it's a big group think that you need a great power point or an interesting topic but if you can engage the audience and have them lead the conversation and let them hear from their peers they will strat to feel more bought into what you are presenting and it can lead to dialogue outside of the presentation. The key is to have your conversation be impactful enough that they will want to keep on talking about it with their friends and family.

When possible, find opportunities to co-facilitate. Working as a team, you can offer a greater range of style, approach, and knowledge. When one of you is actively facilitating, the other can observe, providing more insight into what's happening with the group. You are also then able to provide just-in-time feedback to one another, creating a dynamic learning experience for the two of you and a lively and on-point experience for the group.

Be willing to keep learning and the experience of the participants be your highest priority. I love facilitating learning and growth. Its so inspiring to see people have light bulbs go off and also see themselves in new ways. That is the greatest compliment as the leader, and also in knowing they are more likely to do something with what they learned. Learning objectives are essential. However if you are so rigid to a script or a designated path you risk not just the learning experience that day, but future ones too. When people join trainings they are hopefully learning something new. They are also taking away an opinion of spending time in trainings. If they are not powerful experiences, it will impact their future desire. Think about it.