Facilitator Training for Making Meetings Work and Consensus That Works

Two live 2-hour weekly video conference sessions
Tuesdays, April 9 and 16, 2024, 10-12 PT/1-3 ET

Learn and practice skills and strategies for helping groups implement the Consensus That Works or Making Meetings Work systems. This course is a deep dive that examines the details of these related processes to enable you to incorporate it into your own facilitation style and practice. Recommended for experienced facilitators or for participants in our Consensus That Works or Making Meetings Work courses who want to advance their facilitation skills.

On the foundation of the principles that underlie both Consensus That Works and Making Meetings Work, we explore and practice:
• Relying on decision-making structures and meeting formats.
• Setting and keeping agendas, managing time and driving action between meetings.
• Using meeting roles to engage participants, build leadership capacity and make groups more self-governing—and which roles you should not live without.
• Crafting and working through proposals to propel decision-making.
• Focusing on concerns, mediating concerns through dialogue and achieving decisions.
• Tying the decision-making process and outcomes to the shared purposes of the group and clarifying that purpose when needed.
• Working with time constraints, knowing when an issue needs more deliberation, and rolling topics over to future agendas.
• Asking questions that are simple, generative and constructive.
• Eliciting creative participation, stimulating dialogue and moving the group toward decisions.
• Supporting and leveraging both conflict and cooperation.
• Using the process to prevent manipulation and hijacking.
• Troubleshooting and addressing common problems.

This training covers highly structured techniques, guidelines and specific formats for managing large-group meetings, as well as less-structured, adaptable approaches for smaller groups, and how to choose the techniques and roles that fit.

WHO IS THIS FOR?
Group process and meeting facilitators • Extension & community development professionals • Cooperatives • Transition communities • State and local government agencies and task forces • Arts and cultural organizations • Place-based & conservation organizations • Community leaders • Religious organizations • Teachers and youth program leaders • Neighborhood associations • Startups • Team and working group leaders from community-based organizations to government task forces • Mediators • Founders, designers and creators of new work forms


COURSE INSTRUCTORS
Howard Terry took a deep dive into consensus decision-making 30 years ago, as a women's economic development nonprofit adopted the formal consensus decision-making process. Howard has deeply explored the fundamentals of Consensus That Works, working with government agencies, companies, nonprofit boards, cooperatives, incubators, and community economic development organizations.

Michele Archie's experience with formal consensus began when a start-up community nonprofit she was part of adopted it as their decision-making model. Michele has trained organization members, boards and facilitators in a variety of democratic discussion and decision-making processes for more than 25 years.

FEES & DETAILS
Registration includes up to 30 minutes of one-on-one coaching after the course wraps up.

$475 regular course fee/$400 early registration discount through November 30, 2023.

Group rates for two or more participants from the same organization or community — $400 per person regular group rate/$350 early registration discount.

Register for Consensus That Works or Making Meetings Work + in-depth facilitator training—$675 for both courses/$595 early registration or $595 group rate/$545 early registration

Register for all three related courses, Consensus That Works + Making Meetings Work + Facilitator Training for $980 for both courses/$850 early registration

If you or someone you would like to include needs a full and partial scholarship, please inquire. We will make every effort to make sure anyone who is interested can learn this process.

Register for this facilitator training with either Consensus That Works or Making Meetings Work for a combined discount — $675 for both courses/$595 early registration or $595 group rate/$545 early registration.

Location

This is a virtual training. See the event website for more details.

Trail Core Competencies

• Project Preparation
• • Stakeholder Engagement

• Program Administration and Leadership
• • Communications
• • Education and Public Outreach
• • Partnership and Collaboration

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