Planning Your First Facilitation Session
Knowing Your Guest(s)
If you are facilitating a conversation with a panel or guest, it is important that you properly prepare for the conversation. Even if you already feel you are deeply familiar with your guests, you will be meeting them at a particular moment in time during this session. It is important to know your guest’s area of expertise as well as any relevant current events that may pertain to your guests.
Worksheet
Knowing Your Audience
Now that you have familiarized yourself with your guests through the mindset of a facilitator and thought about your own curiosity and alignment with your guest, let’s think through how we will tailor that to the audience. Audience composition can completely change the path of an interview. While the relationship and conversation between you and your guest is the product, the audience is the consumer. The conversation will need to be both one you are authentically interested in, and one that captures the interest of your audience. Shifting to think through the perspective of your audience will open up new questions and conversations that would have otherwise been missing from the conversation.
Worksheet
When facilitating a panel or a one-on-one interview, it is important to remember that this conversation is one that can only happen between you and your guest(s) in that moment. Your personal perspective and relationship to the guests is the heart of the conversation. By thoughtfully reflecting on who will be listening to the conversation and tailoring your messaging and questions to their interests, you have a conversation that leaves a lasting connection.