Facilitating Meetings/Conducting Focus Groups

Are you disappointed with the level of participation in your organization's important meetings? Embarking on creating a strategic plan for the future of your organization and need to hold focus groups with stakeholders? Your position of authority can inadvertently send signals to the group that limit participation and close down creative thinking. Not to mention you are already crazy busy. You need help. It takes special skills to facilitate these kinds of discussions. To achieve free flowing, quality participation, it’s essential that you use an outside facilitator. Someone who is neutral about the subject and not part of your organization.

A Facilitator is responsible for the process and structure used to successfully run the meeting or focus group, providing guidance and helping the organization achieve its goals.

This service helps plan, develop and deliver an effective process that gets results.

What Does a Meeting Facilitator Do?

• Keeps the discussion on track

• Focuses participants on the issue

• Prevents anyone from monopolizing the discussion

• Ensures that all voices and opinions are heard

• Encourages the whole group to think creatively

• Helps the group to take ownership

• Increases commitment to take action

In addition to facilitating the meeting(s), I also:

• Develop key topics and questions for discussion

• Establish meeting norms

• Create an agenda with timing

• Design a visual discussion guide in PowerPoint

• Record the discussion and responses during the meeting

• Write a short summary report

Audience: Committees, organizations (profit and non-profit) - anyone who needs a neutral person to help plan and facilitate important group conversations that help in making decisions.