“Skilled facilitation” is integral to many meetings and planning sessions, but what are the necessary components to facilitation and how does one go about utilizing it? Join fellow Service Corps member Annie Paulson, Department Chair and Faculty in the Business Management Department at Edmonds Community College, as we explore this topic.

In this session, we will discuss three different applications of skilled facilitation:

Information Gathering Facilitation: In this role, the facilitator leads focus groups or brainstorming sessions with the goal of learning as much as possible about people’s ideas, feelings, and experiences. The objective is for the facilitator to remain neutral and to encourage participants to dig deeper and come up with rich ideas and thoughts.
Meeting Facilitation: In this role, it is essential for facilitators to ensure that attendees are able to participate, stay on track and on schedule, and ultimately achieve the goals for the meeting. Preparing an agenda is important, as is engaging participants constructively to make sure everyone stays focused and feels emboldened to contribute.
Planning Facilitation: In this role, facilitators employ a variety of facilitation approaches (including the two outlined above) in addition to identifying priorities, resolving conflict, and building consensus.

Session participants will dig deep into each of these three applications and unpack how we, as consultants, can lead group communication to help clients better achieve their goals.

About the presenter:

Annie Paulson is currently Department Chair and Faculty in the Business Management Department at Edmonds Community College. In addition to these duties, she frequently works as an evaluator on grants. Prior to working in education, Annie worked for 15 years in management. She started in database and direct marketing, and moved into operations management in marketing-focused environments.

Annie has an MBA and a PhD in Educational Leadership from the University of Nebraska. 501 Commons allows her to use her experience and strengths to help move nonprofits toward their goals to close opportunity gaps.

About the event:

Please view directions and parking information for Pacific Tower.
For additional questions about the event, contact Gillian Cook at gillian@501commons.org.

Learn to Serve: Strategies for Skilled Facilitation