Facilitation Training Online Workshops
Innovative facilitation training online to help you design and facilitate for engagement, learning, & innovation remotely or onsite
Programs Included with Purchase
Original Price: $438
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Facilitation Training Online Workshops
Do you do presentations, speeches, lead meetings, workshops, teach a class or design training for others? Do you want to innovate how you do this for better results? Do you want to do this in a way that is less stressful, more effective, and easier for you and more engaging and learning filled for your audience?
When I began my career I wanted to be a "motivational speaker." I wanted to inspire audiences and help them to learn and develop their own leadership skills. I even went so far as completing a Ph.D. program from the #1 ranked educational leadership department in the US so I could learn as much as I could about how to design programs to help people become better leaders.
I was surprised to find that research on effective learning didn’t match what I was doing with a focus on speaking. The research showed that when people just listened to a speaker, little learning happened much less remembering what the speaker said. Here I was telling my audience things I’d read in other people’s books while they could just read these books themselves! I used text heavy Power Point slides and bullet pointed ideas I’d read in other’s books! Even while I was discovering that people learned and developed their skills when engaged in real activities, having communication and reflection with others, and working on real projects for real purposes…I wasn’t doing these things myself when I was in front of an audience. I was still stuck in the old lecture style “sit and get” way of thinking!
As I began in-depth research for my dissertation, I interviewed stakeholders of some of the most high-impact leadership development programs in the US. From over 60 learning leaders, I heard firsthand the types of program activities and experiences that most impacted their leadership development and lives. It wasn’t the "sit down and shut up" lectures they heard but the activities, the projects, the relationships, the reflective experiences that most positively affected them.
Then I finally understood and took action. Now I knew that I had to change how I did my own speaking events, workshops, classes, and meetings because I’d heard it face to face from so many people. I needed to shift from lecturing to facilitation. It was a little uncomfortable for me to cut out so many of my great tips and instead, have my participants connect with each other to do activities that I would design and facilitate.
This was a big change to how I operated in the past. Change can be a little scary...even if it benefits you and others! However, after getting into it, I discovered that I really enjoyed the design of meetings, keynotes, workshops, classes, and activities more than I enjoyed scripting speeches and trying to get all the right text on each Power Point slide. I (and my audience) preferred the improvisational nature of facilitation more than trying to remember the exact words to say and saying them to the group. Most importantly the “fear of public speaking” anxiety went away with this new and innovative way because the focus wasn't on "public speaking" anymore...it was engaging your audience in activities using simple facilitator tools and techniques.
This was my first big major shift in my career with how I help people to learn, develop, and get the motivation and mindset to take action. It took me some time to change but I’m glad I did. What made the shift possible was learning simple tools, techniques, and activities I could easily design my sessions around and facilitate. I would like to train you on these methods! I've put together my favorite tools, techniques, and activities for you in this short program. You don't need to do a 7 year Ph.D. program like I did...just get started by learning the most important insights and the practical tools and activities you can use now in just a couple of hours.
Training a team or ready to go deeper?
Want this for your team, school, or organization? We offer group and university licenses, plus live facilitator training onsite or online, ranging from 1 day to 5 days. Want every course in the school? Get the Site-Wide Membership. If you want coaching from me to design and launch your own workshop, take a look at Innovative Workshop Design & Facilitation Coaching. For the full facilitator program, which includes two coaching sessions, see Train the Trainer: Innovation & Design Thinking Facilitator Program. Questions? Email me at darin@innovationcourses.org.
Your Instructor
Darin Eich, Ph.D. designs and facilitates innovation workshops and design thinking training for organizations, universities, and leadership teams. He is the founder of InnovationTraining.org and has designed programs for 100+ organizations. He also leads facilitation training and gives interactive keynotes where audiences take part instead of just listening. He is the author of The Design Thinking Mindset, Innovation Step-by-Step, and Root Down & Branch Out.
Darin's passion involves helping people to become themselves, find and live their strengths, and become more creative, innovative and successful leaders. He also helps institutions develop leadership programs and retreats, and he shares new tools and ideas through Innovation Learning.
A variety of organizations listed below have utilized Darin's innovative facilitation, consulting, keynotes & workshops, and leadership development programs for training and innovation. Our programs and expertise have also been featured in various media publications.
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Facilitation Training Online Workshops
What do people learn from the training workshops on facilitation tools and techniques? Read some of the reflections and comments we've received to learn what people found helpful and are taking action on in the sessions they lead.
"I tried to incorporate a lot of tools from this workshop. I am posting after my discussion so that I can reflect on how these tools worked. I used the idea of making name tags and it really broke the ice and got the members of the group to start talking. Each of the modules had several interesting ideas. I tried to focus on communicating with the group using all three methods of communication and to make the conversation engaging. Working with groups effectively is a huge part of leadership."
"The workshop was effective to me because I learned some useful strategies that I never knew existed. I am usually good in a public speaking and presentation setting so the details I was unfamiliar with will be effective in my approach. I am giving a workshop presentation on Conflict Resolution later this month and the format used such as the pyramid and the axes for the concern for task are actually already in my presentation slides. One of my fears for giving the presentation WAS that I would be too focused on the content and the detail and this workshop has given me some inspiration as to how I can make the workshop more interactive and less of a lecture. I was thinking about using skits and role playing in my workshop but now I AM using skits and role playing. By making the group interest higher with these methods I am already more confident by the reaffirmation that I have received about the techniques suggested by the workshop."
"I really enjoyed the different methods to get everyone involved, like think-pair-share and around-the-horn, that the online workshop presented to me. The Cone of Learning showed how to effectively present topics that people will remember for extended periods of time, and the last module stressed the importance in getting people up and moving, which relates back to the Cone. The Cone shows that people tend to remember ninety percent of what they say and do, so I will keep that in mind and really try to get people actively involved when I present my workshop. I also liked the idea of using strategies of multiple intelligence when presenting to reach all of the different kinds of learners. The Situational Leadership Theory chart was also helpful in that it visually depicts how to create a high impact group—how you must be both task and people oriented to create an atmosphere where the group does succeed and impact the world around it."
"This video was the perfect lesson on how to engage your group and generate discussion. I love the idea of creating a comfortable setting, developing relationships between group members, and driving the task and focus of the presentation home. The point of using experiential learning was very important to me, as I am an enthusiast of improvisational and team building activities which enable the group to learn a lesson through working together. I was happy to find that many of the ideas you had shared were ones I have been successful using while presenting. I look forward to using all the new techniques I have learned today as well. Thank you very much for empowering myself and others as facilitators!!"
"These modules were incredibly helpful as I prepare to facilitate my own solo session soon. Even elements of presentations as simple as introductions were broken down into theories, which taught me a surprising amount. It was interesting to put into perspective just how much impact tweaking one portion of a presentation can have on the audience. One part I found particularly useful was the piece in Module 1 about the different types of learners. As presenters we typically forget that everyone learns in different ways and at different speeds, so this was helpful in showing how to facilitate so that everyone can retain as much of the information as possible."
"These mini videos were extremely helpful. My main take away from these workshops was that good workshops have a variety of techniques to get the audience and lecture-er to interact. As I am preparing to have my own roundtable discussion I have gone back to make sure I did not use only one facilitation technique, but many to make sure the audience is engaged the entire time. I am not fully confident in my presenting skills but this definitely makes me feel more confident in the options I have to present."
"Group presentations have a tendency to be very boring if done the wrong way, and by using some of the tools presented in this workshop I can make sure that when I have to present to a group I can get everyone involved and interested. I thought the reverse poll was incredibly interesting because it made sure that everyone is involved in the discussion from the very beginning. By having everyone stand up the reverse-poll is able to create a more laid-back atmosphere because everyone is included, and it also gets rid of the fear that some people may have of being singled out within the presentation."
"This video series set a lot of new light for me on the technical aspect of facilitating a group. For example, I did not think of getting a group to be more comfortable as a series of tools and processes. I thought it was something that just kind of happened. I also did not think about the different learning and styles of people and making different aspects of my presentation have activities to suit everyone’s needs. I really liked the call-on activity to get group members engaged."