Episode 146: Workshop Design in the Moment (and from your back pocket) with Meg Bolger
I spend TOO many time designing workshops, making sure every activity, every piece of content is fit for purpose!
Wouldn't it be great if planning a workshop was as easy as shuffling some cards around?
Today's guest thought so, too!
In this conversation, we talk about how Meg found her feet in facilitation, how she became clever at structuring her facilitation activities and process, and how she can pretty much, create a workshop from thin air, using a cool tactical tool - her deck of Facilitator Cards.
We also explore the role of facilitator: How we can often wear many hats, and how it’s important to differentiate between educator, trainer, process facilitator.
Close to the end of the conversation, Mel also shares a really cool metaphorical question she asks participants in her virtual sessions, so stick around for that!
About our guest: Meg Bolger
Meg Bolger is a facilitator working to create a more beautiful and just world. She's the co-developer of Facilitator Cards, a deck of 60 processing tools for facilitators. Meg is also the co-author of Unlocking the Magic of Facilitation and the co-creator of The Safe Zone Project, a free online resource for creating powerful, effective LGBTQ+ awareness and training workshops.
Meg lives in Tacoma, WA with her partner where she can be making overly elaborate food, going on long walks, and badly playing guitar.
Learn more about Meg's current work at Facilitator.Cards and all of her projects at MegBolger.com.
In this episode you will learn:
Process of developing facilitation skills
Designing your workshop using facilitator cards
Preparing for a facilitation event through mind mapping
How to deal with a facilitation topic with which you have strong opinion about
Learning from mistakes as a facilitator
Questions Leanne asked Meg during the interview:
Did you always want to be a facilitator? How did you discover the work?
How did you build your own facilitation skills?
How did your book come to be?
Why do you think using something tangible like cards is such a useful idea? And what’s on your card that really inspires conversation?
How do you prepare for a big facilitation event?
Have you ever facilitated a workshop where you have a very strong opinion which makes the role of facilitator / remaining unbiased, difficult?
What advice would you give a first time facilitator?
Resources mentioned
Visit Meg Bolger website
Quotes from the episode:
“I’m learning by making mistakes in front of people.”
What you think you think are goals on paper as learning outcomes, are not good enough to develop facilitation from.”
Watch the video!
About your host: Leanne Hughes
Leanne Hughes is an international facilitator, speaker and coach who loves creating unpredictable workshop experiences, that predictably work.
She combines her experience in Marketing, with her education in Human Resources and Psychology, to help leaders create engaging everyday experiences - that are so contagious they scale across teams, functions and regions.
Leanne has facilitated leadership, onboarding and team-development workshops across Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Singapore and believes in a strengths-centred approach to learning and development. She has over 13 years’ of experience across a range of industries including mining, government and tourism sectors.
She’s the host of the First Time Facilitator podcast and was a finalist in the 2018 Australian Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year.
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The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
