Show notes
Episode 2 of the Resist + Renew podcast, where we get our nerd on with an overview of facilitation, and why it's important.
'There is no such thing as no design, just bad design. The same is true with facilitation' - Sami
Show notes, links
Other facilitation collectives:
* Seeds for Change
* Navigate
* Tripod
* Rhizome
* Organising for Change
* London Roots
Some facilitation resources:
* Facilitation tools hand out
* Online facilitation tips (R+R mutual aid session video)
* Doing virtual trainings: top tips; a sample online meeting agenda
* For the nerds who really want detail: a 50 page online facilitation guide; a 40 page general facilitation guide.
Transcript
Kat: This is Resist + Renew. A UK-based podcast about social movements.
Sami: What we're fighting for, why, and how it all happens.
Ali: The hosts of the show are:
Kat: Me Kat,
Sami: Me, Sami,
Ali: and me, Ali,
Sami: I'm recording this now baby
Ali: Shit it's a podcast.
*Laughter*
Sami: So welcome everybody to the toolbox. This is a podcast where we geek out about different tools in our facilitator toolbox, where they are, when they're useful, and their limitations. But today, for this first one, we are going to do something a little bit different. This chat may be slightly longer than the normal toolbox episodes, because we're not just going to talk about one specific tool, but we're going to talk about facilitation in general. Because this is a podcast about facilitation tools, so probably/ makes sense to start with what is facilitation? So who's going to start? Facilitation? What is it?
Ali: I can start us off. So I guess the first point is facilitation, mostly just about making it easy for a group to do whatever it's set out to do. Facilitation, if you like, etymology comes from the French word “facile”, which is like to make easy. So it's basically just like, a group has an idea of like, what it wants to do. And we're facilitators, like, sets out about making that possible. That's step number one.
What else is it?
Kat: I guess it's also about making space for participation, and thinking about what are the kinds of things we can do that ensure everybody who is in the meeting or in the workshop or in the group can participate as much as they want to. And so in order to do that, we want to think about a few different things. So taking some time at the beginning and throughout the meeting, to build trust, to make people feel safe enough that they can share what they need to share. And so this could include things like doing a go round, where we find out a little bit about each other. So we might share our name, our pronoun, maybe where we've travelled from, maybe how we're feeling that day, maybe something that's happened in our week. I've also been in meetings where people have been asked to share things about like the history of their name.
'There is no such thing as no design, just bad design. The same is true with facilitation' - Sami
Show notes, links
Other facilitation collectives:
* Seeds for Change
* Navigate
* Tripod
* Rhizome
* Organising for Change
* London Roots
Some facilitation resources:
* Facilitation tools hand out
* Online facilitation tips (R+R mutual aid session video)
* Doing virtual trainings: top tips; a sample online meeting agenda
* For the nerds who really want detail: a 50 page online facilitation guide; a 40 page general facilitation guide.
Transcript
Kat: This is Resist + Renew. A UK-based podcast about social movements.
Sami: What we're fighting for, why, and how it all happens.
Ali: The hosts of the show are:
Kat: Me Kat,
Sami: Me, Sami,
Ali: and me, Ali,
Sami: I'm recording this now baby
Ali: Shit it's a podcast.
*Laughter*
Sami: So welcome everybody to the toolbox. This is a podcast where we geek out about different tools in our facilitator toolbox, where they are, when they're useful, and their limitations. But today, for this first one, we are going to do something a little bit different. This chat may be slightly longer than the normal toolbox episodes, because we're not just going to talk about one specific tool, but we're going to talk about facilitation in general. Because this is a podcast about facilitation tools, so probably/ makes sense to start with what is facilitation? So who's going to start? Facilitation? What is it?
Ali: I can start us off. So I guess the first point is facilitation, mostly just about making it easy for a group to do whatever it's set out to do. Facilitation, if you like, etymology comes from the French word “facile”, which is like to make easy. So it's basically just like, a group has an idea of like, what it wants to do. And we're facilitators, like, sets out about making that possible. That's step number one.
What else is it?
Kat: I guess it's also about making space for participation, and thinking about what are the kinds of things we can do that ensure everybody who is in the meeting or in the workshop or in the group can participate as much as they want to. And so in order to do that, we want to think about a few different things. So taking some time at the beginning and throughout the meeting, to build trust, to make people feel safe enough that they can share what they need to share. And so this could include things like doing a go round, where we find out a little bit about each other. So we might share our name, our pronoun, maybe where we've travelled from, maybe how we're feeling that day, maybe something that's happened in our week. I've also been in meetings where people have been asked to share things about like the history of their name.
