Virtual Facilitation

Virtual Facilitation

by Henrik Horn Andersen, Iben Nelson, Kare Ronex
Released February 2021
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119765318

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

The covid-19 crisis accelerated virtual collaboration exponentially, creating an instant need for virtual facilitation skills. People and organizations have started on this journey, but do not yet have the experience and competencies to use this medium for effective and energetic collaboration.

Virtual Facilitation will show you how to have successful virtual events, virtual meetings, virtual workshops and training. Packed full of tips, insights and real case studies, the author's practical approach to virtual facilitation will show you how to effectively learn the skills needed to suceed. This book will also cover:

  • The role of the facilitator, and what is expected
  • The design of the process
  • How to avoid common mistakes
  • Implementation and influencing behaviour

Virtual Facilitation will show you how to plan for virtual events, how to develop skills to be able to host virtual meetings, virtual courses, virtual training, virtual workshops, and virtual larger events to meet 21st century needs.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Foreword
  5. Introduction
    1. What is virtual facilitation?
    2. Putting the human back into the digital world
    3. Sharing the ‘How’
    4. A blend of expertise
    5. Diving into the digital world
    6. Use our online platform to get materials and the newest inspiration
    7. Create a personal training program for you as a virtual facilitator
  6. I: The Core of Virtual Facilitation
    1. 1 An Introduction to Facilitating Sessions
      1. What is a good virtual meeting?
      2. Virtual interactions always need a facilitator
      3. What happens when there is no facilitator?
      4. What does your meeting culture look like?
      5. Why have meetings?
      6. The difference between a meeting, a workshop and training
      7. The Five Levels of Involvement
      8. Put your session into context
      9. Start working on your virtual sessions
    2. 2 Going Virtual with Your Session
      1. We forget the essentials
      2. How do people behave in virtual meetings?
      3. Similarities between physical and virtual meetings
      4. How are virtual meetings different?
      5. Understanding the advantages of virtual facilitation
      6. The four barriers in virtual meetings
      7. The international retail store
      8. The medium-sized company
      9. Build capabilities for virtual collaboration
      10. Applying virtual meetings to different situations
      11. Note
    3. 3 The Virtual Facilitator
      1. Developing the skills for virtual facilitation
      2. Key traits of good virtual facilitators
      3. How to separate the roles and responsibilities
      4. Knowing your ‘dances’ in virtual facilitation
      5. Self-assessment: How skilled are you as a virtual facilitator?
    4. 4 The Tech Setup (General)
      1. Removing the entry barrier
      2. Top tips for introducing new technology
      3. Which platform(s) (software) to use?
      4. How to choose a video conference platform
      5. Why use a virtual whiteboard platform?
      6. How to evaluate virtual whiteboard providers
      7. Why use virtual polling tools?
      8. How to evaluate polling tools
      9. Advice for using virtual polling tools
      10. Suggested setups for a facilitator's hardware
      11. Think about your background
      12. Your setup as a participant
      13. Setting participants' expectations
    5. 5 Wrapping Up the Before Part
  7. II: Before – Designing for Effect
    1. 6 Designing Virtual Meetings and Workshops with Engagement and Effect
      1. The Design Star
      2. The five Ps of the Design Star
      3. How long does planning take?
      4. The five Ps are interdependent
      5. Aim for effect
      6. What happens if you don't plan?
      7. Note
    2. 7 Purpose
      1. Define your purpose
      2. Don't assume everyone knows the purpose
      3. How specific do you need to be?
      4. Define the success criteria for your session
      5. Define your sub-purpose
      6. Refining many purposes into one
    3. 8 Participants
      1. Who should participate?
      2. Contribution vs attendance
      3. Less is more
      4. Know who will be in the virtual space
      5. Understanding your participants
    4. 9 Platform
      1. Selecting a platform
      2. Top tip: Use what you have and can already use
      3. Questions to help you select the right platform
      4. Always stipulate one person per device
      5. Don't forget the physical
    5. 10 Process
      1. Why mindset is important
      2. How can you create the right mindset?
      3. What kind of session serves my purpose?
      4. Set your corner flags
      5. Where are you in the decision house?
      6. Examples of different processes
      7. Examples of processes to encourage engagement
      8. Design your process, then your slides
      9. Design the before phase and follow-up too
    6. 11 Partners
      1. What parts does the facilitator play?
      2. Do other people need to change parts?
      3. Do you need experts?
      4. Do you need breakout room facilitators?
      5. Invisible partners
      6. How long does each part last?
    7. 12 Planning the Session
      1. Using the Design Star in practice
      2. Creating your agenda and playbook
      3. Creating your playbook
      4. How much time should you spend planning?
      5. The importance of a clear playbook
      6. Do you always need a playbook?
      7. Factor in time zones
    8. 13 Wrapping Up the Before Part
  8. III: During – Running a Good Virtual Meeting
    1. 14 Be On Top
      1. Be on top of the process
      2. Be ahead as well as on top
      3. Revisit your playbook during the session
      4. Do you need a second facilitator?
      5. What if you can't have a co-facilitator?
      6. Be on top of tech
      7. Be on top of content
      8. How to be on top of time
    2. 15 Engage the Participants
      1. Know the attention span
      2. Make your session relevant
      3. The importance of effective questions
      4. Tell people when they can ask questions
      5. How to encourage your participants to open up
      6. How to deal with ad-hoc questions
      7. How to engage your participants in exercises during the session
      8. Using micro-involvements
    3. 16 Manage the Energy
      1. Reframe your mindset about what energy feels like
      2. How to sense the energy in a session
      3. Adjust the energy to match the session
      4. Creating the right energy from the start
      5. Using music in sessions
      6. Think about your appearance
      7. Be strategic, yet authentic
      8. Use humour to own the energy
      9. The importance of breaks
      10. Using energisers
      11. Note
    4. 17 Create Clarity
      1. Create a shared idea of how you will work together
      2. Use the agenda actively during the session
      3. Be clear with your instructions
      4. Remind people of the instructions
      5. Be clear about how you take decisions and what they look like
    5. 18 Connect the Dots
      1. Answer the ‘Why?’ question (a lot!)
      2. End sessions on a high
      3. Note
    6. 19 Wrapping Up the During Part
  9. IV: After – Start Implementing
    1. 20 Feedback and Evaluation
      1. How to gather feedback and evaluation
      2. How to get the most from feedback
      3. Giving feedback to the participants
      4. How to share feedback with others
      5. Note
    2. 21 Follow Up
      1. Design for follow-up
      2. What does a good follow-up look like?
      3. When to follow up
      4. Don't forget about the benefits of smaller touchpoints
    3. 22 Wrapping Up of Part IV
  10. V: Deep Dives Into Specific Virtual Formats
    1. 23 Virtual (Recurring) Meetings
      1. Before a recurring meeting
      2. During a recurring meeting
    2. 24 Hybrid Meetings
      1. Before a hybrid meeting
      2. During the hybrid meeting
    3. 25 Virtual Workshops
      1. Benefits of virtual workshops
      2. Before a virtual workshop
      3. During a virtual workshop
      4. After a virtual workshop
      5. Things to be aware of
    4. 26 Virtual Training
      1. Before a virtual training session
      2. During a virtual training session
      3. After a virtual training session
      4. What has the greatest effect on the transfer of training?
      5. Notes
    5. 27 Virtual Large-Scale Events
      1. Before a virtual large-scale event
      2. During a virtual large-scale event
      3. After a virtual large-scale event
    6. 28 The Final Word
      1. We can all learn something new
      2. Start small – continue to build your skills
  11. About the Authors
    1. About Implement
  12. Acknowledgements
  13. Index
  14. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Virtual Facilitation
  • Author(s): Henrik Horn Andersen, Iben Nelson, Kare Ronex
  • Release date: February 2021
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119765318