Advanced Facilitation Training
- When? Next date: 22 May 2025
- Where? Online
- Places available from just £199 per person
- Book online now or, book bespoke
A challenging day that looks deeply at group dynamics and the role you play as a facilitator both online & face-to-face. This course helps facilitators deal with power, conflict & big personalities!
"'Excellent day...realistic tools to deal with real, every-day situations' "
Stefania Battistelli (Save the Children)
A unique day of interactive and participatory learning to build your confidence as a facilitator or workshop leader.
In this training, you’ll be challenged, engaged, and hopefully excited while experiencing the power of deep facilitation. While this is a day of learning, it is also time for you to think about your work and share your experiences. You’ll be asked to analyse difficult situations and come up with your own solutions!
You will also develop your skills and attitudes as a facilitator in working with diverse groups and using participatory processes whether online or face to face. We’ll look at what it means to be in the mindset of a facilitator rather than to just ‘do facilitation’.
The day will include:
- What it means to be a facilitator
- Online vs face-to-face group work
- How to support groups to recognise and work with their power dynamics
- Understand and deal with ‘problem’ behaviour
- Cultivate empathy and the appreciation of differences
- How to frame a group’s needs
- Using questions effectively to draw out the experience of a group
- Using non-hierarchal processes
What this course isn’t…
What this course doesn’t cover is the more practical ‘tools & techniques’ for running meetings, workshops, etc. If that’s what you’re looking for then please see our other ‘Facilitation Training’ course.
"Enjoyable and interactive event with lots of opportunities to reflect"
Tonyeh Vincent (NHS)
Who is this course for?
The event will benefit anyone working with groups of people in the role of facilitator/workshop leader both online & face-to-face. Although it does help to have some facilitation experience to draw upon, the day will also help the novice wanting to start out with a deep grounding in group dynamics.
Subsidised places are available if you are unwaged. Please contact us for more information.
"‘Very useful & insightful’"
Mary Church (Friends of the Earth Scotland)
Course resources
- Advanced Facilitation Presentation Slides Download
- Facilitating difficult behaviour Download
- Roadmap for Consensus Download
- Facilitating group agreements Download
- Tree Bressen External link
- Craig Freshley External link
- Avoid Collective Incompetence External link
- Barriers to Collaboration External link
- Positions, interests and needs External link
- Uncovering latent consensus using PIN External link
- Break the Rules: How Ground Rules Can Hurt Us External link
- Consensus Decision Making External link
Meet the trainer
Maria Franchi
Maria has worked as a community development worker and as a consultant to NGOs, public bodies, co-operatives and activist groups specialising in change-making through non-hierarchical, inclusive, liberatory and participatory approaches for the last 30 years. Maria also has over 25 years of experience as a facilitator and trainer in facilitation, conflict resolution and community development. She is a practitioner of various participatory and conflict resolution approaches including Participatory Learning Appraisal and Reflect-Action. Maria is completing a PhD looking at the specific relational impacts of a universal basic income alongside community organising, in particular the impacts on collective agency of women in the communities.
Maria has worked with campaigning and activist organisations, pioneers in housing and intentional communities, urban communities and with a range of small, medium and large organisations to enable facilitation, participation and collaborative leadership to support people in meeting their needs and goals. Maria uses a range of experiential tools and methods to bring clarity and consensus to live issues.
She is a member of the international Association of Facilitators, Rhizome Cooperative- a coop specialising in conflict resolution, consensus building and facilitation of contentious issues and ICA:UK.
Maria has a Bed (Hons), Masters in Sociology focused on ‘Political Activism and New Social Movements'. She is currently studying at UBI and participatory methods for her PhD.
Book your place today
Places are available on these public courses. You can book your place immediately with a secure payment by credit or debit card. Alternatively, we can send you an invoice.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch before booking.
22 May 2025 - 10:00am to 3:00pm • Zoom webinar, Online
10 July 2025 - 10:00am to 3:00pm • Zoom webinar, Online
9 October 2025 - 10:00am to 3:00pm • Zoom webinar, Online
Any questions? Want to know more?
We’re always happy to answer any questions about our course. Drop us a line on training@talkaction.org or call us on 0203 488 7010.