Facilitation Lab
Facilitation Lab Chicago
Practice Playground
With Olga Frias-Basta and Ariel Goldfarb
In Partnership With Miro and Highland Digital
February 25, 2025
5:30pm - 7:30pm CST
Practice Playground is a dynamic space dedicated to facilitators seeking to refine and enhance their skills in a hands-on, interactive practice environment.
At Facilitation Lab Chicago, facilitators come together to explore, experiment, and evolve their craft. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to the field, this lab offers an unparalleled opportunity to practice in real-time, receive constructive feedback, and learn from peers through role-play.
Come prepared to practice various facilitation techniques, from traditional methods to cutting-edge approaches. This environment is designed to be safe, supportive, and conducive to growth, allowing you to try new strategies, fine-tune your skills, and gain confidence in your facilitation abilities.
The goal of Facilitation Lab Chicagoland! Is to foster a vibrant community where facilitators can connect, explore, and share experiences; all about facilitation. Facilitation Lab Chicagoland brings together people from diverse backgrounds and levels of facilitation experience. This space is dedicated to nurturing meaningful exchanges and fostering deep connections among community members and new visitors alike. Whether you are a seasoned expert or just beginning your facilitation journey, Facilitation Lab Chicagoland offers an inclusive environment to engage with peers, exchange ideas, and build professional networks.
Snacks and drinks will be provided. Please RSVP.
At Facilitation Lab Chicago, facilitators come together to explore, experiment, and evolve their craft. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to the field, this lab offers an unparalleled opportunity to practice in real-time, receive constructive feedback, and learn from peers through role-play.
Come prepared to practice various facilitation techniques, from traditional methods to cutting-edge approaches. This environment is designed to be safe, supportive, and conducive to growth, allowing you to try new strategies, fine-tune your skills, and gain confidence in your facilitation abilities.
The goal of Facilitation Lab Chicagoland! Is to foster a vibrant community where facilitators can connect, explore, and share experiences; all about facilitation. Facilitation Lab Chicagoland brings together people from diverse backgrounds and levels of facilitation experience. This space is dedicated to nurturing meaningful exchanges and fostering deep connections among community members and new visitors alike. Whether you are a seasoned expert or just beginning your facilitation journey, Facilitation Lab Chicagoland offers an inclusive environment to engage with peers, exchange ideas, and build professional networks.
Snacks and drinks will be provided. Please RSVP.
February 25, 2025
5:30pm - 7:30pm CST
Interested in a private cohort for your team?
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About Facilitation Lab Chicago
Facilitation Lab Chicago is a monthly in-person meetup focused on helping facilitators & collaborative leaders connect with peers in a supportive and inspiring facilitation playground.
We gather to experience and explore all aspects of facilitation, including Liberating Structures, Game Storming, Thinking Wrong, MG Taylor, Improv, and much more.
At each meeting, we rotate topics and approaches, from highlighting practitioners sharing tips and tricks to open facilitation practice where you get hands-on with new tools and concepts.
In addition to Facilitation Lab Chicago hosted by Olga and Ariel. Voltage Control hosts Facilitation Lab HQ, and there are other meetups around the globe hosted by Facilitation Lab regional leads. See the region list for a full list of all active meetups.
Join the Facilitation Lab Community Hub to connect asynchronously with the facilitation community and get reminders of all upcoming events.
Agenda
Welcome, connect and network
Appreciative Interviews
Personal Areas of Practice (Solo)
Select Focus Practice Areas (Whole Group)
Breakouts w/ Role-play/Wise Crowds
Breakout Debriefs
Whole Group Debriefs
Reflect & Close
Who Should Attend
Experienced & New Facilitators
Who want to level up their facilitation skills and enhance their ability to effectively engage participants
Chiefs of Staff
Who want to align initiatives across departments and ensure strategic projects are implemented successfully
Product & Project Managers
Who want to steer stakeholders to the best outcomes and learn best practices in stakeholder management
Teachers & Trainers
Who want to design the most impactful learning and create engaging learning experiences
Key Takeaways
Gain hands-on experience with a spectrum of facilitation techniques, from classic to cutting-edge.
Receive immediate, constructive feedback in a nurturing environment to refine your facilitation skills.
Explore the depths of your existing facilitation knowledge and boost your confidence through low-stakes practice sessions.
Realize the potential to learn from anyone, appreciating the value of diverse experiences and perspectives.
Featured Facilitators
Olga Frias-Basta
Full time Scrum Master/Facilitator at Trane Technologies where she leads two teams within their Digital Organization through all of their Agile practices, coaching best practices along the way and finding better ways to communicate complicated scenarios across development teams. I love the opportunity to practice new techniques, like Liberating Structures and Improv, that have been made possible through Voltage Controls Facilitation Labs. My goal is to bring those opportunities to practice and explore new techniques in person through a live community of practice.
With over 25 years of software development experience, and aware of how easily unintentional silos can inhibit delivering value quickly, I relish the opportunity to explore and experiment with different techniques for communicating ideas, information, and ensuring every voice gets heard.
When not donning my Super Scrum Master cape I enjoy riding long distances on my bicycle (I don’t go fast but I go pretty far), playing my mountain dulcimer (and pretending to sing), and playing complex board games (still trying to master Wingspan, figuring out Alhambra, and hooked on Crew and all iterations of Azul).
With over 25 years of software development experience, and aware of how easily unintentional silos can inhibit delivering value quickly, I relish the opportunity to explore and experiment with different techniques for communicating ideas, information, and ensuring every voice gets heard.
When not donning my Super Scrum Master cape I enjoy riding long distances on my bicycle (I don’t go fast but I go pretty far), playing my mountain dulcimer (and pretending to sing), and playing complex board games (still trying to master Wingspan, figuring out Alhambra, and hooked on Crew and all iterations of Azul).
Ariel Goldfarb
Ariel is managing partner of Concentric Growth Partners, which develops collaborative innovation and intelligence programs for corporate and institutional clients. He has 20 years of experience in research, marketing and strategy, both in the U.S. and overseas.
Ariel guest lectures on the role of customers and brand on innovation at the Segal Design Institute at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering. Previously, he was on the faculty of Northwestern University’s Medill School for 12 years, where he taught Brand Equity Management in Chicago, San Francisco and London. He is a recipient of the 2010 Faculty Teaching Award, holds a Bachelors degree from U.C. Berkeley, and a Masters degree in Integrated Marketing and Communications from Northwestern University.
Ariel lives in Evanston. His afflictions are slow cycling, espresso in all its forms, and baking pizza and sourdough. His interest in facilitation and joining VC Facilitation Lab is to explore and unlock the power of collaboration to do things better and do better things.
Ariel guest lectures on the role of customers and brand on innovation at the Segal Design Institute at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering. Previously, he was on the faculty of Northwestern University’s Medill School for 12 years, where he taught Brand Equity Management in Chicago, San Francisco and London. He is a recipient of the 2010 Faculty Teaching Award, holds a Bachelors degree from U.C. Berkeley, and a Masters degree in Integrated Marketing and Communications from Northwestern University.
Ariel lives in Evanston. His afflictions are slow cycling, espresso in all its forms, and baking pizza and sourdough. His interest in facilitation and joining VC Facilitation Lab is to explore and unlock the power of collaboration to do things better and do better things.
In Partnership With
Miro
Miro is an online workspace for innovation that is visually reminiscent to whiteboards we have in meeting rooms. All the tools are located on the left side of the screen. And it allows you to add various content from texts to images, create maps and diagrams, and work with visual templates together with a team.
Highland Digital
We partner with you, and your team to define your technology roadmap and deliver exceptional digital capabilities for your business.
What People are Saying
"The community’s warmth and generosity in tending to me and the issue made me feel cared for and supported. Beyond the suggestions, which were immediately useful, the culture of the community makes leaning into that growth edge easier, and more delightful."
Katrina Mitchell
Senior Technical Advisor, JHPiego
“I just wanted to say thanks for the great session last night. Your feedback and suggestions were fantastic. I left very energized!"
Dan Corbin
Instructor at Pragmatic Institute
Photo Disclaimer
Please note that photographs, video & audio recordings will be taken throughout this event. These will be used by Voltage Control for marketing and publicity in our publications, on our website and in social media, or in any third party publication. Please contact our events manager if you have any concerns or if you wish to be exempted from this activity.
