Facilitation Lab HQ: Practice Playground
Facilitator: Douglas Ferguson
At Practice Playground, 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.
Come prepared to practice a variety of facilitation techniques, from traditional methods to cutting-edge approaches. The 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.
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Facilitation Lab HQ is a virtual 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 HQ hosted by Voltage Control, there are meetups around the globe hosted by Facilitation Lab regional leads. See the region map 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.
Date
January 11, 2024
Time
1pm - 3pm CT​
Location
Live Online
Interested in a private cohort for your team?
What to expect
What to Expect
The event starts with a welcoming session featuring snacks, cocktails, and casual conversations, followed by a dynamic Lightning Networking segment focusing on the role of facilitation in professional practice. We will also highlight the contributions of Voltage Control and the global community. Participants will engage in a Practice Power Hour, exploring various facilitation methods, and conclude with a debrief session for reflections and insights. If you’re still awake, we’ll have a late-night hangout, offering a platform for future event discussions and volunteering.
What You'll Learn
In the Facilitation Lab, you will learn to elevate your skills in facilitation and collaborative leadership. This global community offers a vibrant and dynamic environment where both new and experienced facilitators can grow and develop their craft. You will have the opportunity to explore and learn a variety of practices and techniques that are essential for effective facilitation, ranging from fundamental concepts for beginners to advanced strategies for seasoned practitioners.
How You'll Learn
The learning experience in the Facilitation Lab is designed to be interactive and community-driven. You will learn through weekly virtual meetups that provide a supportive space for facilitators and collaborative leaders to connect and practice their skills. These meetups act as a playground, where you can engage with peers, receive prompts, and participate in hands-on activities.
Agenda
Impromptu Networking
Engage with everyone in the community during a quick round of introductions to network and begin our time together
Guest Facilitator Session
Experience the lead facilitator's activity & method to engage together as a community.
Rose, Thorn, Bud Critique
Share your feedback as a community and offer expressions of tangible takeaways to our lead facilitator.
After Hours
Stay awhile & chat post-session about your experience in the Lab.
Who Should Attend
Experienced & New Facilitators
Who want to level up their facilitation skills and enhance their facilitation tool belt
Chiefs of Staff
Who want to align and support initiatives across departments
Product & Project Managers
Who want to steer stakeholders to the best outcomes
Teachers & Trainers
Who want to design the most impactful learning
Key Takeaways
Discover what withholds are getting in the way of your life, career, and intimacy
Learn how to transform a Raw Withhold into a Skilled Withhold
Get a peek into the most advanced conscious communication skills training available
Practice a facilitation skill to have a room of crickets speak up
This event has ended
Interested in hearing when this workshop will occur next?
Douglas Ferguson
Prior to Voltage Control, Douglas held CTO positions at numerous Austin startups, where he led product and engineering teams using agile, lean, and human-centered design principles. While CTO at Twyla, Douglas worked directly with Google Ventures running Design Sprints, and now brings this experience and process to companies everywhere.
Douglas is currently active in the Austin startup community, where he serves on the board of several non-profits, mentors startups, and advises early-stage ventures.
Douglas is a thought leader and often writes and talks about facilitation, leadership, collaboration, innovation, culture, meetings, and Design Sprints. He is also the author of four books: Magical Meetings, Beyond the Prototype, How to Remix Anything, and Start Within, He has been published in Forbes, Fast Company, Innovation Leader, and is a regular contributor to The Future Shapers. He publishes a weekly podcast called Facilitation Lab.
When not facilitating or coaching facilitators, you might find Douglas patching up his Modular Synth, boxing, doing pilates, and taking photographs. He graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Douglas is a thought leader and master facilitator of Design Sprints, Innovation Acceleration, Team Alignment, Meeting Systems, Culture Transitions, and Change Transformations. He is also the author of four books: Magical Meetings, Beyond the Prototype, How to Remix Anything, and Start Within, He has been published in Forbes, Fast Company, Innovation Leader, and is a regular contributor to The Future Shapers. He publishes a weekly podcast called Control the Room.
When not facilitating or coaching facilitators you might find Douglas patching up his Modular Synth, boxing, doing pilates, and taking photographs. He graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
What People Are Saying
"I always enjoy the opportunity to network with other facilitators in the Facilitation Lab. I've gained so much knowledge from other attendees' insights & experiences each and every week in our community."
Anonymous
Facilitation Lab Attendee
Apply for a Diversity Scholarship
A key part of our mission is to support diverse facilitators from different methodologies, backgrounds, races, genders, sexual orientations, cultures, and ages. If you are a part of, or serve, a traditionally underrepresented group and feel that this scholarship would allow you to amplify this mission, please apply now.
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 us via email if you have any concerns or if you wish to be exempted from this activity.​
The Books
Bring Your Ideas to Life
Innovation can seem complex or reserved for the exceptional. But we believe innovation is for everyone. We’ve set out to illuminate a path for you to generate bold ideas, visualize and share them, overcome obstacles, and turn them into reality. Our books are equal parts guidebook and stories from years of experience helping companies adopt an innovation mindset and culture. They’re practical & actionable, so you can get started now. We hope they’ll help you on your journey to realizing your biggest, boldest ideas.
