Facilitation Lab
Facilitation Lab RDU
Practice Playground
With Shannon Varcoe, Jordan Bowman , and Annie Hodges Grace
In Partnership With Jbowman.org and The Team Together
August 21, 2025
6pm - 8pm EDT
Bring your real challenges. Leave with new insights, confidence, and skills.
Whether you’re a seasoned facilitator or just getting started, Facilitation Lab is your sandbox for solving real problems with facilitation. This isn’t theory—it’s live, collaborative practice.
Each session follows Practice Playground, a dynamic format where participants take turns facilitating and role-playing through real-world challenges. It’s a low-stakes, high-support space designed to help you grow fast.
Got a workshop you’re designing? A team dynamic you’re navigating? A tricky moment you want to handle better next time? Use the structured activity to explore those challenges, get feedback, and discover what works.
Here’s how to make the most of your session:
The best part? You’ll be learning with others who are passionate about creating better collaboration, just like you.
Whether you’re a seasoned facilitator or just getting started, Facilitation Lab is your sandbox for solving real problems with facilitation. This isn’t theory—it’s live, collaborative practice.
Each session follows Practice Playground, a dynamic format where participants take turns facilitating and role-playing through real-world challenges. It’s a low-stakes, high-support space designed to help you grow fast.
Got a workshop you’re designing? A team dynamic you’re navigating? A tricky moment you want to handle better next time? Use the structured activity to explore those challenges, get feedback, and discover what works.
Here’s how to make the most of your session:
- Come with a real facilitation challenge you’re working through.
- Step into the facilitator role, or play along and offer thoughtful feedback.
- Leave with not just ideas—but actual progress on something that matters.
The best part? You’ll be learning with others who are passionate about creating better collaboration, just like you.
August 21, 2025
6pm - 8pm EDT
- This event has ended
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Featured In The Lab
The month’s activity hasn’t been announced yet—but you can count on an interactive, low-stakes practice session that helps you experiment, learn, and grow as a facilitator.
About Facilitation Lab Raleigh Durham
Facilitation Lab Raleigh-Durham is a monthly in-person meetup for changemakers, collaborative leaders, and facilitators across Raleigh-Durham. Our purpose is to foster learning by doing in a psychologically safe environment, building a strong and supportive community of peers across the region.
As Regional Leads, Jordan, Shannon, and Annie cultivate a space for experimentation and collaborative leadership development, with a focus on people-powered organizational change.
Facilitation Lab Raleigh-Durham is a global network of regions, including other virtual meetups organized by continent and in-person meetups organized by cities. See the region list for a full list of all active meetups.
You can also join us in the Facilitation Lab Community Hub to stay connected with the facilitation community and get reminders of all upcoming events.
Agenda
Opener
An attendee will lead us through an engaging opener
Practice & Role Play
Attendees take turns role-playing as facilitators and participants as we practices different methods
Debrief
After some quiet reflection we’ll debrief the role-play and key learnings
Closer
An attendee will lead us through a purposeful closer
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
Shannon Varcoe
Shannon Varcoe is Co-Founder of The Team Together, where she specializes in creating engaging, hands-on experiences that help teams connect and work better together. With a background in toy and game design, engineering, and program development, Shannon brings a unique perspective to facilitation, blending structure with play. She is passionate about designing activities and tools that make collaboration more dynamic, inclusive, and effective, empowering teams to navigate challenges while enjoying their time together. Shannon is also known for her beautiful slide decks and custom designed MURAL and Miro boards.
Jordan Bowman
Jordan Bowman is the Executive Director of Journeymen, a mentoring organization that cultivates independence, resilience, and emotional maturity in teenage boys. As a community builder, Jordan designs and facilitates experiences that inspire people to connect and collaborate. Through games and creative frameworks, he engages groups in unlocking their collective wisdom together.
Annie Hodges Grace
Annie Hodges Grace is Co-Founder of The Team Together, where she designs thoughtful, human-centered experiences that help teams feel connected and inspired. With a Master’s in Organizational Development & Leadership, Annie has a real magic for reading the energy of a group and creating spaces where trust and collaboration come naturally. She loves supporting teams in uncovering what conversations they need to have and how they can keep growing long after the session ends.
In Partnership With
Jbowman.org
Experience design & group facilitation for groups and teams of all sizes. Keynote speaking for events and conferences. Individualized coaching for social entrepreneurs.
The Team Together
The Team Together is a facilitation and experience design consultancy that specializes in custom meetings, offsites, and retreats designed around each team’s unique needs. We also create engaging training workshops that focus on key leadership and team skills for the future. Whether in-person, virtual, or hybrid, we focus on delivering relevant, actionable, and impactful experiences that help teams connect and work better together.
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.