Facilitation Lab
Facilitation Lab Austin
Lead the Room: Facilitation Skills for Impact and Influence
With Douglas Ferguson
In Partnership With Women in Product, Austin
September 24, 2025
5pm - 7pm CDT
Leadership isn’t about titles—it’s about your ability to bring people together, foster collaboration, and drive meaningful outcomes. Join this interactive session to explore how facilitation skills can amplify your influence, whether you’re managing stakeholders, leading team meetings, or navigating challenging group dynamics.
Through real-life examples and participant-driven discussion, we’ll cover topics like:
We’ll also dive into the concept of “connection before content,” uncovering how strong relationships fuel better conversations and outcomes. Designed in a Lean Coffee style, this session allows you to shape the discussion to your needs.
Come ready to connect, learn, and leave with actionable techniques to enhance your leadership presence and create lasting impact—wherever you are in your journey.
Through real-life examples and participant-driven discussion, we’ll cover topics like:
- Engaging quiet teams and energizing meetings
- Turning contentious debates into collaborative breakthroughs
We’ll also dive into the concept of “connection before content,” uncovering how strong relationships fuel better conversations and outcomes. Designed in a Lean Coffee style, this session allows you to shape the discussion to your needs.
Come ready to connect, learn, and leave with actionable techniques to enhance your leadership presence and create lasting impact—wherever you are in your journey.
September 24, 2025
5pm - 7pm CDT
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Featured In The Lab
Discover how to lead with influence, not just titles. In this interactive Lean Coffee session, you’ll learn facilitation techniques to energize teams, turn conflict into collaboration, and build stronger connections that drive real results.
About Facilitation Lab Austin
Facilitation Lab Austin is a monthly in-person meetup for changemakers, collaborative leaders, and facilitators across Austin. 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, Douglas and Erin cultivate a space for experimentation and collaborative leadership development, with a focus on people-powered organizational change.
Facilitation Lab Austin 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
Douglas Ferguson
Douglas Ferguson is an entrepreneur, educator, and human-centered technologist. He is the founder and president of Voltage Control, a facilitation academy that develops leaders through certifications, workshops, and organizational coaching focused on facilitation mastery, innovation, and play. He has helped transform leaders, innovators, and creatives from Nike, U.S. SOCOM, Google, the Air Force, Gap, Tesla, MSU, Church & Dwight, Apple, Adobe, Dropbox, Fidelity, Vrbo, Liberty Mutual, Humana, and SAIC. Douglas is a thought leader and author of four books: Magical Meetings, Beyond the Prototype, How to Remix Anything, and Start Within.
In Partnership With
Women in Product, Austin
Women in Product is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing diversity and inclusion in product management.
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.
