Facilitation Lab
Facilitation Lab Detroit
Practice: Click by Jake Knapp
With Catherine Licavoli and Nathan Hughes
In Partnership With Miro and Detroit Labs
May 14, 2025
5pm - 7pm EDT
Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, this is your safe playground to push boundaries, explore new methods, and level up your facilitation skills!
At Facilitation Lab Detroit, facilitators and collaborative leaders come together to experiment, refine, and grow through real-time practice and role-play – because we believe that learning by doing is the best way to develop our facilitation muscle!
We use a tried and tested role play format called Practice Playground, which is a dynamic, hands-on process to help us sharpen our skills in a low-stakes and interactive way.
This is a rare chance to practice in a truly safe and supportive environment, where we can test new techniques, experiment, take risks, and get valuable, constructive feedback from peers.
We’ll be practicing the [ Differentiators exercise from the Foundation Sprint and New Book Sprint ]. It helps you to: use proven facilitation methods in the Innovation space like Note-and-Vote, define bold, meaningful differentiators that resonate with your target customers—going beyond “faster” or “cheaper” to craft a value proposition that’s radically better. Expect clarity, alignment, and actionable insights you can take back to your product strategy team immediately.
This is fast-paced, hands-on 2-hour session focused on the Differentiators phase of the Foundation Sprint—which has been leveraged by top brands leading in their segments. It is designed for startups, innovation labs, product and marketing teams at the start of a major initiative. In this workshop, we’ll guide you through practical frameworks to identify what truly sets your solution apart from the competition.
Make the most of your session
Come prepared to role-play and facilitate a new facilitation method or something you’ve been working on. We’ve found attendees who step up benefit the most because they receive tailored feedback, and leave with real growth and confidence.
At Facilitation Lab Detroit, facilitators and collaborative leaders come together to experiment, refine, and grow through real-time practice and role-play – because we believe that learning by doing is the best way to develop our facilitation muscle!
We use a tried and tested role play format called Practice Playground, which is a dynamic, hands-on process to help us sharpen our skills in a low-stakes and interactive way.
This is a rare chance to practice in a truly safe and supportive environment, where we can test new techniques, experiment, take risks, and get valuable, constructive feedback from peers.
We’ll be practicing the [ Differentiators exercise from the Foundation Sprint and New Book Sprint ]. It helps you to: use proven facilitation methods in the Innovation space like Note-and-Vote, define bold, meaningful differentiators that resonate with your target customers—going beyond “faster” or “cheaper” to craft a value proposition that’s radically better. Expect clarity, alignment, and actionable insights you can take back to your product strategy team immediately.
This is fast-paced, hands-on 2-hour session focused on the Differentiators phase of the Foundation Sprint—which has been leveraged by top brands leading in their segments. It is designed for startups, innovation labs, product and marketing teams at the start of a major initiative. In this workshop, we’ll guide you through practical frameworks to identify what truly sets your solution apart from the competition.
Make the most of your session
Come prepared to role-play and facilitate a new facilitation method or something you’ve been working on. We’ve found attendees who step up benefit the most because they receive tailored feedback, and leave with real growth and confidence.
May 14, 2025
5pm - 7pm EDT
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About Facilitation Lab Detroit
Facilitation Lab Detroit is a monthly in-person meetup for changemakers, collaborative leaders, and facilitators across Detroit. 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, Cat and Nate cultivate a space for experimentation and collaborative leadership development, with a focus on people-powered organizational change.
Facilitation Lab Detroit 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
Catherine Licavoli
Catherine Licavoli is a seasoned innovation strategist, facilitator, and product leader with a unique cross-section of experience in product design, enterprise transformation, and human-centered innovation. Formerly with AJ&Smart, she helped scale world-class facilitation programs and supported hundreds of professionals in mastering design thinking and workshop leadership. At Ford Motor Company, Cat led experience strategy across enterprise data products, unifying 80+ digital solutions into a scalable platform vision—earning recognition for driving clarity, collaboration, and alignment at scale. As a former SaaS product manager, she built onboarding ecosystems and training strategies that accelerated adoption and improved cross-functional outcomes for Ford’s vehicle shopping experience. Cat blends systems thinking, facilitation mastery, and strategic storytelling to guide teams from ambiguity to breakthrough.
Nathan Hughes
Nathan Hughes is the co-founder of Detroit Labs and a certified coach with 25+ years in tech. He leads culture, strategy, and operations while empowering teams through agile practices, facilitation, and organizational design. Known for building innovative digital products and high-performing teams, Nathan is a passionate mentor, speaker, and advocate for people-first innovation.
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.
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.