Facilitation Lab
Facilitation Lab Tokyo
Practice Playground:
With Felipe Pontes , Brett Huestis, and Tomoka Asahi
In Partnership With Nisshin Global Corporation and Impact HUB Tokyo
September 5, 2025
7pm - 8:30pm JST
Meguro-ku Tokyo, Japan
1F Insatsu-kojo, 2-11-3 Meguro (東京都目黒区目黒２丁目１１−３ 印刷工場 １階)
Meguro-ku Tokyo, Japan 1530063
Meguro-ku Tokyo, Japan 1530063
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.
September 5, 2025
7pm - 8:30pm JST
Meguro-ku Tokyo, Japan
1F Insatsu-kojo, 2-11-3 Meguro (東京都目黒区目黒２丁目１１−３ 印刷工場 １階)
Meguro-ku Tokyo, Japan 1530063
Meguro-ku Tokyo, Japan 1530063
Interested in a private cohort for your team?
Let us know
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Featured In The Lab
We’ll be practicing Paper Tigers. This hands-on group exercise uses the metaphor of tigers (real risks), paper tigers (imagined threats), and elephants (unspoken issues) to help teams surface and classify potential pitfalls in a project before they begin. Originating from a “Pre-Mortem” approach, the method invites participants to reflect on what could go wrong and co-create strategies for risk mitigation.
About Facilitation Lab Tokyo
Facilitation Lab Tokyo is a monthly in-person meetup for changemakers, collaborative leaders, and facilitators across Tokyo. 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 Lead, Filipe cultivates a space for experimentation and collaborative leadership development, with a focus on people-powered organizational change.
Facilitation Lab Tokyo 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
Felipe Pontes
Felipe is a service designer and design team manager at a global IT consultancy in Japan. With 15 years of experience across three continents, he helps Japanese clients drive digital transformation through design thinking, service design, and design sprints.
Originally a journalist and co-author of Brazil’s first design thinking bestseller, he’s led seminars at top Japanese universities and built a team that delivers AI-powered platforms and standout customer experiences.
He’s worked with agencies in Brazil, Germany, and Japan on user research and workshops, and is always excited to meet fellow passionate colleagues.
Originally a journalist and co-author of Brazil’s first design thinking bestseller, he’s led seminars at top Japanese universities and built a team that delivers AI-powered platforms and standout customer experiences.
He’s worked with agencies in Brazil, Germany, and Japan on user research and workshops, and is always excited to meet fellow passionate colleagues.
Brett Huestis
Brett is a facilitator at Nisshin Global Corporation in Tokyo, where he helps teams strengthen collaboration and spark innovation through inclusive workshops and participatory meeting design. His work focuses on guiding teams toward collaborative leadership styles and making the best use of their diverse members. Originally from Canada, Brett taught in Japan’s public schools before shifting to workplace facilitation and consulting. With experience across North America, Europe, and Japan, he brings a global perspective to cross-cultural collaboration. A Voltage Control Certified Facilitator, he designs sessions that turn ideas into action and make teamwork both effective and energizing.
Tomoka Asahi
Tomoka is a senior service designer at a Finland-based design and tech consultancy in Japan. With 18 years of experience at global IT consultancies and brand agencies, she helps businesses transform by connecting leadership vision with on-the-ground execution through product and service experience design.
She specializes in working with executives to visualize long-term goals and align priorities, enabling clear decision-making. Over the years, she has guided organizations through workshops that turn abstract strategies into tangible actions and results. She has facilitated sessions for industry leaders and frontline teams alike, creating structures and an open atmosphere where everyone can share ideas and insights. She is passionate about helping organizations move forward by making collaboration both effective and inclusive.
She specializes in working with executives to visualize long-term goals and align priorities, enabling clear decision-making. Over the years, she has guided organizations through workshops that turn abstract strategies into tangible actions and results. She has facilitated sessions for industry leaders and frontline teams alike, creating structures and an open atmosphere where everyone can share ideas and insights. She is passionate about helping organizations move forward by making collaboration both effective and inclusive.
In Partnership With
Nisshin Global Corporation
Helps foreign and bilingual candidates find jobs in Japan and assists Japanese businesses with international expansion.
Impact HUB Tokyo
HUB Tokyo is part of the Impact HUB Global network, a global community of entrepreneurs seeking to create social impact. Since opening in 2013, they have provided a community co-working space for a diverse range of entrepreneurship, working styles, industries and cultures, bringing together many entrepreneurs and start-ups, freelancers, artists, intrapreneurs and NPO leaders from Japan and abroad, and continues to foster collaboration between its members. From 2022, it became an incubation center accredited by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and offers entrepreneurial support. In 2023, it launched a café, “Communita Cafe”, which is not only open to the community but allows locals, neighbors, entrepreneurs and freelancers to come together.
社会にインパクトを生み出そうとする起業家たちの世界的なコミュニティ「Impact HUB」ネットワークの一員。2013年開設以来、多様な起業、働き方、業種、文化が集まるコミュニティ・コワーキング「Impact HUB Tokyo」を提供し、国内外から多くの起業家やスタートアップ、フリーランサー、アーティスト、企業内起業家、NPOリーダーなどが集まり、メンバー間のコラボレーションを生み出し続けています。2022年より東京都認定インキュベーション施設となり、2023年には地域に開かれたデリカフェ「Communita Cafe」をオープンし、より多くの地域の起業家やフリーランサーが集まる場所となっています。
社会にインパクトを生み出そうとする起業家たちの世界的なコミュニティ「Impact HUB」ネットワークの一員。2013年開設以来、多様な起業、働き方、業種、文化が集まるコミュニティ・コワーキング「Impact HUB Tokyo」を提供し、国内外から多くの起業家やスタートアップ、フリーランサー、アーティスト、企業内起業家、NPOリーダーなどが集まり、メンバー間のコラボレーションを生み出し続けています。2022年より東京都認定インキュベーション施設となり、2023年には地域に開かれたデリカフェ「Communita Cafe」をオープンし、より多くの地域の起業家やフリーランサーが集まる場所となっています。
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.
