How can we create conditions where real learning can take root? Whether you’re leading a workshop, teaching a class, or simply trying to help people engage more meaningfully, this question strikes at the heart of what it means to facilitate […]
Do I trust you? I live in rural Vermont, so if I want to go to an in-person conference that isn’t close to me, I need to get on an airplane. The closest airport to me is a two-hour drive. […]
I love the folks (especially my good friend, Jan-Jaap In der Maur) at Masters In Moderation, a company that has been providing meeting and facilitation services and training in the European Union since 2012. Why? Because their core beliefs about […]
We all need a break sometimes. Since November 2009, I’ve been writing weekly about meeting design, facilitation, and all kinds of other things that have sparked my interest, and I’m taking a break for a couple of weeks. Don’t worry; […]
I’m a proponent of paying it forward. Throughout my professional life, I have been fortunate to receive invaluable advice, support, and encouragement from mentors at critical times. Most importantly, when I hesitantly approached someone I deeply respected and asked them […]
I have a confession to make. Though I’ve written over a thousand blog posts for this website, to be honest, I’m often writing for myself. Writing for oneself is as old as writing itself. Writers have always written privately. Famous […]
The other day, Liz Lathan told me about a version she invented of my core peer conference process The Three Questions. She uses it to solve problems together at Community Factory‘s Spontaneous Think Tanks and Club Ichi, her community for […]
I got my first paid consulting job in 1983, solving IT problems for a lumber yard. I’ve been a consultant ever since. I’m so grateful to the hundreds of clients I’ve served over the last 40+ years. Here are five […]
If you’d told me back in 2009 that by 2024 I’d have written over a thousand blog posts for this website, I’d have told you you were crazy. (I’ve published 827; the rest are drafts, but still.) I’d have thought […]
Through attending decades of Vermont Town Meetings, I learned that effective facilitation requires respect. For over two hundred years, my little hometown of Marlboro, Vermont, met at least once a year for “town meeting”: a form of local government where […]