Facilitation Finesse

Advance your leadership skills and guide your group with ease and confidence – no matter what happens.

4-week cohort-based training on Zoom

Effective facilitation is no longer a specialized skill for subject matter experts. It is a high-demand leadership skill that is now expected from anyone who leads groups or teams. Regardless of your role, whether you’re a manager, organizational leader, coach, consultant, or educator – you can greatly benefit from professional development in facilitation.

About FACILITATION FINESSE

Most of us are facilitating alone in an echo chamber, without anyone to help us grow. The fastest way to develop yourself as a facilitator is to gain the right tools, practice in real-time, and get feedback from peers you can trust.

By the end of this course, you’ll understand your personal facilitation strengths, and have the mindsets and tools to own your presence and feel confident you can handle anything that comes up in the room with clarity and grace.

The training is guided by our proprietary framework The 5 Steps to Great Facilitation. You will step into your growth edges and expand your range so you will be able to meet the needs of the room and respond effortlessly in the moment.

This course is ideal for facilitators with 1-10 years of experience, who self-assess between advanced-beginner to advanced-intermediate levels of practice. You already have some felt experience in front of the room—now is the time to practice your skills in a safe environment to learn, experiment, grow, and become a next-level facilitator.

Our Clients

I’ve found very few (valuable) resources for facilitators to deeply learn their craft and have opportunities to practice. Facilitation Finesse gives language to the magic that facilitators strive to create and offers a roadmap to continue growing your practice. A must take course for anyone who leads gatherings or experiences for others.

–

Lisa Rogoff, Founder, Launch Project

Great investment! I believe it was the right mix of the theoretical with the practical. Really enjoyed how the course consistently modeled the right mix of engagement for virtual facilitation. Thank you for creating a great learning environment!

–

Shawnette Rochelle, President, Excellence Unbounded

I’d heard a lot about this course and had been looking forward to it for months. All I can say is it did not disappoint! I loved every moment, every interaction and activity. An experience that will change the way I work!

–

Lian Passmore, Engagement and Wellbeing Manager, Northpower

This training has transformed our organization’s online experiences. She provided important frameworks to improve our planning of both virtual team meetings and external events and concrete tools that we could implement right away. Our team feels measurably more confident and adept in leading online gatherings – with audience feedback to prove it.

–

Tali Shmulov, COO, itrek

Jenny’s secret sauce is that she not only tells you (quite clearly) how to engage and connect an audience, but also shows you. It’s an all-in experience that’s never boring.

–

Susan Masson, Program Manager, Office of Talent and Innovation, The University of Texas System

After completing the Facilitation Finesse training series, our trainers applied their newly-learned skills and strategies to their sessions and the end-result in terms of learner engagement and experience far surpassed our expectations. This training works!

–

Sasha Esmailian, Learning + Development Specialist, AppsFlyer

We were thrilled with Facilitation Finesse. The participants raved about this experience saying the information was relevant, the coaching was on point, and the time flew by (not easy with 3-hour Zooms!).

–

Jill Cowan, Assistant Director, Leadership Lab Experience

Registration IncludeS

8 hours of live training + 15 minutes of bonus Q+A with our expert facilitators at the end of each session.
Opportunities to facilitate in small groups with feedback from your peers.
Pre-recorded videos that introduce the main frameworks of our approach to human-centered facilitation.
Certificate of Completion signifying 8 hours of facilitation training (given to those who complete all parts of the program live).

Handouts and worksheets for personalized reflection and integration.
Slide deck PDFs to review and reinforce the course content.
Connection with a leading facilitator community to build your network.
Curated Spotify Playlist that can be used as your own event soundtrack.

We’ll be announcing the dates for the next cohort later this Fall!
Sign up here to be notified when the new cohort launches and receive a special discount.

Who Is This Training For?

This course is ideal for people who have 1-10 years of experience in facilitation and want a supportive space to develop their skill set in a trusted cohort of peers. This training is great for folks who are doing this work full-time, who don’t have “facilitator” in their job title but frequently lead groups like team managers and group coaches or as a great brush-up for leaders with more experience who want to refine their craft and be immersed in a community of practice.

Internal Program Leaders

Looking to up-level the delivery of your company meetings, trainings and off-sites.

Coaches + Consultants

Looking to add more confidence and range to the way you lead sessions for your clients.

Entrepreneurs + Founders

Looking to engage your audience with proven facilitation principles and practices.

Educators

Looking for new tools to engage your students and staff.

What you’ll get out of this course

Learn the 5 Steps to Great Facilitation
You will step into your growth edges and expand your range so you will be able to meet the needs of the room and respond effortlessly in the moment.
Live practice and feedback
Each session includes core facilitation principles and techniques with immediate application, including tips for leading in virtual and hybrid environments. You will have opportunities to facilitate in small groups, with an inspiring community of colleagues to provide feedback.
Confidence to show up powerfully and authentically
Whether you lead meetings, workshops, or off-sites, you will walk away from this training with the confidence to effectively guide any group to their goal.
Tools to troubleshoot challenges that arise in real time
Gain practical tools to address real challenges, like dealing with the person who won’t stop talking, or lots of awkward silence, or a session that goes completely off the rails.

Modules and Key Skills Include

Leadership Style and Presence: Embracing facilitation as a path of personal transformation, assessing personal strengths and areas of growth, owning your presence in front of the room.
Creating Connection: The 5 Keys to Connection, how to cultivate an atmosphere of inclusion and belonging, leading relevant icebreakers that deepen trust and rapport.
Giving Clear Instructions: The 6 parameters for instructions that instill confidence, and set your participants up for a successful experience, no matter the exercise or activity.
Adopting a Coaching Mindset: The power of asking the right questions, how to harvest wisdom in the room, leading debriefs for lasting change.

Grouping + Theming: How to tie a conversation back to your main themes and acknowledge individual shares, helping participants feel seen, heard and valued.
Troubleshooting in Real Time: Techniques for awkward silence, how to address the person who overshares, and working productively with resistance and detractors.
Active Engagement: Shifting your participants from being passive observers to active participants, leading energizers to uplift the room when energy dips, how to design an inclusive environment for both introverts and extroverts, tips for virtual + hybrid.

Experience Design Diversity Initiative

Significant financial assistance available to support
BIPOC to participate in Scaling Intimacy.

Find out more + apply now

As part of our commitment to dismantling racism through experience
design, $25 from your registration will be donated to an organization of
your choosing working to advance racial justice.

OUR FACILITATORS

Read Bio

Jenny Sauer-Klein

Founder & CEO

Scaling Intimacy School of Experience Design

Jenny Sauer-Klein

Founder & CEO

Scaling Intimacy School of Experience Design

Jenny Sauer-Klein is passionate about designing transformational experiences that prioritize connection over content, and regularly consults for organizations like Google, Airbnb, Dropbox and the Haas School of Business. She is the founder and CEO of the Scaling Intimacy School of Experience Design, which trains event leaders to strategically weave connection into the fabric of their events. She created Play On Purpose, a video tutorial library with over 80 of her best virtual and in-person team building games, to support facilitators to confidently engage and connect groups and teams.

Read Bio

Julia Winston

Senior Facilitator

Coach, Facilitator & Experience Designer

juliawinston.com

Julia Winston

Senior Facilitator

Coach, Facilitator & Experience Designer

juliawinston.com

Julia Winston is a master facilitator, experience designer and executive coach serving leaders, teams and families to cultivate purpose, clarity and connection in the workplace and beyond. With 20 years of experience as a facilitator and 10 years as a business leader, Julia not only serves organizations as a consultant and advisor; she also trains and teaches facilitation and experience design to industry leaders around the world. Julia works with groups ranging from bootstrapped startups and mid-sized software businesses, to nonprofits and universities, to private equity and wealth management firms. She loves creating fun, warm, inclusive environments where people engage across levels of tenure and seniority to get to the heart of human connection and shared purpose. When she’s not working and podcasting, you can find Julia hosting dinner parties and family gatherings because, well, it’s an addiction: she just can’t stop facilitating.

Read Bio

Romy Alexandra

Facilitator

Learning Experience Designer + Experiential Learning Trainer

Romy Alexandra

Facilitator

Learning Experience Designer + Experiential Learning Trainer

Romy Alexandra is a learning experience designer and experiential learning trainer on a mission to humanize learning spaces. She is passionate about designing and delivering trainings that intentionally integrate experiential learning, psychological safety, emotional intelligence, the neuroscience of learning, and behavior change. Romy brings over a decade of international facilitation experience in more than 35 countries across 4 continents. She consults with organizations and entrepreneurs across the globe to transform content into connecting, engaging, and impactful learning experiences, whether they be online, in-person, or hybrid. Romy has worked with clients such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), The Red Cross, ASICS, Chevron, and many more. She holds multiple certifications in Experiential Learning, Critical Pedagogy, and Psychological Safety and certifies others in these topics too. Romy’s an avid world traveler, foodie, street art hunter, bookworm, and yoga enthusiast.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Facilitation Finesse different from the Designing Dynamic Experiences Training?

Our flagship Designing Dynamic Experiences training helps you to strategically develop your curriculum or agenda for your event using our Dramatic Arc Event Template. Facilitation Finesse is focused on how you lead and deliver experiences live in the room, your leadership style and presence, and how you can be agile and responsive when unexpected things happen.

Do you need to take Designing Dynamic Experiences before Facilitation Finesse?

No, you can take either course first, as they are complementary perspectives that go well in either order.

What is your cancellation/transfer policy?

Registration for the course is non-refundable, but is transferable. If you are unable to attend, you can transfer your registration to one of the next two offerings of the Facilitation Finesse or Designing Dynamic Experiences training. You may transfer your registration only one time, if you cancel a second time, your registration will be forfeited. If you request a transfer less than 10 days before Day 1 of training, a $100 transfer fee will apply.

What does each session consist of?

Our live sessions will focus on connecting as a cohort, diving deeper into the main principles, practicing facilitation in small groups with feedback from your peers, and receiving mentorship from experts in the field.

What is the time commitment for this workshop?

The Facilitation Finesse workshop is a 4-week virtual series (2 hours and 15 minutes each session).

In addition, you should expect to do about 30 minutes of homework between each session, which may include a combination of watching videos, reading handouts, and/or preparing a short facilitation segment.

Are there any discounts available?

We offer a 20% discount for groups of 5 or more. Please email connect@scalingintimacy.com with the names and emails of your participants and we will send you a custom discount code to register! We have limited financial assistance available for those from under represented communities and non-profit leaders. Please reach out to connect@scalingintimacy.com to discuss available options!

What if I can’t make this upcoming event?

We are planning to hold another round of this training in Fall 2023. Click here to put your name on the list to be contacted when new dates are confirmed.

Do you do private workshops for teams?

Yes, we do! We’ve worked with organizations like Target, Roku, AppsFlyer, and The Advancement Leadership Lab to help up-level the skills of internal leaders. We can customize a series of 2-hour facilitation training sessions for your team. Click here to find out more about our team trainings.

Site Design Rebecca Pollock

Development Alchemy + Aim