On Stage! What's My Facilitator's Role?

The time has come for the conversation or meeting to start. You are up front and all eyes are focused on you. It’s show time and you have the leading role. You’ve done all the behind the scenes work, developed your skills, and now it’s up to you to get this conversation or meeting started, engage participants  and bring out their best resulting in a productive session. So what do you do? Connect, Communicate,  and Celebrate.  Today’s focus is on connecting.

Connect.  Relationships = Results. Right at the start of your meeting or conversation, it is important to connect with the participants and to get the participants to connect with each other. When there is a positive connection you will get positive results.

 As soon as you step up front, all eyes are on you. So make sure you bring a sunny personality to the stage- smile, humor, be open. What are you wearing? Make sure the color, clothing or accessories won’t be distracting. One time I wore a bracelet that had a charm that dangled every time I used my hand and that was often. One person came up to me during a break and told me how distracting it was. I immediately took that bracelet off.  You don’t want something you wear to create a disconnection.  Remember participants are looking at you for an extended period of time- make sure you don’t inadvertently lose connection.

Think about how you will introduce yourself. Make it personable so that the participants get a glimpse into ‘who’ you are beside your credentials, position, etc.  I usually let participants know that I am passionate about “outcomes” and they will get to see that as we work together.  Sometimes when the weather is cold, I let the participants know that I am from Florida, grew up in sunshine and had to struggle driving in the snow to get to the meeting.  If the participants are familiar with you, share something they don’t know. Maybe over the summer you took a trip to an interesting place that you can share.  Depending upon where the meeting or conversation is taking place, make reference to the location. “It’s great to be at the Ohio State, my husband is a true ‘Buckeye’ having received his undergraduate degree from here and his optometry degree.”  “I love Starbucks!” “It’s great to be back in my high school.” Depending upon the meeting or conversation, you can decide how best to connect to the location so that it creates another connection.

It’s also important to get the participants to connect with each other. They are going to be working together for a specified time period and need to feel comfortable with each other too. You may want to have participants introduce themselves and have each share something personal like what they did over the summer or identify a favorite… or you can find out about participants in different ways- everyone who has been living here less than a year stand? 3- 5 years? wave your hand….. Even when participants know each other, it’s important to engage them early on in some form of reconnection. “Let’s see who celebrated a birthday since our last meeting? “  Participants connecting with each other in a positive manner early on lay the foundation for a harmonious meeting or conversation.

On Stage- CONNECT!

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