MEETING DESIGN &
FACILITATION
GUIDE
Meeting design & facilitation
2
About this guide
You are opening one of six guides of a Network Leadership Toolkit created by Circle Generation in partnership with Danida Fellowship Centre .
Our intention is for this toolkit to be more than a collection of resources by providing overarching, yet practical, guidance and inspiration for the application of concepts and approaches in your specific context and with your unique network.
Each guide offers ideas, templates, and examples to help extend the theory and practice shared in Circle Generation’s Network Leadership Series to cultivate healthy impact networks.
Circle Generation's approach to network practice has been influenced by many years of direct collaboration with networks, partnership in the Converge Network, contributions to the book Impact Networks, and engagement with key leaders who inspired Converge, including June Holley, Margaret J. Wheatley, and The Monitor Institute.
The guides signpost you to additional places where you can access further inspiration and tips from others working in the broader field of network cultivation.
We invite you to try things out, experiment, and customise what’s here. Please do share your experiences and feedback with us by emailing�Danida Fellowship Centre’s Network Team.
We would love to hear from you!
3
4
What’s Inside
Content
Design & Facilitation Concepts
5 Cs in Convening Design
In Every Meeting
Facilitation Tips
Notetaking Guidance
Resources
Storyboard Template
5 C’s Worksheet
Virtual Meeting Facilitation
Convening Summary Template
Pro Tips for Convening Facilitation
Links to Additional Resources
Introduction to
meeting design
and facilitation
Designing network convenings is about shaping a context that enables people to connect, coordinate, and collaborate.
Taking a relational approach to engagement requires thinking from the participants’ perspective. Rather than approach the design and facilitation as a checklist of topics and tasks to run through, consider the overall experience of those attending. How will participants interact with each other, with the space, with you, and with the content in ways that are meaningful to them?
This guide focuses on experience design and facilitation approaches that promote agency, invite collaboration, and cultivate emergent outcomes in service of your network’s purpose.
Meeting design & facilitation
DESIGN &
FACILITATION CONCEPTS
5
Meeting design & facilitation
Working with the diversity and complexity in networks can feel messy
Like working with clay on a potter’s wheel, meeting design is an art form that is neither easy nor prescriptive. It takes practice to shape a gathering. We believe in designing network convenings as holistic experiences.
For us, this means going beyond a focus on information sharing and decision making - often the purpose of the types of meetings and conferences many of us are used to - and towards incorporating an equally important design layer that emphasises human connection and relationship-building. It involves recognising a network gathering as both a cognitive and emotional journey.
6
Meeting design & facilitation
Design & facilitation concepts
Design & facilitation concepts
7
Meeting design & facilitation
Design principles to consider when planning your next network gathering
Finding the edge:
What’s the next conversation the network needs to have?
Listening to network members by hosting weaving calls before a convening is a great way to find the edge (see the Network Weaving Guide for tips on this). Before sitting down to design an experience, you want to have a sense of the key factors or trends currently affecting the larger system the network operates within, the priorities and initiatives of members (and their organisations), and in what ways they are motivated to collaborate.
With these and other considerations fresh in your mind, you can design conversations to engage dynamic tensions and uncover blind spots in order for the network to move closer to its edge, expanding its potential to create value for its members and the wider system.
Planning for emergence:
How do we strike a good balance between structure and room for adaptation?
When planning for emergence, think about how people may participate in the conversations and activities you design.
The more people, the more time you need. Resist too much scripting and leave breathing room. In practice, this means that not every minute of your agenda should be filled. Things always take longer than you expect.
Most of the magic of emergence happens in unstructured time. And, to prepare yourself, imagine some potential scenarios that could play out in the room. This will help you to respond in real time as things unfold.
1
2
Design & facilitation concepts
8
Meeting design & facilitation
Design principles continued
Connection and Content: How do we build trust so that people can identify opportunities for taking action together?�
Incorporate time for people to relate to each other as full human beings to avoid the risk of seeing - and relating to - one another as representatives of ‘expert groups’, ‘stakeholder interests’ or ‘competitors’. To invite authentic connections you need to create a context of care. Perhaps you find that you need a group agreement to support an environment for clearly revealing challenges and needs so that others can step up to offer support.
Calibrate connection and content according to the time you have AND the needs of the group. You might think of this as the network’s ability to make a difference being fuelled by the strength of the relationships and connections that flourish within it. Working with the 20:40:40 model can help you identify the extent to which there is already a good foundation of connection and engagement amongst members in your network (see the Network Weaving Guide for information on this).
You can weave connection and content together in the same session. Consider drawing on the magic of small groups to build relationships and trust in conversations ABOUT the network - its purpose, its actions, its impact. Pay attention to the proportion of your programme that primarily relies on one person talking. Minimise the time people are making presentations and – instead - maximise time for sensing, sharing, and learning together. Your members’ time together is precious and ought ideally be reserved for activities and conversations that cannot be replaced by engagement on your network’s regular communications and information-sharing channels.
Current best thinking, make it better: How do members unearth something tangible and meaningful to work on together?
Wide open space is problematic for networks and often frustrating for participants. Having a full meeting dedicated to creating something from scratch is rarely good use of everyone’s valuable time together. To make the most of people’s capacity for collective thinking, provide a draft artefact (a tool, article, guide) that is 80% composed and come prepared with some good prompts to guide the collaborative work and inspire reflection and conversations that help progress and iterate the current best thinking.
When leadership is distributed across the network, and a few people take the lead on an issue and invest time to create thoughtful drafts and suggestions for network members to consider, sub-groups can emerge that are rooted in members’ current challenges and self-identified needs. With a draft in hand, members can engage around tangible ideas and together make the proposal better, contributing to igniting collaboration across the network.
3
4
USING THE 5 Cs IN CONVENING DESIGN
9
Meeting design & facilitation
The 5 Cs is a framework for intentionally enabling the cultivation and evolution of networks.
This is the deliberate and non-linear process that invites emergent outcomes.
As a non-linear process, the five Cs form a pattern that is fractal, meaning you can apply each of the Cs at different scales.
The 5Cs are:
You can explore a description of the 5Cs framework HERE.
Whilst providing overarching steps for focusing your network cultivation efforts as the network matures, the 5 Cs can also be applied to inspire the design of an individual network convening or meeting.
Resource:
5 Cs in Convening Design worksheet for agenda development. Note that this resource will be most useful if you have familiarised yourself with each of the 5 Cs in the framework. See link above.
Using the 5 Cs in Convening Design
Meeting design & facilitation
10
Clarify purpose and principles
Convene the people
Cultivate trust
Coordinate action
Collaborate for impact
IN EVERY
MEETING
Meeting design & facilitation
11
12
13
In every meeting
Meeting design & facilitation
Welcome & orientation
Thank people for coming, remind them why the meeting is happening,�and set the stage for what’s ahead. (framing)
Introductions
Make sure everyone knows at least the key people leading segments of the meeting.�If time, introduce people who are new to the network.
In a large meeting, create a way to give participants some sense of the diversity of
perspectives present.
Connection
Often at the opening, a connection activity helps people to shift from the last context they were in and to get present to this meeting’s intention. �To work well together, people also need ways to get to know each other and build trust. This is the heart of the meeting.
Core discussion topics
This is the head of the meeting and the topics to focus on will be informed by the principle of ‘Finding the Edge’ (see design principle 1, page 7 of this guide). How are people engaging and learning from each other? Think carefully about the balance of facilitation formats and carefully consider whether a presentation is necessary for each of the topics, or whether a more inclusive exploration could be more beneficial. Design for a good conversation to ensure there is time for the group to engage meaningfully with what matters to the network.
As a general rule, most meetings are designed to allow time for the following elements, which can also function as a basic outline for your programme.
Information and experience sharing
and requests for support
Networks are all about information flows and mutual support. The flows are unlikely to happen unless the agenda intentionally dedicates time and space for it. We recommend holding it until the end to not only incentivise people stay for the entire session, but also to ensure trust is built to support open and honest conversations.
Closing
It is a good idea to recap key points, next steps and felt sense of the meeting and you could invite your participants to take the lead on this, by distributing this responsibility to the group.
To further nurture the connections within the network, the final send-off activity of your convening could focus on appreciating and/or celebrating the value of the relationships and human contributions that have generated value during your time together.
SOME BASICS ON THE ART OF FACILITATION AND SPACE-HOLDING
Meeting design & facilitation
14
Some basics on the art of facilitation and space-holding
Meeting design & facilitation
Facilitation helps a group achieve an outcome by guiding or holding space for a process to unfold and making it easier for the group to advance (or articulate) their shared purpose.
Successful facilitators do a few things:
Circle Generation often says “they will be as we are” meaning that the tone we set and the energy we bring will be a blueprint for everyone else.
15
Meeting design & facilitation
Some basics on the art of facilitation and space-holding
16
Our list of 7 key behaviours and responsibilities we think are very important for facilitators:
Additional resource: Online Facilitation Guide
from Co-Creative
Being Human
Create genuine connections with participants. Use humour, show humility. You don’t need to have all the answers—you need to help the group discover what it wants to be and what participants want to learn about and do together.
Framing
Framing is how you invite people into the specific context, and it encompasses everything from language, visuals, tone of voice, the physical setting and the energy with which it is delivered. The way you frame something is the way that people will experience it.
Sensing
As facilitators, it is our job to sense into and acknowledge tensions, intrusions and changes in focus that may disrupt the learning amongst participants. It requires you to work intuitively whilst paying close attention to what is being said (and by whom), the energy in the space and what is emerging within the group. Based on what you are sensing, you will need to decide whether it requires any form of intervention or changes on your part to bring the group back on track and further catalyse the learning.
Inviting Diverse Voices
Bring forward different perspectives and appreciate different points of view.
Engage respectful conflict with curiosity to find creative responses in the face of tensions. As part of this, you accept that networks are not always harmonious. Tensions and disagreements form a natural part of the life of a diverse network. In fact, healthy tension and conflict can indicate that members are engaging in conversations that matter to them, whilst not succumbing to group think.
Acknowledging & Disrupting Power Dynamics
Recognize that there are always power dynamics at play in groups, including the power you hold as the facilitator. When these dynamics lead to singular or limited voices dominating a space or, at worst, hijacking the agenda for their own benefit, then it is your job to be assertive and help re-distribute power by, for example, encouraging other voices into the conversation.
Staying emergent,
with Intention
It’s the role of the facilitator to read the energy of the room and/or in online spaces. The best designed meeting can always take an unexpected turn. Be prepared to adjust. Expect emergence and expect to respond.
Facilitate Inclusively
and Equitably
Remember it is your members' meeting.
Let their conversations guide your role as the facilitator. Always draw out diverse perspectives to clarify how system dynamics are impacting people differently. Facilitate consent rather than consensus.
We don’t need people to believe the same thing, we want to invite people to take agency in pursuit of the network’s purpose, as long as others are not harmed in the process.
NOTETAKING
GUIDANCE
Meeting design & facilitation
17
Notetaking Guidance
Meeting design & facilitation
It can be surprisingly difficult to capture the content of discussions and decisions from a meeting in a way that will be easy to digest and understand. Especially in a network where people’s participation varies, notes play an important role in keeping people up to date with events and their commitments.
18
Who should record key learnings
and insights?
It is very difficult to take notes while actively participating. AI support, in the form of recording and simultaneously transcribing the conversations, might be an option, as long as the chosen AI assistant captures nuanced information well and meeting participants have consented to this.
The notetaker needs to be knowledgeable enough about the subject to follow the conversation, capture acronyms, and understand technical terms - related to the focus of the network - whilst also being able to reflect. It is essential that the notes reflect the sense of the meeting, how aligned people felt, and their motivation to follow through.
Depending on preferences and skills, the note-taker role could be passed around network members so that it is not always the same person. Unless, of course, you are lucky enough to have a ready volunteer, who feels well-suited to this work!
What is a good idea to record?
What’s a good way to format meeting or convening notes?
Easy to read at a glance. Use headings that correspond to the meeting agenda and topics of conversations. Create consistent conventions for type such as all caps for titles, bold for decisions, italics for next steps, and colours for action items and who volunteered for what.
Easy to distinguish big picture from detail.
It often helps to summarize an issue with an introductory sentence, then follow with details organized by lists or bullets.
Organized for follow through.
Summarize or call out next steps and leadership roles. Make it easy for people to identify their own tasks and those of others. Put these at the beginning of the document, not at the end.
Meeting design & facilitation
19
A SUMMARY OF
YOUR CONVENING
OR MEETING
A summary of your convening or meeting
Meeting design & facilitation
20
A summary of your
convening or meeting
A convening summary communicates key insights, outcomes, and workstreams that emerge from your network’s gathering. Particularly for in-person convenings, photos can capture the collaborative spirit and vitality of the network, whilst contributing to the collective memory. Similar to what was mentioned about the weaving synthesis (see the separate network weaving guide), a convening summary is a record of conversations, perspectives, and motivations for action at a point in time.
The purpose of the summary is to provide a touchpoint for participants who attended, as well as a reference point for those who were unable to join. Annual convenings often include sessions devoted to mapping future and emergent activities of the network. Such aspirations, any new network initiatives and changes in leadership roles are particularly important to include.
To create a convening summary,
consider these steps
Resources:
Meeting design & facilitation
A Summary of your convening or meeting
21
Additional Facilitation Resources:
THANK YOU
Please do share your experiences and feedback with us by emailing Danida Fellowship Centre’s Network Team.
We would love to hear from you!