Do you sometimes feel exhausted after an online meeting? Does your day seem filled with back-to-back meetings with no real output? Does technology get in your way? Are you alert and 100% present in the meeting or are you easily distracted?

Today, we communicate through a multitude of channels. Technology allows collaboration regardless of time and place. Facilitation and training techniques that can only be applied face-to-face are losing impact.

This training brings insight into new facilitation techniques for online and hybrid meetings.

Learning objectives

After this training, participants will be able to:

• Listen better between the lines because you have developed sharper listening skills.
• Connect more strongly and collaborate better, even remotely.
• Create the right setting in a group to work with interactive work forms.
• Maintain attention and focus and reduce wasted time.
• Maximise your impact during online & hybrid meetings.

This training programme consists of 2 half-day modules. In each module, we first bring the general framework. Then we put the principles and techniques into practice and participants work through examples and cases that fit their own work situation.

Programme

1. Virtual facilitation skills

• Online versus face-to-face: the differences and similarities.
• Increasing impact through a flexible style.
• Mixing assignments and work formats to encourage interaction and participation.
• Basic technical competences (MS Teams, Zoom) and best practices.
• Presentation techniques, including optimal use of green-key.

2. Increase attention, connection, interaction and participation during virtual facilitation

• Combine your participants' strengths.
• Giving online feedback: points of interest.
• Give online facilitation a 'real' feel.
• Making optimal use of break-out rooms, whiteboard, quizes, reactions, ...

3. Preparation and planning of virtual facilitation

• Choosing appropriate working forms and techniques according to desired outcomes.
• Process vs. content.
• Inviting conversation and interaction.
• Strengthen group report.
• Conversation techniques, follow-through questioning techniques, summary techniques.

4. Facilitating virtual teams

• Characteristics of effective virtual teams.
• Building trust within virtual teams.
• Team facilitation techniques: online is also real.