Penguin Club of Australia triennial convention, Melbourne, September 7, 2013

Communication stepping stones was the theme for the Penguin Club of Australia’s triennial convention, held in Melbourne in September 2013.

With facilitation playing an increasing role in meetings in the workplace, community and government, Heather presented a session on facilitating – a key skill for meeting success.

Facilitation is not just another way to run a meeting.

Facilitation helps to strengthen the connections within groups, which is vital for the success of any group.

A facilitated meeting is a very inclusive meeting, which opens up meetings for new members, quiet members, disengaged members, along with the voice of experienced members, and encourages diverse views to be heard.

This isn’t to turn every meeting into a talkfest.

Instead, the idea of facilitation is to capitalise on the knowledge, ideas and willpower in a group.

We want people who participate in a facilitated meeting to leave the meeting feeling engaged, energised, and enthusiastic about what the group is trying to achieve.

Facilitated meetings are:

• well run meetings that get off to a good start with a warm up activity to build rapport
• meetings where everyone participates
• meetings where the group makes a decision together.

Facilitation isn’t a meeting fad, and it isn’t a talk fest.

It offers a way for people to connect, and through their connections, to feel part of, and to willingly become involved with the activities that groups need members for.

Facilitation helps to build connections and connections build groups.