Sticky notes, tennis balls, and other objects can be used to create engaging and productive online meetings and workshops. How do I know this to be true?

Well, Jacinta Cubis, an incredible facilitator, mentor, author, and speaker, shared many fascinating insights like this to help get “your workshops humming” on this week’s episode of workshops work. She reveals how you can facilitate difficult conversations, so they’re less like scratching a blackboard and more like skiing down a smooth slope. 

Jacinta has an amazing gift to draw out people’s best thinking. Hearing how she uses analogue prompts to facilitate conversations online and have better meetings was genuinely fascinating. I’ve come away from this conversation with so many ideas to blend face-to-face and online facilitation techniques, and I know you will have many new ideas of your own after listening to my wonderful interview with Jacinta!

Find out about:

• How and why Jacinta decided to write her e-book, “Hum”
• Why many online meetings are bad replicates of bad offline meetings – and how to avoid this from happening!
• How to use analogue prompts to communicate better with an online group
• How to avoid wasting time in breakout groups
• How to use your time more efficiently by nominating time keepers
• Tips for getting participants to use both parts of their brains
• Why poor facilitation is one of the biggest reasons why workshops fail

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Feeling inspired by the conversation in this episode? We can have our own – take a seat at my virtual table as part of a Mastermind Group.

A huge thank you must go to SessionLab, the sponsor of Workshops Work. Claim your free two months of SessionLab Pro now – this deal is exclusive to Workshops Work listeners!

Questions and Answers

[01:17] When did you start calling yourself a facilitator?

[05:47] Where does the name, “Hum,” come from and what triggered you to write this book?

[10:35] What made your “bad meetings,” bad? And, how do you combine humming with having difficult conversations?

[19:13] What can we do as facilitators and participators to structure, facilitate, and avoid difficult meetings?

[25:45] How can we do this in a gentle way?

[35:47] How can facilitators use a timer or keep discussions timed efficiently?

[40:14] What is the difference between guiding through a difficult conversation online and offline?

[43:11] What can you do when you feel like the energy of the online meeting isn’t quite right?

[46:07] What’s your favourite exercise?

[49:08] What is the one thing you would like listeners to take away from this episode?

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