Just-in-Time Meeting Skills Live Workshop
There are many reasons why most meetings suck.
No clear outcomes or agenda
Dominating personalities
No follow-up accountability
Information overload
Conflict avoidance
What if we told you that each of those issues is avoidable and that you could fix it?
The answer is facilitation.
Facilitators get paid to make meetings seem like magic using a secret bag of tricks that only they have. Our mission is to bring facilitation skills to everyone.
DATES
Tuesday, July 25 through Friday, July 28, 2023
TIME
12-4 PM ET
LOCATION
Online via Zoom
This workshop has passed. Sign up for updates on future workshops from MeetingMakers Academy.
What You’ll Learn
A few things you already know (and that’s a good thing). We want you to feel like the approach to designing and facilitating a meeting is normal and easy.
A straightforward, repeatable practice for prepping, designing, leading and closing a meeting that you can use whether your meeting is one hour or three days.
Strategies for pivoting your agenda in the moment if the needs of the meeting change.
Excerpt from Season 1 of This Meeting Sucks, the podcast season that inspired this workshop
Putting It Into Practice
This is a highly participatory workshop. We avoid long lectures and focus on experiential learning. Before each workshop, we will assign you episodes of the podcast to listen to (less than 30 minutes). During the workshop, you’ll have the opportunity to work individually and in small groups on things like prepping for and designing a meeting, kicking off and closing a meeting, plus lots of time to design real activities you’d like to do in upcoming meetings. Participants are encouraged to bring one or more meeting ideas you plan to lead, or could lead, so you leave with a fully-designed agenda and feel confident in your ability to guide the process.
Agenda
DAY 1
Meeting preparation
Framing and kicking-off
Closing and follow-up
Kick-off and closing practice
DAY 2
Outlining a meeting
Writing a facilitation guide
Introduction to Open Space
Open Space experience
DAY 3
Activity design
Conflict and inclusion
Time management
Activity practice and feedback
DAY 4
Activity design
Activity practice and feedback
Q&A session
Graduation
Pricing
Registration ends on Friday, July 14, 2023. If you miss the deadline and still want to see if we have space, please reach out via our Contact Page.
Early Bird Pass (ends June 30): $500
MeetingMaker Pass: $600
Sign Up with a Friend — MeetingMaker Duo: $950 ($475 per seat)*
Scholarship: Learn more
*When you register yourself and a friend, we’ll ask for their name and email so that we can send them a confirmation. You’ll have to hunt them down for their half of the payment.
Gift for Sign Up
As a thank you for signing up for our first inaugural MeetingMakers Academy, you’ll receive a free copy of our This Meeting Sucks Season 1 Playbook and a This Meeting Sucks (Stress) Ball*. This ebook will serve as a headstart to learning the content we’ll cover in the workshop and a quick and helpful refresher of what you learned after you complete the course.
*Continental U.S. participants only
Meet the Instructor
This workshop will be led by Lauren Green, MeetingMakers lead facilitator and trainer, and This Meeting Sucks podcast host. Lauren is a certified virtual facilitator, certified coach, experienced visual note-taker and effective leadership development trainer. Lauren teaches facilitation as an adjunct professor for George Mason University’s Organization Development and Knowledge Management Program. She holds a master’s degree in Organization Development and Knowledge Management from George Mason University.
Who Should Attend
Project & Program Managers
Early-Mid Career Professionals Who Lead Meetings
Community Organizers & Social Workers
Leaders of New Initiatives & Innovation Campaigns
Meeting & Event Planners
Undergraduate & Graduate Students Entering the Workforce
Testimonials
FAQs
-
It’s important that you attend all four days, as each session builds on itself. If you miss a day, you’ll miss critical information that you need to participate in the other days. Of course, if you have an emergency, we understand, but we cannot record the sessions.
-
We recommend having on hand:
• A pack of 3x3, unlined super sticky notes
• A pack of 6x8, unlined sticky notes
• Your favorite notetaking tools
• Your computer
We may recommend other purchases along the way, but you don’t need anything else for the program.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
-
If you already facilitate meetings and feel like you have a good understanding of the “basics,” this course might be a bit repetitive for you, but hey, it never hurts to have a refresher. You might find this course helps fill in some gaps or validate your existing knowledge.
-
While we won’t go in depth into virtual facilitation tools, like MURAL, all workshop participants will receive a 50% off discount to use on our self-paced online course Introduction to Facilitating with Visuals, which is everything you need to know in order to augment you facilitation skills with visuals, including a whole module dedicated to MURAL.
-
Yes! This is a fundamentals program—the tools we provide translate to both in-person and online meetings. We’ll discuss both types of meetings in tandem.
-
This is a live, experiential program. None of the sessions will be recorded.
-
We get it. Life happens. If you need to cancel before 21 days from the start of the event, we’ll refund your payment in full. Within 21 days, we will only offer refunds for force majeure events that could not be anticipated (i.e., an illness or death in the family). We cannot offer refunds within 2 days of the event.
-
Awesome! Please contact us through our Contact Page, and we’ll answer your question, plus add it to this list. Thank you in advance for reaching out!
Scholarship
We are offering half-priced scholarship rates to current students age 18 years or older actively pursuing undergraduate or graduate studies, former students who graduated in the past 12 months, or early career professionals up to age 26 and pursuing a professional career track. All approved applicants will be entered into a raffle to win one free spot.
To apply, please submit the following application package to lauren@dancingwithmarkers.com with the subject line “SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION.”
Proof of current student status (a screenshot of your current class list is fine) OR proof of graduation within the last 12 months (i.e., a copy of your diploma)
Video recording (five minutes or less) describing a project for school or work that included leading or facilitating meetings. Discuss a key challenge during the meeting, how you and/or the team addressed the challenge, and what you learned about meetings as a result. Cell phone videos are acceptable.
Application deadline: June 30, 2023