Last updated: 4th October, 2023

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Good facilitators manage discussions to keep conversation friendly, inclusive and on-track, not too broad or narrow. Facilitators can significantly affect how valuable discussions are for participants. Facilitation is very much a learned skill; it takes time and practice to learn how to do this effectively. The resources below should help you learn the basics and be well-equipped to facilitate welcoming conversations.

1. General guidance

• Keep comments to 2 minutes at most.
• Try to keep back-and-forths to at most two iterations (so person A, person B, person A, person B, then move on to someone new).
• If the conversation has lasted too long in a particularly technical/expert domain, move onto the next question to bring the conversation back down to an accessible level.
• You may wish to break the discussion in two if two or three people seem keen to head the discussion in a different direction.
• Keep things light-hearted - humour is good.
• After one person speaks, ask others for their responses rather than responding to each point yourself - you’ll end up doing too much of the talking otherwise. You can open the floor to objections, agreements, or any other thoughts.
• If side conversations crop up within the group, politely ask people to rejoin the main conversation, perhaps by asking one of the people to share their thoughts with the whole group. If this happens a couple of times, you can suggest that people break off and have separate discussions.
• Steer conversation to safe ground if it may be becoming controversial. Explicitly change the topic if needed. Remember that uncomfortable people are unlikely to voice their discomfort. It can be helpful for a facilitator to shift the discussion even if they are unsure whether anyone is getting upset.
• If anyone acts inconsiderately, it is worth saying that their comment isn’t welcome. If it is only mildly inconsiderate, or if you think bringing it up might make the discussion worse, talk to the speaker privately after the session to let them know. Some people may genuinely not realise they acted offensively.
• Sometimes, individuals will dominate discussions. It is worth having a quiet conversation after the event to let them know how they came across and ask them to reduce their contributions in the future.

2. Specific tactics you can use

• The same people are always talking? Ask if anyone who hasn't gotten a chance to speak as much would like to add anything.
• Slower conversation? Share discussion content ahead of time so people can think ahead about what they would like to say.