e) Facilitation

MOOC – Virtual Hackathon

How to facilitate your event

Efstathia Chatzitheodorou (DRAXIS Environmental S.A.)

In this chapter, we present the ways and the tips you could follow in order to facilitate your event. During this course, we will discuss the role of the facilitator – before, during and after the event, how you could facilitate effectively, and some tips in order to make it easier for you.

The facilitator plans, guides and manages a group of people in order to meet its goals.​ To facilitate effectively, you must be objective and focus on the "group process." That is, the ways that groups work together to perform tasks, make decisions and solve problems. Good facilitation involves being impartial and steering the group so that its ideas and solutions flow.​ To facilitate an event well, you must first understand the group's desired outcome, their background as well as the context of the meeting or event. With the group's objective clear, you can then structure the event and select the best tools to reach your outcome.​

A facilitator plans the structure of the team meetings and creates the agenda of the day.

An open, well-facilitated discussion could be the simplest option for your group. But if you have a large group, you may need a structured process to get everyone to participate, generate ideas, and cover a variety of topics.​

Consider setting up smaller "break-out" groups (at an event or via virtual meeting apps) to make people more comfortable contributing ideas. Also, give participants time in the agenda to think about points they want to raise. You can schedule a brainstorming session to get ideas flowing.​

While creating the agenda, keep in mind that a solid agenda focuses on outcomes and lets the event flow.

Set the ground rules: these could include respecting everyone's contribution, letting only one person speak at a time, and avoiding disparaging comments.​

Set the scene: Run through the objectives and agenda. Make sure that everyone understands their role, and what the group is seeking to achieve.​

Get things flowing let everyone introduce themselves, or perhaps use appropriate icebreakers to get the meeting off to a positive start.​

Keep up the momentum and energy: you might need to intervene as the proceedings and energy levels proceed. Make sure that people remain focused and interested.

Listen, engage and include: stay alert, listen actively, and remain interested and engaged. This sets a good example for other participants. Is everyone engaged? If not, how can you bring them in? How can you get better participation?​

In addition to the above, watch for and close any side conversations. These distract others and people may be exchanging ideas that would benefit the group.​

And keep an eye on timing. Be flexible and balance the need for participation with the need to keep things running efficiently. If a discussion isn't reaching a natural conclusion, you may need to park topics, gather more information, and schedule time to address outstanding points.​

Monitor checkpoints, and summarize: keep in control of the agenda, tell people what they've achieved and what's next; summarize often.​

Record all decisions and actions. You may want to enlist a note taker so that you can focus on the group. It's a good idea to take photos of brainstorming notes, or use collaborative whiteboard apps.​

Remember to keep people focused and moving forward. If in doubt, ask for clarification before the discussion moves on. And record everyone’s responsibility for, and commitment to, action After the event, follow up to ensure agreed actions have progressed.​

Reflect and Improve​. After you facilitate a meeting, reflect on your own performance and consider how you could do things better next time. You could ask for feedback from the group or from a trusted colleague. ​

In order to facilitate effectively you should be dynamic, socialize in the right way and be able to engage in conversation and help participants to get comfortable, be a good actor and play the role required by you, as well as be flexible in order to carry out all different tasks required.

Tips that could seem useful!

Firstly, you should understand the group’s desired outcome as well as the background and context of the hackathon. Then, you should structure the hackathon and select the best tools in order to reach the outcome you wish. Secondly, you should keep in mind the outcome and how you are helping your group to reach it.

Good luck!