International Facilitation Week

Just one week to go until the start of International Facilitation Week (17-23 October). International Facilitation Week (IFW) is an event that takes place each year during the month of October. Its purpose is to showcase the power of facilitation to both new and existing audiences and to create a sense of community among facilitators and their groups worldwide.

Since its launch in 2013, the week has become a spark that ignites activities around the world to highlight the benefits of facilitation, the gifts of facilitators and the comradeship of the International Association of Facilitators (IAF). The IAF is simply the catalyst for International Facilitation Week. The invitation to celebrate the week is open to everyone.

Here is a listing of some of the events that are taking place worldwide for IFW 2016. and here are some ideas to inspire your own activities:

• Publicise your best facilitation case studies  – now is the time to write those up and announce them on your own and your clients’ websites! Get creative – use video and podcasted interviews.
• If you are an internal facilitator, encourage your employer to showcase how you use facilitation for the benefit of your organisation. Hold a “lunch and learn” or “coffee break case study” in your workplace during the week.
• Organise a training or learning event with others who also work on collaboration, dialogue, mediation, conflict resolution and group process.
• Set up an event for potential clients in which you showcase the benefits of facilitation. Need inspiration? Consider interviewing recipients of the Facilitation Impact Awards.
• Offer free or discounted facilitation services to groups who could benefit from professional facilitation. Use IFW to announce a commitment to doing some new pro-bono work, or to release the results from some previous pro-bono work.
• Approach your local school, college, university, teaching hospital or training providers to see if they’d like to collaborate on an IFW event or program.
• Talk to your local or national health and social care organisations to discuss the possibility of a training or other facilitation event during the Week.
• Use your networks – What other professional organisations do you belong to that might be interested in joining in celebrating IFW?
• Make use of the media. Local papers and radio stations are may include coverage if given a strong local angle or link to issues currently in the news.
• If you blog, make sure you write about facilitation in the run up to and during the Week. Think of an especially strong example or compelling facilitation story.