Increasingly our clients are thinking about holding events face to face – back in the real room rather than the Zoom room. As facilitators, our risk assessments for events were usually straightforward. We have been doing a lot of thinking about how to handle the new situation arising in the UK...

Thinking back to meetings ‘in the room’ or forward to when we can meet again, physical space makes a difference to the quality of a meeting.  A windowless room in a hotel basement or a panelled chamber in a country house hotel create different expectations and affect behaviours.  The layout...

Good meetings get work done and build relationships among group members.  When I talk to people about what they want to achieve in meetings they usually mention both:  they want to get a result in terms of work, but they also want to reconnect with colleagues, tackle difficulties and disputes,...

Many of us have had no choice about meeting face to face or online in the last year. Now that there are some signs that meeting in person may be back on the cards, will you stay or will you go? I’ve been thinking about the pros and cons in...

Annet Goltstein and Simon Wilson Identifying the right roles is key to the succes of any project. In our work we often see projects that would have been more effective if they had been facilitated and not (only) managed. A project facilitator brings the skills of facilitation to the work...

Pilar Orti and Simon Wilson The sudden shift to remote work experienced in many organisations meant that facilitators had to adapt their practice to the online meeting space. With time, teams have matured in their approach to remote work, and have started to incorporate asynchronous interactions into their communication. When...

Helene Jewell and Simon Wilson When most of us were working at home things were at least clear. Now organisations and teams are having to make judgements about returning to work in the room.    Those of us who facilitate and chair can help them make these judgements. There are four...

As restrictions ease, teams and organisations are thinking about how to manage meetings when some participants may be at home and others may be office based: these are known as hybrid meetings. A hybrid meeting is where some participants join through one method and other participants join by another method....