Delivery & Facilitating a Dialogue Session
The facilitators plays a crucial role in the setting the informal and inclusive tone for the session.
The aim is to gently guide the discussion to keep it flowing. Some principles to keep in mind as a facilitator are:
| Principle | Description |
|---|---|
| Connect People | Enable participant with shared interest to get to know each other |
| Peer Learning | Enable learning from multiple peers at the same time |
| Every Voice Counts | No presentation or long monologues from a single person |
| Wiki Style / Visual Summary | Summarize & capture the discussion in text or graphics |
| Be Inclusive | Provide an inclusive environment to allow open sharing of ideas |
| Informal Environment | Create a setup where participants can see each other & interact |
| No Attribution | Make it like an informal conversation amongst friends |
| Encourage Participation | Facilitate to encourage participation from everyone |
Tips for facilitating the Dialogues
Some additional tips for the facilitator are:
- Ensure everyone has a space to be seated and can participate in the BoF session.
- Facilitator normally sets the context and share the hygiene rules for everyone to follow as the participant.
- As a facilitator, you should help guide and moderate the discussion as needed but don’t start presenting or imposing your own views.
- As a facilitator, it is your role to balance and limit over-participation, and ensure no single person ends up monopolizing the session.
- Use the prompts you have organized in the concept note to trigger the discussion in empty spaces. = Participation from everyone should be encouraged, if they are engaged but not speaking. Make your own judgement call on whether and when to do so.