Facilitate Effective Discussions

Your Guide to Effective Facilitation

Participants most often cite interaction with others as the most enjoyable component of professional development. Effective facilitation encourages discussion and supports meaningful conversation during and after the event.

Effective facilitators share several common characteristics, including:

• Excellent listeners, first and foremost.
• Guide others through a highly participatory learning or planning process.
• Draw opinions and ideas out of others; do not share opinions or evaluate ideas.
• Remain neutral throughout; do not take sides.
• Advocate for process and may suggest next steps.
• Maintain a warm and welcoming working environment.

Explore resources at the right to learn more about the art of facilitation.

Facilitation at Connect Events

EDUCAUSE Connect events are redesigned, innovative experiences that raise the bar for professional development through active learning, engagement, and action planning. The Connect programs are designed at the intersection of a conference and an "un-conference", where session by session, in each of four learning tracks, Connect Facilitators expertly guide participant engagement, build strong networking cohorts, and create meaningful curriculum from synthesis of the daily content.