Library of facilitation techniques

Remote Workshop Activities

Activities suitable for virtual and online workshops and meetings. Get your remote meetings engaging and productive with tools and techniques that foster participation and get everyone contributing.

Featured Author – International Association of Facilitators

IAF is a worldwide community of facilitators promoting excellence in the use of professional group process facilitation to create engagement and impact.

IAF International Association of Facilitators
Learn more Learn more
259 results

Methods (256)

Mike Clargo

Virtual Flipcharts (within the webcam)

Free open-source tool that allows you to simply type or scribe notes & immediately see them appear in a large flipchart image on your webcam within the meeting.

Most facilitators know the power of a flipchart to draw out, capture and recognise participant input. But flipcharts are not so easy to use in the online world.

Virtual Flipcharts plug this gap and provide an easy to use tool that will be very familiar to you and your team. It even looks like a physical flipchart.

During the conversation, you type or scribe (draw) things directly into a page on Powerpoint and they appear instantly on your virtual flipchart in your webcam window. This means that they can play a part in simple 'round-virtual-table' face to face discussion without the disruption of screen sharing.

Create as many pages as you need and move between them with a scroll of your mouse.

Furthermore, the content of the virtual flipchart pages can instantly be distributed via emails to everyone at the meeting, and/or it can be send as sticky-notes to any of the other tools and techniques you might be using (for grouping, sorting, voting, display, off-line work, syndicates etc.)

    Use cases: Capture ideas in a brainstorm; Record different perspectives in a discussion; Put ideas into the parking lot; Sketch out an idea or explanation; Create simple tools (like SWOT) within it; ... basically, anything you would use a real flipchart for.
Myriam Hadnes

Walking Brainstorm

This introvert-friendly brainstorming technique helps groups of any size to generate and build on each other's ideas in a silent but dynamic setting. As the participants keep moving, the exercise is ideal to kick-off a full day workshop or re-energize the group after lunch.

Hyper Island

What are you doing?

This is a simple drama game in which participants take turns asking each other “What are you doing?” and acting out the various responses. Though simple, it engages the imagination and gently challenges participants out of their comfort zone by having them mime a range of different actions.

Liberating Structures

What I Need From You (WINFY)

People working in different functions and disciplines can quickly improve how they ask each other for what they need to be successful. You can mend misunderstandings or dissolve prejudices developed over time by demystifying what group members need in order to achieve common goals. Since participants articulate core needs to others and each person involved in the exchange is given the chance to respond, you boost clarity, integrity, and transparency while promoting cohesion and coordination across silos: you can put Humpty Dumpty back together again! This structure enacts LS Principle #6, Amplify Freedom and Responsibility.

1
Mirna Smidt  from Trainers Toolbox

Whose Strengths?

A playful and reflective group exercise that helps participants recognise and appreciate both their own and each other's signature strengths.

By anonymously sharing top character strengths and guessing which list belongs to whom, the group engages in a positive exchange that promotes self-awareness, team bonding, and mutual appreciation.

This activity is based on the VIA classification of character strengths developed by Peterson & Seligman (2004), and is ideal for team-building, coaching, or personal development workshops.