Library of facilitation techniques

We live and work in turbulent times, juggling never-ending to-do lists, back-to-back meetings, and constant context switching. When people enter a meeting, they often carry mental clutter – unfinished tasks, lingering thoughts, or stress from the previous discussion.

This simple yet effective exercise helps participants mentally transition into the meeting by externalizing their distractions, physically letting them go, and creating a fresh focus for the discussion ahead. I use this whenever I sense a group (whether virtual or in-person) is distracted, overwhelmed, or coming straight from another meeting. It works well when combined with a check-in question that gets everyone speaking.

Horizon scanning is a structured method for identifying early signs of change, like emerging issues, trends, and weak signals that could shape the future. It helps participants look beyond the immediate and obvious, scanning across multiple domains to detect what might be coming next.

One player 'sculpts' another player like clay

Stand in circle. Each person gives a SCES around the circle.  

Players get in groups of three and form a “house” with the end players raising their arms in a “roof” above the inside players. There are three commands that cause the players to move:

In 2 groups: One group is clay, and they close their eyes. The other group are sculptors.The sculptors build one sculpture out of all the `clay` players.

One player creates obstacles that a second player must navigate