End-to-end workshop facilitation

Anka Schneider

Even as a child I felt the need to include the one kid who didn’t seem to belong, to listen to the one who would never dare to speak up. Older and wiser today, I came to know that I am gifted at connecting the dots between people. So what could fulfil me more than to bring teams together as workshop facilitator and connector?

When not busy as a workshop facilitator, I work as an English speaking counsellor in Karlsruhe and am specialised in all the topics that immigration processes evoke. It is the expats and global nomads from all parts of the world that come to see me. With radical empathy, an understanding for social intercultural integration and a toolset of systemic interventions, I help people to find back to their strenghts.

My wisdom out of those talks coupled with my experience from numberous team-retreats, workshops and conclaves in the academic world (at KIT) is what I have to offer.

To get your team into action and ensure genuine contact I am trained in those well established methods and approaches:

• Design Thinking
• Holistic Workshop Facilitation
• Lego Serious Play
• Metalog
• Constellation Work and Sociometrics

Looking forwards to working with you!

I am there as your workshop facilitator when…

1. You’re lacking a clear process. You’ve got a big initiative to kick off, a problem to solve, or an idea to develop — but you’re lacking a defined process or approach. A facilitator can help you find the most productive course of action and give you a clear structure to follow.
2. You want to ensure participation and contribution from everybody in the group. With unfacilitated meetings and workshops, there’s a high risk of uneven participation across the group. The louder, more extroverted group members take over while others fade into the background, unheard. A professional facilitator will expertly balance out group dynamics and make it safe and comfortable for everybody to contribute.
3. You want to eliminate bias from the process. It’s hard to remain truly neutral when you’re part of the team and/or have your own ideas about how things should be done. A facilitator will help you consider different perspectives and ensure that any decisions made are done so collaboratively — and based on what’s best for the project.
4. You’re out of ideas and hitting a wall. Have you been mulling over the same problem for what feels like eternity? Are you finding it impossible to land on a feasible solution or course of action? You need to inject some creativity into the process and find new ways to ideate and problem-solve. Well then – you need a facilitator.
5. You’re struggling to reach consensus and alignment. You’ve got a group project that requires alignment across all stakeholders — but you just can’t reach an agreement. An expert facilitator is specifically trained in helping groups to reach consensus, allowing you to move the project forward.
6. Group dynamics are turbulent or delicate. When the stakes are high, you might expect some conflict or disagreement within the group. A facilitator will manage conflict, keep discussions constructive and productive, and ensure that politics don’t get in the way of progress.
7. You want to break away from circular discussions and move towards action. Maybe you’ve noticed that your meetings and workshops fall victim to endless talk and not enough action. A good facilitator will help you break old habits and show your team new ways to collaborate.
8. You’re planning a high-stakes meeting or workshop whose outcome is critical. Not every meeting or workshop requires an external facilitator. But, when the stakes are high and the outcomes of the workshop are essential for success and/or strategic direction, consider getting a facilitator on board.

Workshop facilitatation works wonders for your team-dynamics!

You as a team lead and all of your team members are freed up to focus on the important things – the actual content of the workshop, rather than its structure, flow or organization.

My ultimate goal as your workshop facilitator is to bring about each participant’s best work by providing structure, and guiding, encouraging, and listening to all. The group will stay on track and keep conversations relevant to the theme.

I bring my skills as a facilitator, people-connector and coach to the development and execution of impactful and memorable workshops, such as

… Team Retreats
… Mission Statement development processes
… Teamcharta Workshops
… Group Events
… Symposiums
… Panel Discussions

If young research groups or IT-whizzzards, diverse health-care provider teams or the complete school-staff, technical crews or the workforce of a smaller company – bringing them together always works its magic.

Onboarding for your international professionals needed?

End-to-end Workshop Development and Facilitation

• Elaboration of the goals and outcomes for a half-day or full-day workshop
• Planning educational design and strategy for seamless workshop flow and robust outcomes,
• Creating and designing beautiful slides and handouts (and if desired overseeing the design of any other speaker’s slides),
• Hosting the event with engaging and dynamic energy,
• Facilitating ideation and team exercises,
• Engaging, moving and entertaining participants while having an eye on the time
• Creating evaluation surveys for post-event learning.

Workshop Facilitation Online

Can’t meet up physically? No problem. I help you design a virtual workshop. One that doesn’t feel like you’ve been staring googly-eyed at a screen for hours. My online workshop methods are interactive and engaging and there’s lots of opportunity for discussion and breakout exercises throughout.