Full Circle Associates

Well, it is time to stick my head back up and blog after my holiday hiatus. I took quite a bit of time away from my computer, and when I returned, catch up monopolized my attention and blogging clearly lost out.

One of the things I was working on was updating materials for my next online facilitation workshop which starts January 30th. I'm blogging it here as I'm a terrible marketer and am hoping that a little link love may surface. (My resistence to marketing seems to be linked to my ambiguous feelings about money - go figure! :-) ) Holler if you have any questions. The two non profit /NGO scholarships are still available - please ask BEFORE January 15th or sooner. First come, first served.


Full Circle Facilitating Online Interaction Workshop

2006 Dates:The next workshop is set for January 30 - March 3, 2006. This includes three active weeks the weeks of January 30th, February 13th and February 27th with "quiet weeks" in between. Please email if you need additional details. There will be two scholarships for qualified NGO participants. Please submit your request before January 15th for consideration. If you want a scholarship, you must commit to active workshop participation all three active weeks. That is your "fee!"

Instructor: Nancy White, Full Circle Associates

Tuition: $750 (10% discount for groups of 5 or more or members of 501(C)3 non profit or international NGO organizations.) Payment is required in advance. Checks and wire transfers are accepted. No credit cards at this time, sorry!

Registration: Register here.

Testimonials: from past workshop participants.

Online facilitation is an evolving art and expanding opportunity to empower groups to work across time and distance. Online work and interactions require facilitation skills beyond those used in face-to-face meetings. Group dynamics in the virtual environment combined with new communication technologies create unique conditions and opportunities calling for specific techniques and an expansion of our consciousness with mindful facilitation.

This 3-week INTENSIVE (and I'm not kidding - seriously intensive!) intermediate workshop (alternating on/off weeks over five weeks total) will provide you with the initial skills to guide you through planning, process design and facilitation of online group interactions. We will explore concepts through key readings, discuss theory, reflect in personal learning logs, and practice technique. Participants should have some previous offline facilitation experience or understanding of group facilitation theory as well as at least one year of online interaction experience. This is NOT an introductory offering! If you are new to all of this, expect to spend additional time.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify the unique aspects of facilitating online interactions
• Define the key purpose of an online interaction as a framework for facilitation
• Assess the group's needs and select appropriate facilitation strategies for distributed teams, online communities and distance learning
• Self-evaluate one's personal style and the impact on one's facilitation approaches
• Develop processes for establishing relationship and trust online
• Evaluate group cycles and apply techniques for pacing, leading and encouraging participation
• Explore processes for moving from purpose to action
• Extract value with summaries to harvest knowledge and learning
• Consider voice as it shows up in different online interaction tools including discussion boards, blogs, wikis and instant messaging (new section)
• Create a record of personal learning through a self-reflective online learning log
• Additional topics may be added according to group and individual interests. Teams are welcome to do a joint project together as part of the workshop

People who might benefit from the workshop

• distributed team members
• managers
• online teachers/instructors
• online community moderators/hosts
• community of practice (CoP) leaders
• consultants

Areas of application

• distributed teams
• online learning
• communities of practice
• online customer relationship management
• online communities (discussion sites)
• blogging communities
• consulting
• serving any group that requires online interaction

Delivery Format

This is an INTENSIVE online workshop (yes, I'm repeating myself - for a reason!) presented in English in a web-conference asynchronous environment allowing participants to engage at their own convenience from home or office. Additionally, we will have scheduled sessions with other synchronous tools such as telephone conference call, weekly chats and utilize instant messaging tools. The first phone call will be January 31st at 16:00 GMT. The chats will initially be on Fridays of all active weeks at 16:00 GMT. These may be moved after the first week to accommodate the participants, depending on the time zones represented. The class workspace will remain open for 30 days after the workshop for individuals to review materials and a CD of the workshop is also made available for future reference.

Class Requirements

To get the most out of this intensive workshop, a minimum of 2 hours/day is required depending on your learning style. Some people tell me it is more like 3-4. If you want to cover all the material, schedule the time and set aside away from other daily activities, to ensure focused and uninterrupted attention. The workshop space will be open on the Thursday prior to start of workshop for introductions, access to reading material and space for experimentation with the tools. Formal sessions starts on Monday. Participants should have a basic experience with and understanding of

• the internet
• group facilitation
• some online interaction experience
• mastery of the use of an internet browser
• mastery of written English

The latest browser versions are recommended for this workshop: Netscape Navigator 5.0 / Internet Explorer 5.0 / Firefox 1.0, or higher versions.

Instructor - Nancy White

Nancy is the founder and president of Full Circle Associates, a communications consulting firm, helping non-profits and businesses connect through online and offline strategies. Nancy has presented this course to over 315 individuals from all around the globe since 1999.

Nancy is a skilled online host and facilitator who actively hones her craft on both social conversational sites and focused, work-related online communities. She is an dedicated chronicler and collector of online facilitation resources, constantly seeking to understand "what works and why" in this evolving world of online communities. She also hosts the Online Facilitation list serv. Daily thoughts? Check out the Online Facilitation Blog.

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