Facilitation for Info Pros

BCLA Continuing Education - Facilitation for Info Pros Workshop

Date, time, and location:
Friday, January 28, 2011

9:30am - 4:30pm (with 45 minute lunch break from 11:45-12:30 and two short coffee breaks - lunch is not included in price of registration)

Facility: Peter Kaye room, Lower Level, Central Branch, Vancouver Public Library
Address: 350 West Georgia St. Vancouver, BC

Workshop size
This session is limited to 30 participants.

Workshop goals

• Learn and practice facilitation techniques to improve meetings, focus groups, and other group activities

• Explore common facilitation challenges and how to resolve them

• Develop a toolkit of facilitation skills

Overview
Make brainstorming, requirements gathering, problem solving, and group communication easier through facilitation. This interactive workshop will teach techniques and exercises to increase the effectiveness of meetings, boost creativity, stimulate problem solving, and encourage collaboration. Taught by two information professionals with formal facilitation training and experience, this full-day workshop will give you theory, hands-on practice time, and feedback.

Learn techniques to help groups begin working together, exercises for brainstorming and problem solving, pointers for conducting focus groups, and tips to make your meetings run smoothly. This participatory workshop will give attendees the opportunity to try their hand at facilitation in a supportive environment and receive feedback to improve their facilitation skills.

Participants will leave this workshop with a toolkit of facilitation skills and the confidence to use them. These skills can then be used to understand stakeholder needs and connect with clients, spread information and ideas, create strategic value and align services with strategic priorities, and make tough choices.

Session attendees will participate in facilitation exercises in small groups, interspersed with instruction and feedback from the speakers.

Speaker experience

Anne O’Shea is a Project Manager at Vancouver Public Library (VPL). Before embarking on VPL’s RFID implementation project, Anne was Assistant Manager for Collections & Electronic Resources, where she led a review and prioritization exercise of the library's electronic resources. Prior to VPL, Anne worked at the BC Securities Commission in research and knowledge management. Her interests include: facilitation, meaningful consultation processes, statistical geekery.

Laura Matheson is the Manager of Knowledge Management Services at the BC Securities Commission, where she uses facilitation to gather meaningful input on knowledge management initiatives. She also recently used her facilitation skills to guide colleagues in another group within the Commission through a strategy session. Prior to becoming Manager, Laura was the Web Content Strategist at the BC Securities Commission and led meetings, focus groups, and brainstorming sessions for web projects. Her interests include: sticky note brainstorming, effective meetings, user-focused design.

Prices:

$95 BCLA members / $125 non-members. Lunch is not included in the price, but there will be a 45 minute break.

Please register early to avoid disappointment! If you do not receive an e-mail confirmation after registering, contact the BCLA Office immediately (office@bcla.bc.ca) to ensure that your registration has been received.

Cancellations are subject to a $20 handling fee if received in writing (office@bcla.bc.ca) by the registration deadline (noon on Jan. 20, 2011). Participants may not be eligible for any refund if cancellations are received after this date.

Ticket(s):

BCLA Member	$95.00
Non-member	$125.00

Please go to bcla.bc.ca/facilitation/ to register.