By Gisa Hartmann

Last month, Mike Frick introduced our approach on conflict management in workshops. But what if you face the opposite problem – no one talking at all? Facilitating a lively discussion also requires that facilitators provoke new thinking by breaking down barriers and ensuring everyone feels that their voice counts.

First: Break the Ice

A lot of times the key to generating a good, active discussion is that participants feel comfortable with one another–which can be challenging when participants do not know each other that well. Here are two of our favorite simple icebreaker activities.

Pair introduction: Before the meeting starts, divide the group into pairs and have each person to ask their partner a few questions about his/her background, interests, hobbies etc. Then ask each person to introduce his/her partner to the group. Try to pair up people who do not know one another yet.

Sentence completion: Provide participants with a half-finished sentence and ask them to complete it. You should keep the topics light. Some of our favorite examples include:

–  If I could throw caution to the wind, I would…

–  If I could live anywhere in the world, I would move to…

–  The best gift I ever received was…

–  The best gift I ever gave was…

–  I am happiest when…

These may seem obvious, but they can make a big difference in loosening up a tense room.  We have also found that an icebreaker that gets people out of their seats and moving around the room can help to break down barriers.

Second: Get Everyone Involved

Once discussion begins, it is important that you as the facilitator keep participants involved and focused on the topic of discussion. When you start off:

–  Avoid “yes or no” questions with only one right answer. Nothing kills a discussion faster. People will avoid answering these questions for fear of giving the “wrong” answer.

–  Some people may hesitate to speak after a facilitator shares his or her opinion. Try to solicit other viewpoints before giving your own. You can do this by referring any questions that come from the group back to the group before you respond yourself.

–  If you find that some people are reluctant to speak, try dividing participants into pairs or small groups and have them discuss an issue together first. Then, bring everyone back together and have a representative from each group share highlights from their group’s discussion. This way, everyone gets to contribute, but you don’t slow down the pace.  This can especially be useful in a setting where some people are uncomfortable speaking in front of others.

–  In order to encourage participants that are new to the group or new to a topic, it can help to assign short writing or reflection assignments before, or during, the workshop. After everyone has taken time to write and reflect, ask a few people to share their thoughts with everyone. This approach works well for people who want time to organize their thoughts in writing before expressing them out loud.

Of course, another important factor to keep people involved in the discussion is to make sure that everyone is interested in the topic, and that they understand why it’s important. You may also want to circulate the agenda in advance of the workshop with a request for input, in order to give participants a chance to share their thoughts or give feedback on
the agenda.

Third: Keep the Discussion Going

Creative and productive discussions also arise from good prompts. A prompt can be a question, topic, image or event that you ask people to comment on. Offering a prompt gives people something concrete and specific to talk about as an entry to the major topic you will explore in a section of the workshop. Here are a few examples:

Responding to headlines: Bring in (or ask participants to bring) a newspaper headline about an event related to the workshop topic. Ask people to discuss the implications of this news item. You can do the same with photographs, music, or by playing a short video.

Sharing expertise: Everyone in your workshop has expertise on something. Give the participants a
chance to share their expertise by incorporating a short brainstorming session on a topic, and draw lessons from the things they share that relate to the points you will make.  For instance, before teaching a lesson on volunteer management, we ask participants in our workshops to share successes and challenges they have faced with volunteers. We write some issues on the board, such as “high drop-out rate” or “lack of reliability,” and return to those issues when we teach what we recommend doing to address these problems.

What if…? Scenarios: Ask participants to respond to “What if…?” scenarios. “What if…?” scenarios
posit a hypothetical event that might affect the issue you are discussing in the future. Ask participants to brainstorm how the scenario might influence their work and then help them to think through the implications.

Asking meeting participants to engage in these exercises can get people talking, and it is also a way for you to evaluate who in the workshop is learning the material quickly, who needs more encouragement or support, and whether everything you have tried to teach the group has gotten through. Consequently, using these tools not only helps to spark creative, meaningful discussions, but also helps you to evaluate your own workshop.

Gisa Hartmann is the China Program Director at Asia Catalyst.