Facilitating

Advance preparation

• Find out as much as possible about your participants. At a conference this advance information may be limited.
• Note that participants will have indicated the need for an accommodation on the special needs form. Where the accommodation requires facilitators to take this into account, they will need to be informed. For example, a participant with a hearing disability may require the facilitator to speak facing the class.
• Anticipate that some participants might have reading, writing or comprehension difficulties and consider how you will help them participate fully in the workshop. There are a few examples under 'On your feet' on the next page.
• Anticipate cultural differences among participants which may involve, for example, different accents and ways of describing experiences. Consider how to share the richness of the diversity of experience and how to address power imbalances in the class.