As part of our mission to spread the concept of facilitation and participation around the world, we have provided a bank of resources for facilitators and group leaders to help support your facilitation practice. Please feel free to use and download these resources, as well as share them with others.
1. ToP Course materials
These resources are linked to our public courses, so you may find it beneficial to attend these trainings to understand in depth how to use the resources below.
ICA:UK Blogs:
Going Virtual? 6 tips to make your virtual meetings more effective and engaging
The Producer Role in Virtual Events – more than just a ‘spare pair of hands’ ?
Case Study: Facilitating ‘hybrid’ offline/online events
International Association of Facilitators (IAF): Making Virtual Facilitation a Success
2. Other ToP Resources
These resources are also linked to our public courses, however you may still find these useful even if you have not attended our training.
ICA-UK News and Blog Page – www.ica-uk.org.uk/news
Martin Gilbraith’s Blog – https://martingilbraith.com/blog
ICA Canada News and Articles – www.ica-associates.ca/news
ToP Method case studies from ICA Canada – www.ica-associates.ca/case-studies
North West Facilitators Blog – www.facilitatorsnorthwest.com/blog
North Star Facilitators Blog – www.northstarfacilitators.com/blog
RP Facilitates Blog – https://rpfacilitates.com/blog
http://top-facilitation.com/empowering-tools
Stretching the Facilitator, Wayne Nelson
Method Matters-ToP PSP Marilyn Oyler, John Burbidge
The Magic of the Facilitator Brian Stanfield
Facilitation from the inside out, John Epps
The Technology of Participation (Change Handbook Chapter 45), Marilyn Oyler and Gordon Harper
Using ToP in conflict, Jonathan Dudding
Using ToP in the Philippines, 2008
Four Steps to a Universal Principle of Facilitation and Learning, Martin Gilbraith
Transformational Strategy: from Trepidation to Unlocked, Martin Gilbraith
3. ICA:UK and IAF England and Wales ToP Methods Hub
ICA-UK has partnered with the International Association of Facilitators England and Wales to bring people from all our courses together into community of trainers, facilitators and participants. If you’ve ever attended a ToP ICA course and want to network and speak to others about the methods and offer and receive facilitation advice join the free ToP Methods Slack Channel. Please note you must have attended a ToP Course to access this resource.
Step 1. Register for Slack IAF Facilitators and Friends here
If this direct link does not work, visit the IAF England and Wales webpage, and scroll down to the “February 2020” update and follow the links from there.
Step 2. Once registered, on the left hand side of your slack dashboard, click ‘add channel’ and search ‘iaf-ew-top-facilitation’ to join us
4. Other Facilitation Resources
In addition to ICA’s own ToP methodology, there are many other effective group facilitation methods available, often developed with a specific intention in mind and for certain group sizes. There is an increasing number of websites with open access which support you to decide what methods might be best placed to fulfill the particular needs of the session and the group. Examples include:
Session Lab – https://www.sessionlab.com/blog/free-online-workshop-resources/
Seeds for Change – https://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/tools.pdf
NHS Facilitator Toolkit – https://www.england.nhs.uk/improvement-hub/wp-content/uploads/sites/44/2017/11/Facilitator-Toolkit.pdf
Mind Tools – https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/RoleofAFacilitator.htm
Benjy Stanton – https://www.benjystanton.co.uk/blog/design-workshops/
Atlasian – https://www.atlassian.com/team-playbook/plays
Game Storming – https://gamestorming.com/
Liberating Structures – http://www.liberatingstructures.com/
Session Lab – https://www.sessionlab.com/library
Hyper Island Toolbox – https://toolbox.hyperisland.com/
5. International Association of Facilitators Meet Up Groups
Our friends at IAF England & Wales, convene regular, open facilitation meetups for “IAF facilitators & friends” through regional meetup groups around England & Wales – currently all online, until further notice:
London & South East – monthly coffee meetups in London, Brighton, Oxfordshire & Winchester; plus in London each month either an afternoon or an evening learning meetup, or an evening drinks meetup.
North of England – a monthly coffee meetup for the North (a collaborative of our former Manchester, Yorkshire & Leeds monthly meetups, for as long as we are all meeting online) plus three afternoon regional learning meetups per year. We are keen to support a new monthly coffee meetup in Liverpool in particular, when we return to meeting face-to-face.
South West of England – monthly coffee meetups in Bristol/Bath and Devon and three afternoon regional learning meetups per year.
Midlands & East of England – monthly coffee meetups in Birmingham, Nottingham & Cambridgeshire plus two afternoon regional learning meetups per year and our England & Wales Annual Conference in Birmingham during International Facilitation Week each October (16-17 Oct 2020, this year online).
Wales – monthly & bi-monthly coffee meetups in Cardiff and two afternoon learning meetups per year. We are keen to support a new monthly coffee meetup in North Wales.
6. ICA:UK's YouTube Channel
Why not check out ICA:UK’s YouTube channel. You will find a number of videos on topics at the heart of facilitation as well as a series of tips and tricks for StickyWall owners.
An Introduction to Facilitation
New to facilitation? Need a refresher for your own practice? In our mini videos below our facilitators and lead trainers expertly explain the basic principles underlying facilitation.
ICA's Technology of Participation (ToP) Methods
ICA:UK draws on more than 50 years of experience in group work, community development and participatory decision-making to offer our Technology of Participation facilitation training courses. Learn our structured approach to facilitating meetings and events through our series of one, two-day face to face courses, our online courses and our focused conversation webinars. Learn more about our courses.
Online Focused Conversation Series
Alongside our courses we also have also delivered two series’ of online focused conversations. The sessions centred around different topics in facilitation and demonstrated how the ToP Focused Conversation method could be used online. Below are recordings of some of our sessions.
Alan Heckman's Facilitation Tips
Our lead trainer, Alan Heckman, has over 20 years experience as a facilitator and trainer. Below are just some of his great tips to help you hone your facilitation practice and become a great facilitator!
StickyWall Tips and Tricks
Our popular StickyWalls are light, portable and a great visual tool for facilitators, group leaders and trainers. Here are some helpful pointers for using your StickyWall – and if you don’t have yours yet, you can buy yours here.
