ICA’s Technology of Participation (ToP) facilitation methodology draws on more than 50 years of worldwide experience in community and organisational development, group work and participatory decision-making. ICA:UK has provided ToP facilitation training in the UK and elsewhere since 1996.
Learn our structured approach to facilitating meetings and events through our online and face to face training courses.
Follow the links in the table for a full description of each course, with feedback from previous course participants. We regularly run public courses in Manchester, London and online. We also occasionally host courses in other cities around the UK.
Please visit Course Dates and Registration to see upcoming dates. All of our courses are also available in-house for your organisation or group.
Online Full Facilitation Training Courses
| TITLE | LEVEL | DURATION | OVERVIEW |
| Group Facilitation Methods | foundation | 8 x 2.25 hour sessions | Our most popular course, introducing the foundations of the ToP approach. This course is a methods course, so it is useful both for beginners and for experienced facilitators who wish learn our approach. |
| Facilitating Virtual Events | foundation | 7 x 2 hour sessions | Building your competence and confidence in virtual facilitation. |
| Transforming Difficult Conversations | foundation | 4 x 2 hour sessions | Creating positive outcomes in challenging situations. |
| Participatory Strategic Planning | intermediate | 8 x 2.25 hour sessions | Bringing people together to create strategies for action. |
| Facilitating Hybrid Events | intermediate | 3 x 2 hour sessions | Designing and delivering cohesive, effective and engaging hybrid meetings and events. |
| Taking ToP Methods Online | intermediate | 2 x 2.5 hour sessions | Adapting ICA’s ToP facilitation methods for the online world. |
Online Short Facilitation Workshops
| TITLE | LEVEL | DURATION | OVERVIEW |
| Intro to Facilitation | foundation | 2.5 hours | Introducing the role of the facilitator and the ToP approach, plus some key tips & tools. |
| Intro to Facilitating Virtual Events | foundation | 2.5 hours | Exploring how we can take our face to face facilitation skills, into a virtual environment. |
| Intro to Producing Virtual Events | foundation | 2.5 hours | Considering the role of the producer in delivering great virtual events. |
| Intro to Facilitating Hybrid Events | intermediate | 2.5 hours | Examining the facilitation challenges and opportunities posed by ‘hybrid’ events. |
| Energising Online Groups | foundation | 2.25 hours | Exploring different methods to boost engagement levels, energise your group or team and manage online fatigue. |
Face to Face Facilitation Training Courses
| TITLE | LEVEL | DAYS | OVERVIEW |
| Group Facilitation Methods | foundation | 2 | Our most popular course, introducing the foundations of the ToP approach. This course is a methods course, so it is useful both for beginners and for experienced facilitators who wish learn our approach. |
| Transforming Difficult Conversations | foundation | 1 | How to create positive outcomes in challenging situations |
| Dynamic Action Planning | foundation | 1 | Dynamic Action Planning for short-term projects and events. |
| Participatory Strategic Planning | intermediate | 2 | Bringing people together to create strategies for action. |
| Meetings that Work | foundation | 2 | Plan, prepare for and facilitate productive meetings |
| Facilitating Client Collaboration | foundation | 2 | Practical tools to design facilitation approaches with your client |
Additional Available Facilitation Training Courses
These are specialised curricula which may be appropriate for your group or organisation, we are always happy to adapt our courses to suit your specific needs.
| TITLE | LEVELS | DAYS | OVERVIEW |
| Introduction to Group Facilitation | foundation | 1 | Exploring the role and skills of the facilitator, this course helps beginners gain confidence in their role. |
| Facilitating Organisational Change | advanced | 2 | Frameworks and tools for facilitating ‘whole systems’ change. |
| Designing Participatory Events | intermediate | 1 | Ensuring events are productive and successful |
| Collaborative Leadership | advanced | 4.5 hours online, 3 days training, Action Learning Sets online; | Explores theories of leadership, teaches methods that can support collaborative work and engage teams, partners, and clients in developing vision and strategy, and sets in place processes that can support a leader’s development over the long term |
| Group Facilitation Skills | foundation | 1-2 | In addition to methods, what are the skills that a facilitator needs to be effective? Build your own course from a range of modules” |
| ToP and Logic Models | advanced | 1 | How to apply a participatory approach to the development of logic models |