Facilitating Community Conversations

Are you looking for a new way to engage with your community? Our communities today face new and persistent challenges. Community conversations can help to create cohesion, increase understanding, and address these challenges with collaboration and insights from all.

In this course, participants will learn how to organize and facilitate these conversations in their own communities. They will develop skills in designing, convening, and leading conversations on issues that matter most to the communities they live and work in.

During the four weeks of this course, you will learn:

• How to frame and structure your conversation to be meaningful and achieve your goals.
• How to develop powerful questions and facilitate a conversation among diverse community members.
• How to identify community partners and collaborate to convene conversations
• How to address challenging moments in a conversation and come to decisions as a group.
• How to continue to develop and strengthen your practice.

Join us to plan and gain comfort with leading your next conversation!

Course Description: This four-week course will include two interactive online sessions:

• Wednesday, May 11 (12:00-1:15 PM Pacific)
• Tuesday, May 24 (12:00-1:15 PM Pacific)

Please make every effort to ensure that you are able to attend these two meetings before enrolling in the course. If this is not possible, archived recordings will be made available.

In addition to the scheduled sessions, you will work independently and with your fellow participants in discussion forums to map out a plan for your first conversation, and practice facilitation skills and discuss how to improve. Each week, you will be provided with materials to review, and activities which apply the skills you are learning. By sharing among participants, you will benefit from the ideas and feedback of your fellow learners. And, you will have the opportunity to apply these skills to your life and work immediately.

Course Outline: When you log in to the Infopeople online learning site, you will see weekly modules with these topics:

• Week 1: Planning Community conversations
  • Identifying goals and frame topics for conversation
  • Identifying community partners and collaborating to convene conversations
• Week 2: Designing the Conversation
  • Building a conversation structure
  • Crafting powerful questions
• Week 3: Facilitation Skills and Techniques
  • The facilitator’s role and other conversation roles
  • Active listening techniques
  • Addressing challenging moments in a conversation
• Week 4: Closing a Conversation, Next Steps, and Reflections\
  • Identifying next steps and potential actions beyond the conversation
  • Reflecting on facilitation practice and receive feedback.

Pre-course Assignment: None.

Time Required: To complete this course, you can expect to spend 2 ½ hours per week, for a total of ten course hours. Each week's module contains various options for assignments, discussions, or online meetings. You can choose the options most relevant to your work and interests. Although you can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night, it is recommended that you complete each week's work within that week to stay in sync with other learners.

Who Should Take This Course: Library staff, community leaders, local government officials and staff, and any community members interested in facilitating conversations in their community.

Online Learning Details and System Requirements may be found at: infopeople.org/training/online_learning_details.

Are you a member of ARSL? If so, you may be able to sign up for a free seat in this course. Limit is four free seats per course. Make your request here and if a free seat is available you will be notified.