by Beth Cougler Blom | Feb 14, 2016 | Facilitation, Learning design, Online facilitation
Right now I’m involved in teaching two courses, both online. Course A is a nine-week credit course and Course B is a five-week non-credit course. I’m teaching Course A for the first time and I’ve taught Course B many times. Teaching Course A is a... by Beth Cougler Blom | Jul 25, 2015 | Facilitation
The other week I pinch-hit for a friend of mine, facilitating a workshop of her repertoire which teaches participants a whole bunch of energizers, icebreakers and games. The workshop is experiential – we don’t just talk about the activities, we do them! It... by Beth Cougler Blom | Jun 17, 2015 | Facilitation, Learning design
Recently I went to a presentation which had me feeling unsafe. The presenter asked us to write a personal statement (about our business niche) on an index card and place it in a basket at the front of the room after we came back from a break. He didn’t tell us... by Beth Cougler Blom | Jun 13, 2015 | Facilitation, Workshops
I’ve been reading a lot about human-centred design these days and one of the “mindsets” of HCD is to have creative confidence. To help achieve this, experts advise that we should venture out of our comfort zone, including learning about and immersing... by Beth Cougler Blom | Jun 8, 2015 | Facilitation
While facilitating a recent conference session on facilitation skills, near the end of the session a participant I was sitting beside asked me a direct question about my opinion on something. We were having a “raise the curtain” sort of workshop, talking... by Beth Cougler Blom | Jun 4, 2015 | Facilitation, Learning design
A friend of mine here in Victoria was a “maple syrup connector” for me this week. She, through a friend of hers, brought in a few cases of Quebec maple syrup and I got my cans out of her trunk on Monday afternoon. We spent a few minutes talking about the... by Beth Cougler Blom | Jun 1, 2015 | Facilitation, Professional development
At a facilitation skills session that I offered at a conference last Friday, the group participated in nine interactive activities in 1 1/2 hours. The first activity was so simple, and something people very often don’t do. As the group wandered into the workshop... by Beth Cougler Blom | May 29, 2015 | Facilitation
I’m in the middle of a two-day conference in Tsawwassen, BC and I have one idea to share about a presenter’s responsibility to her participants. I feel like I could write a whole manifesto on this (maybe someday I will!) but for now here’s just one... by Beth Cougler Blom | Sep 11, 2014 | Facilitation, Online facilitation, Workshops
Today I was at Volunteer Victoria meeting with my co-facilitators for the upcoming Leading Volunteers: Foundations in Volunteer Management course. This is the blended model course that I was lucky to be able to develop in 2012 that has become even better over time....