Tips for Rotary trainers: Facilitated discussion

Are you a new trainer? Brushing up on your training skills? Try these facilitated group discussion ideas.

Facilitated discussion is a proven method for training adult learners as it encourages participants to share their own knowledge and learn from their peers. Facilitators should have an outline to guide training, but should remain flexible to allow group discussions to flow.

A good facilitator can elicit discussion and keep the group on topic. To help maintain participants’ attention during training, facilitators can incorporate interactive activities into their sessions. Activities often help participants retain the material covered.

Here are a few ideas for interactive activities:

• "Getting to know you" activity - Participants share something about themselves and a given topic to get acquainted with one another and begin thinking about the session topic. If participants do not know each other, this activity creates a more comfortable learning environment that promotes participation.
• Pair and share - Participants independently consider a question, discuss it with a partner, and then share ideas with the entire group, if time allows. Pairing ensures that everyone has an opportunity to share their own ideas.
• Voting - Participants can indicate their preference for topics listed on a flip chart by placing a mark next to the one or two they are most interested in. This activity quickly assesses participant needs and concerns.

For more tips, see the Training Best Practices Database.