BRWN-ALC-0005 - Group Facilitation & Meeting Management: Flexible Skills, Tools, and Philosophies for Every Situation

Registration Deadline: September 18th

30 Missouri/Illinois Social Work CEs

Bringing people together in constructive dialogue is essential for organizations and communities to advance projects and build connections. Making these gatherings as effective as possible increases productivity, improves decision-making, and strengthens a sense of belonging.

This course will help you increase your comfort and skill in facilitating groups and meetings of any size, whether in-person or virtual. Build your awareness of models, processes, and interactive activities that can be applied to group dialogue and decision-making. Gain strategies for giving directions to a group, developing facilitation activities related to a group's identified topic, and managing various responses to activities. Participants will also learn how to support or guide a group toward decision-making, ideation, or dialogue in meeting spaces. Finally, we will examine techniques that can be leveraged to create connections among the members of the group.

The skills and practice methods are applicable in multiple settings and relevant to gathering stakeholder input, community organizing, strategic planning, project evaluation, staff retreats, and policy development. Note: This class will focus on facilitation in the context of community and professional meetings, not clinical therapy or support groups. 

HYBIRD PROGRAM: This 6-session program includes in-person class meetings on 10/2, 10/16, 11/13, and 12/11 from 8:30 am - 3:30 pm, and 2 virtual class meetings via Zoom on 10/30 and 12/4 from 8:30 - 11:30 am, Central Time.

$995 General Admission
$895 Early Bird Discounted Admission available until August 18th
$895 Discounted Admission for WashU Alums, Students, Faculty, and Staff
*Applicable discount can be applied during checkout.

Click to view the program's webpage.

Course Outline

• Forming: This session introduces the group development model through the lens of the Forming stage. Participants will begin to establish the learning community by exploring practices that support psychological safety, early group cohesion, and the conditions necessary for collaborative learning. Strategies for supporting newly formed teams and setting shared expectations will be discussed and modeled.
• Storming: During this session, participants will examine the dynamics of conflict and power that often emerge in the Storming stage of group development. Through facilitated dialogue and applied examples, we will analyze techniques for addressing group tension, supporting productive disagreement, and navigating differences in communication and leadership styles.
• Norming Part 1: In this first session on the Norming stage, we will explore how facilitation supports a group’s ability to align on purpose and process. Participants will be introduced to concrete tools for agenda-setting, clarifying roles, fostering equitable participation, and maintaining momentum. Emphasis will be placed on adapting facilitation tools to the needs and maturity of the group.
• Norming Part 2: Building on the previous session, this segment will focus on deepening facilitation practice through structured planning and intentional design. Participants will engage in exercises that highlight how to tailor facilitation methods to group readiness, surface shared norms, and maintain psychological safety as roles and expectations become more clearly defined.
• Performing: This session will focus on application of learnings through the use of case study analysis. These case studies will be reviewed and discussed in small group Facilitation Pods before bringing their findings to the larger groups.
• Performing & Adjourning: In this culminating skills session, participants will apply key facilitation concepts through role play. Emphasis will be placed on leading real-time conversations, making in-the-moment decisions, and supporting groups in collaborative work such as ideation, planning, or problem-solving. We will also address the final stage of group development: Adjourning. Participants will reflect on their learning and consider the importance of intentional closure in facilitation practice. We will examine strategies for honoring group contributions, creating meaningful endings, and reinforcing connection and accountability beyond the meeting space

Learner Outcomes

• Describe models, processes, and interactive activities that can be applied to group dialogue and meeting facilitation.
• Develop strategies for giving directions to groups, designing facilitation activities related to identified topics, and responding effectively to participant reactions and engagement.
• Identify approaches for guiding groups through decision-making, ideation, and dialogue within meeting and facilitation settings.
• Demonstrate facilitation skills applicable to both in-person and virtual environments.
• Apply frameworks and strategies for managing group dynamics in facilitation and meeting spaces.

Course Completion Requirements:

The Brown School is an approved provider of Social Work CEs in Missouri and Illinois. To earn credit, attendees must arrive at the scheduled time, attend the entire course, and complete an online course evaluation. You may still qualify for partial Social Work Missouri and Illinois CEs if you miss part of the training. CE Certificates will be available online within 10 business days of course completion by visiting your learner profile at https://ce.wustl.edu/portal/logon.do?method=load&parentSite=brown.  You will receive an email notification with specific instructions for accessing the online certificate when it is available.

For more information about CEs, accessibility, refund/cancellation policy, our grievance policy, or other inquiries, please visit our About Us page or email brownprofdev@wustl.edu.