An Experiential Design Facilitation Workshop
How might we learn about through facilitation through doing – and putting on our worst facilitator hats?
Jaimie Park, Adam Haigler, and I hosted Facilitation Station, a hands-on workshop designed to help participants learn about facilitating the design process through experience rather than lectures. As co-organizers of the Victoria Impact Design Collective, we believe that facilitation is best learned by doing—not through PowerPoint.
Key takeaways
- In-the-moment adaptation is powerful—participants had to contend with short time limits, vague information from previous groups, and the chaos of the room.
- We could run this as a team training—this is not just another “do’s and don’ts” slideshow training; it is fully immersive and experiential.
- This is a quick way to build empathy for facilitators—participants experienced firsthand how many factors and different stakeholders can influence a facilitation session.
- Experiential learning—participants felt the impact of different facilitation techniques in real-time.
- Facilitation is a skill anyone can develop—whether you’re a designer, teacher, or community leader, the ability to guide a group is invaluable.
About the Workshop
Facilitation Station was a 2-hour session that brought together 30 participants from diverse backgrounds, ranging from absolute beginners to experienced senior designers, teachers, and facilitators. Our goal was to create a space where everyone could practice, reflect, and learn—regardless of their prior design experience.
What We Did
Instead of theoretical instruction, we engaged participants in interactive exercises where they could test out key facilitation skills on the fly. Through a series of fast-paced, playful, and thought-provoking activities, attendees:
- Practiced real-time adaptability
- Experienced group dynamics firsthand
- Learned techniques for guiding conversations and activities
Each activity was followed by structured debriefs, where participants reflected on their experiences and extracted practical insights they could bring back to their work.
Worst Possible Facilitation Warmup Exercise
One of the most fun activities was the Worst Possible Facilitation warmup, designed to highlight facilitation pitfalls and flip them into learning moments. Participants:
- Formed groups of four to discuss “what makes a facilitation experience awful.”
- Chose one awful facilitation characteristic to act out.
- Paired up with another team and facilitated a 3-minute session using their chosen awful characteristic.
- Had the observing team guess the facilitation flaw and then debriefed.
- Switched roles and repeated the process.
- Concluded with a group discussion, flipping the worst experiences into insights on positive facilitation techniques.
This exercise created laughter and solidified key facilitation dos and donts in a memorable way.
Main Activity: Designing the Best Train
For the main activity, we split the room into five groups, each representing one of the stages of the design process:
- Empathize
- Problem Definition
- Ideate
- Prototype
- Test
Each group was tasked with creating facilitation activities specific to their stage of the process while working towards the overarching challenge: “Design the Best Train.” Participants engaged in hands-on facilitation techniques, guiding their peers through their respective steps, ensuring an interactive and collaborative experience.
Why It Matters
Facilitation Station reinforced our belief that design thinking and facilitation should be accessible to everyone. As part of the Victoria Impact Design Collective, we are committed to making design-thinking experiential, playful, and inclusive—one workshop at a time.
More Jams?
For more info on future events, join the Victoria Impact Design Collective on Meetup
https://www.meetup.com/victoria-ux-service-design-jam
Stay connected with us at Victoria Impact Design Collective to hear about upcoming events!