Workshop facilitation
I facilitate engaging workshops that enable every voice to be heard and insight to be considered by the group.
The workshops help teams achieve consensus; explore organisational mission, vision, purpose and creative direction; action plan; and reflect back on projects.
I design workshops that fit clients’ requirements, structuring them to ensure workshop aims are met and encouraging constructive contributions and understanding.
Having been trained by the Institute of Cultural Affairs in Group Facilitation Methods, I frequently use and build on their Focused Conversation Method and Consensus Workshop Method in workshops that I facilitate. I also like to use a giant “Sticky Wall” to enable participants to move around and share their ideas, and for the group to categorise and move ideas around.
I’m also happy to facilitate workshops online through clients’ choice of video software such as Zoom, making the most of a range of interactive features to enable participation.
I always provide a write-up of the session, capturing the discussions and conclusions.
Case studies
Museum of London
I facilitated a partner reflection workshop as part of the evaluation of a school study day which was a collaborative multi-year project run by members of the Culture Mile Learning partnership in London, led by the Museum of London, Tower Bridge / The Monument and The Barbican. This allowed representatives of participating organisations to identify key successes and challenges with the project, and importantly lessons learned and how they could be applied to future projects.
Writing East Midlands
I facilitated a full-day workshop to explore audience development with Writing East Midlands - a literature development agency - where they are and where they want to get to.
Colchester Arts Partnership
I facilitated a workshop with representatives from Colchester’s museums and arts partners, exploring how the organisations could deepen their relationships and bring maximum benefits to their combined audiences and increase the vibrancy and prosperity of the town. The outcome was a shared vision statement, group principles, aims and agreement on how the group will achieve these.
The Museum of Chelmsford
I facilitated a series of workshops for various museum teams to capture their insights, experiences and ideas to feed into the development of the marketing strategy. This included sessions on audience journey mapping and marketing channels and platforms.
Stratford Circus Arts Centre
I facilitated a workshop to allow the marketing team to identify a relevant and appropriate tone of voice and personality for the organisation’s marketing, and in particular its social media marketing. This included providing inspiration and provocations, and creating a series of exercises to work through and set out on the ‘Sticky Wall.’
The Workhouse Network
I facilitated a ‘Virtual Visioning Workshop’ to generate and explore ideas for the next five years of the Workshouse Network, to feed into the development of the organisation’s Forward Plan. This allowed representatives to contribute and built enthusiasm and consensus around the plan.
Testimonials
"It was a delight working with Christina. She successfully navigated and evaluated a complicated schools project which included the participation and feedback from more than ten project partners. Importantly for us her tenacity in contacting the school made sure they responded and their feedback was included in the final report! Her facilitation of the partner reflection workshop was transformative. It continues to be spoken about for its effectiveness in identifying the sticking points within the project and creating collaborative solutions."
Laura Turnage, Programme Manager (Secondary Schools), the Museum of London”Christina was a pleasure to work with. She very quickly understood the complex situation and diverse sectors involved in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. She understood the varying challenges. Working with individual members of The Workhouse Network she quickly came up with a way of structuring a Virtual Visioning Day to take account of different backgrounds, experiences and skills sets. She facilitated a lengthy online meeting with energy, ensuring everyone had a voice and that the session was timed appropriately with break-out rooms, practical exercises and breaks. She took the complex feedback from the day and condensed it into a useful and stimulating report which we have now used to underpin our new 5 year Forward Plan.”
Megan Dennis, Curator, Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse”Being able to bring in an expert in audience development to help us generate ideas and challenge our current thinking about our audiences was so useful. As the museum is only one component of a larger trust that manages heritage, theatres, libraries, arts development and sport and wellbeing, it was fantastic to have someone with a specific heritage background to be able to translate our thoughts as a team into something that marketing could relate to and vice versa.”
Sarah Wilson, Archaeology Development Manager and Team Leader, Vivacity Peterborough
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