Key Considerations and Best Practices for Virtual Facilitation

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A competent facilitator is an essential element to the success of any group or learning process. With the rise of virtual meetings and workshops it is increasingly essential for facilitators to learn how to lead in a remote setting. However, effectively facilitating in a virtual space requires time and attention to the unique challenges that participants face. This article examines the main aspects and best practices to ensure efficient virtual facilitation.

Virtual participants face a myriad of difficulties, such as the inability to discern body language and how others respond to a discussion. This can lead to some participants not feeling heard or their opinions are dismissed, which can affect the general outcome of a session. Qualitative facilitation helps ensure that everyone is engaged and all voices are heard.

Furthermore, a lack physical materials can make it difficult to run the same exercises and activities that could be used in live workshops. For example, using whiteboards and flip charts, a lot of post-it notepads and other visual resources can be very efficient in live workshops but this isn’t easy to replicate online. Bring a variety of different activities for an online session including breakout sessions, games with an experiential element and other traditional elements, such as information sharing and posing questions.