When event support moves into strategic process support

ILRI’s CKM team recently supported the process leading to and facilitating a ‘National coordination and experience sharing forum (NCESF) in the area of food security and resilience building programs in Ethiopia’. This experience went well beyond typical event support and offered interesting opportunities for ILRI more widely. This post also looks at lessons learned in the process. Continue reading →

Dust off your presenting and public speaking skills – our research depends on it

This presentation is about giving presentations. It’s about constructing, designing and delivering (academic) presentations that make a difference. Continue reading →

Could teachers or facilitators be leaders?

I did not think seriously about the fact that I could be a leader until I participated in a facilitation skills workshop for African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) in March 2016. Continue reading →

Developing ILRI’s capacity in participatory decision-making, from out in and in out

Participatory decision-making is essential to international agricultural research programs. Facilitation helps tackle it head-on and methodically. ILRI has understood this and is investing in this skill through training various staffs and further developing in-house capacity for group facilitation beyond the training. Continue reading →

Are you hosting an online conference? Here’s how to make the people online REALLY feel part of your conversation

More and more ILRI meetings take place online with a dominant group sitting face-to-face. How to make people participating online feel they are really welcome to the conversation? Here are some ideas simple enough to apply. Continue reading →

Need support for meetings? How ILRI’s engagement and collaboration team can assist

Everyone organizes or attends meetings all the time. But the vast majority of these are under-performing, under-delivering and leave us sooner empty than energized. The Engagement and Collaboration team of the ILRI communication and knowledge management unit can turn these meetings into successful, productive, long-lasting milestones. Here’s how. Continue reading →

Dead beat meetings danger zone: Bring facilitation to the rescue!

How many meeting have you been to this week, month, year? How many of them left you feeling drained and under-utilized? Bring a facilitator as the answer to this dreadful ‘deadbeat meeting zone’. Continue reading →

Overcoming the dangers of PowerPoint recitals

A lot of events end up being ‘Death-by-PowerPoint’ executions, by design and default. ILRI CKM support much more interactive events than those. But even with a PowerpPoint recital, a lot can be done to improve how they are run. This post presents such ideas, drawing from a recent example. Continue reading →

ILRI comms – engagement and collaboration team under the microscope

Introducing the work of ILRI’s engagement and collaboration team in the communications and KM group. Continue reading →

Open access; open facilitation: One week, two good ideas

This week is ‘Open Access Week’ with lots of activities happening worldwide. A good week to celebrate the freedom of information to circulate. This week is also ‘International Facilitation Week’; also a good opportunity to wonder how open facilitation helps knowledge circulate just as openly… Continue reading →