Hey friend,

I’ve been saying it for a while, and it’s finally happening. This is my last newsletter from Substack.

Nothing dramatic behind it. I just want everything in one place, and that place is my own site.

So here’s what changes for you.

Starting Wednesday, the newsletter arrives from mehdi@facilitators-corner.com instead of this address. Same thing I’ve always written, same rhythm, different envelope. You don’t need to do anything.

One small favour though. Add mehdi@facilitators-corner.com to your contacts now, before Wednesday. That’s the difference between the next issue reaching your inbox and it sitting in your promotions tab.

The blog is live too, and the first piece is already up.

It’s about the moment workshop design quietly turns into procrastination, and the three questions I use to know when I’m actually done:

Check my new blog post!

See you Wednesday.

Mehdi

It’s summer (and it’s so warm here 🥵)

This one’s a bit more personal than usual, opening up the behind the scenes thoughts of being a dad-entrepreneur.

Don’t worry, I’ve still got a couple of facilitation nuggets for you.

A few months ago, Kirsty Lewis asked me to give a talk at SOFEST, the facilitation festival.

I said yes right away. It felt like too good an opportunity to pass up.

At the time, I was still working full-time. June felt far away. Three days at a facilitation festival sounded fun, not complicated.

Then everything changed.

January came. I went full-time on my business. And June turned into the busiest month of my year.

I’m a dad of two young kids. The weeks before summer holidays are already a game of Tetris. Everyone wants to close things out before the break. Q3 workshop conversations to have. Sessions that still need to be delivered before the summer. Every day away from work has a real cost now.

So yes, a part of me wondered if I should still go.

I’m incredibly glad I didn’t listen to that hesitant part of me.

Not because I came home with pages of notes or some revolutionary new technique.

I came home with perspective. And this year, that mattered more.

A quick heads up.

In the next 2 weeks, I’ll be moving this newsletter from Substack to Kit.

Nothing changes on your end. You’ll still get the same emails. But if you’re not interested in following me over there, now is the time to unsubscribe from Substack.

Why the switch? Right now I’m doing the same work twice. That’s not sustainable. So I’m consolidating, and putting all my energy into one place instead of two.

Space to zoom out

Here’s what I learned as a solo business owner: how easy it is to get trapped in operations.

Delivering workshops. Answering emails. Refining slides. Solving today’s fire.

Three days surrounded by people who care deeply about facilitation gave me something I didn’t know I needed.

Space to think.

Space to zoom out.

Space to have conversations I would never have had otherwise.

Two facilitators, two business owners, both way ahead of me. We’re talking multimillion-dollar businesses. Years in the field. A long list of mistakes made and lessons learned the hard way.

People I would never normally get access to.

For thirty minutes, that train carriage turned into a mastermind. No agenda. No slides. Just three people talking honestly.

I asked them everything.

They didn’t hold back. They shared :

• Their mistakes.

• What they wish they’d known before starting.

• What I actually needed to be working on..

Somewhere in those thirty minutes, my hunch turned into confidence.

It didn’t change my thinking.

It confirmed it.

Sometimes that’s even more valuable.

To me, Entrepreneurship feels like being in a dark room, trying to find the door.

You have to keep moving. But you never know if you’re getting closer to the right door, or further away from it.

And there isn’t just one door. There are several. You just have to find one.

Every day is a string of tiny decisions made in the dark. Keep going this way, or try that one. Small choices that decide whether you find a door or walk straight into another wall.

That conversation felt like someone finally handed me a flashlight for the next few steps.

When you’re building something, you question yourself constantly.

Should I pursue this idea? Should I focus there instead? Am I missing an opportunity, or just chasing the next shiny thing?

Not going to lie, all these thoughts are tiring. So glad I’ve got a flashlight now.

It gave me confidence that the path I’ve chosen is still the one I want to follow.

It’s the harder path. It’s the slower path. But it seems the right one for me..

My 3 key takeaways from SOFEST

I promised you facilitation tips, and I’m not skipping out on those. Here are the three that stuck with me most.

1. Play deserves a seat at the table

Kelsey Kates opened SOFEST, and she didn’t argue that play is fun. She argued that play unlocks collaboration, confidence, and ideas that would never surface in a more rigid room.

Here’s the mechanism.

Play removes the fear of getting things wrong. And when that fear dissolves, people take risks. They challenge assumptions. They build ideas together instead of alone.

Play isn’t decoration on top of good thinking. It’s what makes good thinking possible in the first place.

There’s a neuroscience angle too. Humans are the only mammals who stop playing as they age. That says something about what we’ve trained ourselves out of, not something we were never wired for.

So when Kelsey says play is a design principle, she means it structurally. It starts with permission to approach a challenge differently, and it continues with intentional design.

That’s the part I want to sit with. Not “add an icebreaker.” Design the whole room with the play angle in mind.

2. Learning transfer deserves more attention

Melanie Martinelli runs the Institute for Transfer Effectiveness, and she opened with a number that should stop every facilitator in their tracks: only 15% of training actually gets applied on the job.

Her frameworks come from a review of 110 years of research, built with Dr. Ina Weinbauer-Heidel. Twelve levers determine whether learning sticks. Four of them live inside the design of the session itself: clarity of expectations, content relevance, active practice, and transfer planning.

But the line that hit me hardest was about how we define success in the first place. In her experience, no organization ever tells her transfer doesn’t matter. They all say it’s important. Then their actions say something else.

Her fix isn’t more content. It’s redefining the finish line. Shift the signal from attendance to application. Say goodbye to certificates of attendance, and say hello to certificates of implementation.

This session gave me some of the frameworks I’d been looking for. Things I felt intuitively but could never quite prove. Now I have the research, the language, and the practical takeaways to bring into my own craft.

I’ve always said workshops don’t fail in the room. They fail after.

This was the reminder I needed. The workshop isn’t the deliverable. What people do differently three weeks later is.

3. Selling isn’t separate from facilitation

Emily Gardner shared an idea that clicked instantly.

Good sales conversations rely on the same skills we use as facilitators. Ask thoughtful questions. Listen carefully instead of pitching. Understand the real challenge. Design the right process around what the person actually needs, not around what you want to say next.

Maybe sales was never about convincing people.

Maybe it’s about facilitating the right conversation.

That reframes the discomfort a lot of us feel around selling. If a sales conversation is just a facilitated conversation with a different outcome attached, then we already have the skill. We’ve just been telling ourselves it belongs to a different job title.

The lesson underneath the lesson (#inceptionlesson)

I almost skipped SOFEST because I thought I couldn’t afford three days away from the business.

Turns out, stepping away from the business was exactly what the business needed.

Sometimes the most valuable work we do isn’t another workshop, another proposal, or another client call.

Sometimes it’s giving ourselves enough distance to remember why we’re building this in the first place.

I'm sharing this because it's summer. Maybe this is your moment too. Step back from the business. Reflect. See what's working, what isn't, what needs to change. Book that team retreat you've been putting off (and this retreat can just take place in your living room :D)

One more thing

I’m hosting a free live session to give you a practical demo of the Workshop Deck, both the printed deck and the app.

This one’s for you if you’ve already bought the deck or app and want to feel more confident using it in practice, and unlock its full potential.

It’s also for you if you’ve been curious about what’s inside the deck, how it works, or how it could help you design better workshops in less time.

During the session, we’ll explore how the cards are organized, how the framework fits together, and how you can use the deck to build a clear workshop flow without starting from scratch every time.

I’ll also walk you through the app and share practical tips for choosing activities, structuring your sessions, and designing around the outcomes you actually want to achieve.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• How the cards and framework work together

• How to choose the right cards for your workshop goals

• How to design a clear workshop flow in less time

• A live demo of the app

• An open Q&A

Save your spot!

A friend of mine is also hosting a great session on reading the room

On July 16th, Andra is running a session on reading the room.

Most facilitation challenges don’t start the moment someone interrupts, goes quiet, or disagrees. They start the moment we decide we already know what that behaviour means.

A quiet participant isn’t always disengaged. A difficult participant isn’t always resistant. Someone who keeps talking isn’t always trying to take over. Same behaviour, completely different reasons. And if the reason is different, the way you respond needs to change too.

This session is all about learning to see what’s happening beneath the behaviour, so you know what actually deserves your attention when a session goes off-script.

Save your spot!

See you in the corner. 💚

Mehdi

P.S. If you’re building something solo, when’s the last time you let yourself step away long enough to remember why you started?

Hey Friend,

Today’s newsletter is all about the framework I use to design workshop.

Designing a workshop is not like going to the grocery store and throwing random items in your cart.

You might pick great items. Great activities, great tools, great ice breakers. But throwing them together in whatever order won’t give you a good meal.

It’ll give you a mess that will probably not deliver what your client expect.

Workshop design works the same way. You need a process. You need a framework. You need the right sequence to move participants from where they are today to where they need to be.

That’s the whole idea behind the 6Cs Framework, the one I use for every session I design, whether it’s a strategy workshop, a team retreat, a retrospective, an innovation sprint, or a plain alignment meeting.

Connect. Collect. Choose. Create. Commit. Celebrate.

Originally the 4 Cs from AJ&Smart (Collect, Choose, Create, Commit), extended by the facilitation community to six. Here’s the part most people get wrong: they treat it like a checklist when it’s actually a sequence, and skipping a step doesn’t just weaken it, it breaks the ones after it.

A few things I’ve learned running it hundreds of times:

1. Connect

Connect is the first step of the framework. It’s about building connection before the real work starts: between the participants, between the participants and you the facilitator, and between the participants and the topic of the session.

It’s not a box to check because “that’s what workshops do.” It’s where you read the room and where the room starts trusting you. Skip it, and everything after it gets harder. (Also, I never call it an ice breaker out loud. I call it a warm-up. Say “ice breaker” and half the room braces for cringe before you’ve even started.)

2. Collect

This is the phase most facilitators rush past on their way to the brainstorm. Don’t.

Before a group can create anything useful, they need to align on the raw material: the challenges, the data, the context. The Collect phase is where you gather everything the group needs to engage meaningfully with the topic. It creates the connection between the participants and the problem.

And here’s why skipping it is so costly: if your group hasn’t collected the right information, they cannot create the right ideas. The quality of your brainstorm is a direct result of the quality of your Collect phase. Most facilitators wonder why the ideas feel thin. It’s because they skipped this step.

3. Choose

You cannot work on everything. Neither can your participants.

The Choose phase is where the group decides what to focus on and what to set aside. It’s the moment where the scope gets real. Where the energy stops spreading thin and starts concentrating on what matters most. I see companies skip this constantly, and the result is always the same: projects that are too complex, too broad, and too overwhelming to ever actually ship.

Choose is the phase that makes the rest of the workshop possible.

4. Create

Now you brainstorm.

This is the phase everyone wants to jump to first, and the reason the three phases before it exist. When you’ve connected the group, collected the right information, and chosen the right focus, the Create phase stops being a room full of people shouting ideas and starts being a group generating solutions that actually fit the problem.

Ideas, actions, prototypes, decisions. This is where they happen.

5. Commit

A workshop without a Commit phase is just a really expensive conversation.

This is the step I see facilitators skip most often, usually because they ran out of time. But without commitment, nothing you created in the session will survive the walk back to the office. The Commit phase is where next steps get named, owners get assigned, and the group leaves with clarity on what happens when the room empties.

This is the phase that turns a good workshop into a workshop that actually changes something. If the goal is action, not just alignment, Commit is non-negotiable.

If you want to be the facilitator people actually thank afterwards, this phase is why.

6. Celebrate

Finish on a high.

Participants move through a workshop activity by activity, and by the end they’ve lost the thread of everything they achieved. The Celebrate phase is your chance to hand it back to them. Remind the group what they built, what they decided, and what they’re walking away with. Make them feel the weight of what they accomplished.

In a normal working environment, what a good workshop produces in two hours would take weeks. That’s worth celebrating.

The Workshop Deck is built around this framework from the ground up. Every activity is already sorted by Connect, Collect, Choose, Create, Commit, or Celebrate. You always know which phase you're picking from.

I put together a short preview of the deck so you can see how it works before deciding if it’s for you. You can find it here.

One more thing: the summer deal on the Workshop Deck ends tonight. If you’ve been on the fence, this is the last call.

12 hours left

For a limited time, you can grab:

• The Workshop Deck (print) at 40% off. The lowest price since launch.

• The Workshop Deck app lifetime access at 40% off. We’re moving to a monthly subscription in Q3, so this is the last chance to lock in lifetime access, especially at this price. Also the lowest since launch.

• The Workshop Design Mastery Pack, the full package: print deck, app, full course, and group coaching sessions. Everyone who grabs the Mastery Pack this summer also gets free access to my Workshop Sales Masterclass, a live session I’m hosting exclusively this summer.

Use code SUMMER40 at checkout.

Grab the crazy deal!

A quick heads up.

In the next 2-3 weeks, I’ll be moving this newsletter from Substack to Kit.

Nothing changes on your end. You’ll still get the same emails. But if you’re not interested in following me over there, now is the time to unsubscribe from Substack.

Why the switch? Right now I’m doing the same work twice. That’s not sustainable. So I’m consolidating, and putting all my energy into one place instead of two.

See you in the corner,

Mehdi

Hey Friend,,

Two months ago, I decided to build something.

A free library of workshop resources.

For facilitators, trainers, consultants, team leads. Anyone who designs sessions for a living (or on the side).

Since then: five new articles. Real activities you can steal for your next workshop. Plus a deep dive into the 6C framework, the one I use to design and facilitate sessions.

Here’s the part I’m most excited about: these resources aren’t just mine.

They come from experts who are generously sharing what actually works. Their tools. Their practices. Their hard-earned lessons.

​

Big up to awesome generous facilitators like Dee Scarano, Jan Keck, Ruben Gazki, and Rebecca Courtney

Next week, Tim Leake is adding two activities to help you prioritize better, they’re coming from his High-ROI Workshop recipe.

The plan?

Keep adding every two week. Make this the place you go when you need a new activity, a fresh way to structure a session, or just a little inspiration.

It’s free. It’ll stay free.

Check it out here 👉 https://theworkshopdeck.com/resources​

Already have the Workshop Deck app?

Good news: these cards are already sitting in your app. No extra step needed.

And to be clear, they’re not locked behind anything. Anyone can access them for free on the resource library. But if you’re on the app, you’ll find them right there alongside your other cards.

Only 3 days left on the summer sale

For a limited time, you can grab:

• The Workshop Deck (print) at 40% off. The lowest price since launch.

• The Workshop Deck app lifetime access at 40% off. We’re moving to a monthly subscription in Q3, so this is the last chance to lock in lifetime access, especially at this price. Also the lowest since launch.

• The Workshop Design Mastery Pack, the full package: print deck, app, full course, and group coaching sessions. Everyone who grabs the Mastery Pack this summer also gets free access to my Workshop Sales Masterclass, a live session I’m hosting exclusively this summer.

Use code SUMMER40 at checkout.

Grab the crazy deal!

And here’s something extra: everyone who buys a deck, print or app, is invited to a live session I’m hosting on July 27th at 2pm.

We’ll go through the deck together, in whichever version you have, so you walk away actually knowing how to use it. Bring your questions.

A quick heads up.

In the next 2-3 weeks, I’ll be moving this newsletter from Substack to Kit.

Nothing changes on your end. You’ll still get the same emails. But if you’re not interested in following me over there, now is the time to unsubscribe from Substack.

Why the switch? Right now I’m doing the same work twice. That’s not sustainable. So I’m consolidating, and putting all my energy into one place instead of two.

See you in the corner. 💚

Mehdi

I’ve always believed a good workshop needs three things.

The right activities. The right framework. The right principles to guide the room.

Get those three right, and you will deliver results. Consistently. Every time.

But here’s what I’ve also learned: results and memorable are not the same thing.

A workshop can tick every box and still leave people with nothing to talk about on the way home. No energy. No story. No moment that stuck.

If you want to go from good to truly memorable, you need to do one more thing.

You need to design the experience itself!

That’s exactly what I explored in my latest podcast episode with Brittni Bowering, one of the best people in this field when it comes to workshop experience. She’s worked with Lego, Google, and Microsoft, and she brings a level of intentionality to the room that I find hard to match.

Here are my three main takeaways. But please, just watch the episode, it’s a great one.

“Stop thinking about what you want people to do, and start thinking about how you want people to feel.” - Brittni Bowering

A quick heads up.

In the next 2-3 weeks, I’ll be moving this newsletter from Substack to Kit.

Nothing changes on your end. You’ll still get the same emails. But if you’re not interested in following me over there, now is the time to unsubscribe from Substack.

Why the switch? Right now I’m doing the same work twice. That’s not sustainable. So I’m consolidating, and putting all my energy into one place instead of two.

The three things I took away

1. Activities are not enough. Here's the layer most facilitators skip.

Brittni’s starting point when she designs any session is not the list of activities. It’s the emotional arc.

What do I want people to feel at the start? In the middle? At the end?

What’s the moment of surprise? What’s the moment of calm?

Once she has that, the activities follow naturally. But if she skips it, the agenda becomes a checklist. And checklists don’t create memories.

Her practical move: design the skeleton first (activities, outcomes, timing), then go back through it with one question per block: what do I want people to feel here? Then tweak accordingly.

2. Small, unexpected moments beat big theatrical ones.

A lot of the facilitators I coach assume that a memorable workshop experience means big moments. Energizers. Surprises.

I get it. I used to think the same thing.

But Brittni pushed back on that directly:

“It’s not actually as hard as people think,” she said. “It’s really about creating a couple of key moments in a couple of key areas that will make people remember.”

Different people connect to different things. Some light up during a moment of genuine one-on-one connection. Others need the high-energy group moment. Others need a quiet beat to reflect. If your session has a mix of all of these, you’ve created an experience for almost everyone in the room.

You don’t need to go wild. You need to go intentional.

3. Your personality is your secret weapon. Don’t dilute it.

I asked Brittni whether she’d ever had a moment where she felt the disco ball was too much. Where the energy went too far and the group pulled back.

(I've seen a video where she uses one in a workshop, so this was not a random question, okay 😂)

Her answer: no.

And the reason is important.

Everything she brings into a room is genuinely her. The energy, the playfulness, the willingness to do something unexpected.

When it’s authentic, people feel it and they follow.

When it’s performed, they feel that too, and they don’t.

She put it in stand-up terms (her natural language): if a comedian tells a joke they’re not comfortable with yet, the audience feels the discomfort before the punchline lands. Same in facilitation. If you’re doing something you copied because it looked good on someone else’s LinkedIn, the room will feel it.

The move isn’t to be high energy. It’s to be yourself, clearly and fully.

If you enjoyed this, you’ll enjoy the full episode even more.

This episode covers a lot more than I’ve been able to capture here.

We talked about the parking lot technique (and why using it wrong will get you confronted at the end of the day). We talked about AI in workshops and why Brittni and I both prefer to keep creativity human. We talked about the exhaustion that comes after a full week of facilitating, and why that crash is actually a sign you gave it everything.

🎥 Watch on YouTube

🎙️ Watch/Listen on

🎤 Listen on Apple Podcasts

One more thing: the summer deal is live at Facilitators Corner.

For a limited time, you can grab:

• The Workshop Deck (print) at 40% off. The lowest price since launch.

• The Workshop Deck app lifetime access at 40% off. We’re moving to a monthly subscription in Q3, so this is the last chance to lock in lifetime access, especially at this price. Also the lowest since launch.

• The Workshop Design Mastery Pack, the full package: print deck, app, full course, and group coaching sessions. Everyone who grabs the Mastery Pack this summer also gets free access to my Workshop Sales Masterclass, a live session I’m hosting exclusively this summer.

Use code SUMMER40 at checkout.

I’ll also be hosting special sessions this summer exclusively for Workshop Deck users, so you get to discover the deck with me and practice some of the most challenging activities together.

Grab the crazy deal!

There’s a short video explaining all the options on the landing page, so you don’t have to read through the entire landing page.

Any questions? Send me a message.

See you in the corner. 💚

Mehdi

A few months ago, I was sitting in a big room as a participant. Not facilitating. Just sitting there, waiting for whatever was coming next.

The facilitator asked us a simple question.

On a scale from 1 to 5, how willing are you to take a risk right now?

Hands went up. Mostly 3s. The room wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t warm either.

Then he ran a great connection activity, the Curiosity Exchange (more on that below).

And he checked in again. Same question, 1 to 5.

This time, mostly 4s and 5s. The room had warmed up enough to take a bigger risk.

And then we did it. A big activity. The kind of activity that, on paper, looks risky. But because of that one small check-in, and one small connection activity in between, almost everyone jumped in.

That facilitator was Jan Keck. The connection guy. And that shift, from a room of 3s to a room of 4s and 5s, is the whole idea behind his new book, The Campfire Method.

Icebreakers are violent. Ice melters are not.

Here’s the image Jan used that stuck with me.

An icebreaker assumes everyone is frozen, and your job is to smash through with a sledgehammer. Some people have a thin layer of ice. Some people have armor. Either way, swinging a hammer at a room full of strangers is going to hurt someone.

An ice melter works differently. You build a small fire in the middle of the room. You don’t force anyone toward it. People step closer when they’re ready. Some take longer than others. That’s fine.

Same goal. Completely different energy.

The two questions Jan asks before picking any activity

Before Jan chooses a single activity, he asks himself two things.

1. How well does this group already know each other? Strangers need something different than a team that’s worked together for years.

2. How guarded is this group? A room of summer camp counsellors will happily do something loud and silly. A room of finance directors might sigh the moment you ask them to stand up.

He calls this the group readiness matrix. Two simple questions. A completely different session depending on the answers.

One activity, two very different rooms

Take the Curiosity Exchange. Everyone writes down two or three questions they’re genuinely curious about, the kind of things you’d love to know about the strangers in the room.

Then comes the twist. You don’t ask your questions to someone else. You pick one of your own, and you answer it.

I’ve run this with a room full of strangers at a Miro meetup in Brussels. People lit up the moment they realised they got to choose what to share. Nobody was put on the spot, because everyone put themselves on the spot, on a question they chose.

I’ve also run it on a team retreat, during a hike, with people who already knew each other well. Same activity, but the questions got sharper.

Same sticky notes. Same structure. Two completely different conversations,
same results: interesting insights and a stronger connection.

That’s the part I keep coming back to. The activity doesn’t change. The room does.

And a good ice melter works either way.

If you want the full breakdown of the Curiosity Exchange, including the why behind it and how it ties into the campfire method, I created an entire resource you can access for free here

You’ll find everything you need for running it:

• The Curiosity Exchange card

• The Miro template

• The full tutorial

Get the template

The takeaway

You don’t need a bigger toolbox of activities. You need to read the room before you reach for one.

Two questions. How well do they know each other, and how guarded are they. Answer those first, then pick your activity, not the other way around.

And if something feels off mid-session, like Jan experienced when a risk check-in came back lower than expected, don’t push through the plan. Slow down. Build the fire a little longer before inviting people closer.

If you want to know more about the campfire method, you can order Jan’s book here!

One more thing

There are still a few spots left for the Workshop Design Masterclass in Utrecht, June 24-25.

Two days, in person, ten people max.

You’ll leave with a workshop design you built yourself, on a real brief, with feedback from me and the group.

But also with the framework, the tools, and the process to design every session after that.

The goal isn’t one good workshop. It’s walking into every room with confidence, knowing your workshops will deliver.

If you’ve been running workshops and wondering why some land and some don’t, this is where you figure it out.

As a newsletter subscriber, use the code FC at checkout for 10% off. That’s €149 off.

Save your spot!

And here’s the part that’s especially relevant if you’re based in the Netherlands.

Part of the investment may be reimbursed through a Dutch training subsidy, up to a third of the cost.

→ More on the subsidy here: https://werktuigppo.nl/voorpagina/toewijzingscriteria/

There’s also a money-back guarantee. If after Day 1 you feel it’s not for you, I’ll refund you, no questions asked.

Questions? Just reply, or book a quick call.

→ https://calendly.com/thefacilitatorscorner/discovery-call

Most strategy workshops produce the same thing.

A bold vision statement. Ambitious business goals. A nice slide deck that pleases management.

And six months later, nothing has moved…

The strategy deck is collecting dust somewhere in a digital folder.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the problem isn’t execution. It’s that the strategy was never built on solid ground in the first place.

I’ve run strategy sessions for Novartis, Volvo, Toyota. And for a long time, I kept seeing the same pattern: great energy in the room, weak results six months later.

So I built my own answer to that problem. I call it the Strategy Arc, six questions I now run every strategy workshop through, in order.

Two of them, almost everyone skips. And those two are exactly why most strategies end up unrealistic and useless.

The Strategy Arc

1. Where are we now? (Diagnosis)

This is the one that gets skipped the most. Teams are so eager to define where they want to go, they forget to be honest about where they’re standing.

Before you define an ambitious direction, you need to assess where you are today. Otherwise you’ll end up with big numbers and bold statements that have no grounding in reality. A good strategy acknowledges the current situation and uses it to shape a realistic direction.

It doesn’t mean you can’t be ambitious. But if you’ve never grown more than 10%, going for 200% is a stretch, and it needs to come with clear levers to actually get there.

Two activities I use here: the Sailboat (what’s working, what’s not) for shorter sessions, and a SWOT analysis when we have more time and need to factor in market context.

2. Where do we want to go? (Direction)

This is the one everyone is excited about.

The direction can take many forms, such as:

• Business goals : What do we want to achieve ?

• A vision : Who do we want to be in the future ?

• A purpose : Why do we exist ? What purpose do we serve ?

Not everyone in the room has written a vision statement before, or spent time thinking about purpose. So keep your activities simple to explain and give people enough guidance to actually contribute.

Two pieces of advice when facilitating this step.

First, give them a specific starting point. If you’re working on purpose, ask everyone to start with “We exist to...” It removes the blank page effect and makes it easier to compare ideas across the group.

Second, bring concrete examples. Show them what good looks like. A company like Amazon: “We exist to connect people with the right product they need at the lowest price.”

Real examples help participants visualize what you’re asking for, and they tend to unlock much better contributions.

3. What is standing in the way? (Obstacles)

This is the second most skipped question. And it’s a shame, because this is where a good strategy separates itself from a wish list.

You have a diagnosis and a direction. Now it’s time to define how you’re going to get there. And the first step is to identify what could stop you.

It’s only by surfacing those obstacles and understanding them that you can build a plan to actually deal with them. Richard Rumelt, whose book Good Strategy Bad Strategy genuinely changed how I think about this, makes exactly that point: a good strategy is not just a direction, it’s a response to the specific challenges standing between you and that direction.

So how do you do this in a workshop? Simple. Ask participants to brainstorm the obstacles. A method I love is to have them formulate each obstacle as a question, starting with “Can we...” For example: “Can we build a high-performing mobile app with our current IT legacy?” or “Can we retain our best people while going through this change?”

Quantity over quality. Get it all out. Then prioritize.

4. What options do we have? (Ideation)

We now have all the ingredients for a real strategy, except the most critical one: how do we actually get there?

It’s time to brainstorm actions.

Before generating ideas, invite participants to go back through everything: the diagnosis, the direction, the prioritized obstacles. Keep it all fresh in the room. Then ask them to come up with options that take all of it into account.

This is what separates useful ideas from wishful ones. If your diagnosis showed you’ve always struggled with follow-through, you don’t put “follow up on every customer complaint” on the list without also designing the system that makes it possible.

The previous steps exist for this moment. Use them.

5. What will we focus on? (Prioritization)

Resources are limited. You cannot do everything. This is the moment teams hate most, because choosing means saying no.

The key here is to build their confidence to make the decision. If you just ask people to pick their favourites, you’ll get biased choices driven by gut feel, politics, or whoever spoke loudest in the room.

This is why I use a multi-layer approach. A few voting rounds, each one removing a different bias. Dot voting first to get a quick read on the group. Then a role-based vote, where each person votes as their function, not just as an individual. Then an impact/effort matrix to bring some objectivity in.

The sequence matters. Each step makes the next decision easier and more defensible. By the end, people feel confident about what they chose. They’re not guessing.

The exact sequence can vary. What matters is the principle: don’t ask people to make one big scary decision. Walk them there step by step.

6. What are we committing to next? (Commitment)

The final step is turning prioritized ideas into owned, timed, tangible actions. Who is responsible? By when? How will we know it worked?

This is what determines whether the strategy sees the light of day, or lives forever on a slide deck in a shared Teams drive. Yes, the same one collecting dust. 😄

That was the Strategy Arc..

Six questions. In the right order. Spend time on all of them and your strategy will be stronger, more realistic, and actually drive change.

But don’t forget the two that get skipped. Every time.

Diagnosis and obstacles.

The diagnosis forces you to be honest about your limitations, and more aware of the strengths you can leverage.

The obstacle brainstorm forces you to imagine failure before you’ve even started, and to come up with tactics to prevent or overcome them.

Skipping them is exactly what produces the fluffy, unimplementable strategies Rumelt was writing about. Goals without grounding. Direction without a plan to actually get there.

Do the uncomfortable parts. That’s where the strategy actually happens.

If you enjoyed this, you’ll love the full episode. I go deeper into each question, share the activities I use, and show examples from real sessions. Watch it on YouTube, or catch it on Spotify:

and Apple Podcasts:

Before you go, three free facilitation trainings coming up

On June 9th, I’m running a free 90-minute live training from 5:00 to 6:30 pm CET.

I’ll share my system to design and deliver workshops that actually get results. We’ll cover:

• Why facilitation is becoming an essential skill for leaders, consultants, project managers, and team leads

• Why so many meetings and workshops feel slow, confusing, or ineffective

• How to structure a workshop from ideas to alignment to decisions

• How to ensure the right flow to get real outcomes by the end

Free. Live. And I'll stay as long as it takes to cover all your questions.

Save your spot!

After the workshop: How to ensure real change

Most facilitators focus on getting the session right.

But very few design for what happens afterwards. When the workshop is over. When the energy drops. When you’re no longer there to guide the group.

And yet, that’s where real change happens.

This is the topic I’m bringing to SOFest in the UK next month, an award-winning learning facilitation festival, an event unlike any other. But before I take it there, I’m running a free version of it inside the fit for facilitation community.

Two reasons. First, I think you’ll genuinely learn something useful: my tactics to make sure momentum carries through after the room empties.

Second, honestly, I want to test my story before the big stage. So you’ll be helping me make sure the keynote really lands.

Come for the insights. Stay to help me stress-test it. 😄

Save your spot!

Stormz is launching, and you want to be there

Alexandre Eisenchteter, co-founder of Fit For Facilitation and creator of Stormz, is launching the new version of his tool this month. And I can only say one thing: this is going to be remarkable.

I’ve seen the behind-the-scenes. I’m actually using it in my own sessions this Tuesday. And I already know it’s going to become a staple in my online and in-person work.

Stormz is not another whiteboard. It helps facilitators turn questions into live group experiences. People answer, react, vote, and contribute easily. You can then reveal patterns, focus attention, create memorable moments, and guide the group forward through a simple flow: Ask. Collect. Pick. Debrief.

In this live session, Alex will show you exactly how it works and how it can help you run more creative, more effective sessions, whether you’re remote, in-person, or both.

Everyone who attends live will receive a private invitation to try Stormz before wider access opens.

Register!

Okay, that was a long one. Hope you enjoyed it.

See you at one of these events. Take care.

See you in the corner. 💚

Mehdi

You already did the hard part.

Getting someone to say yes to a workshop is not easy.

Whether you’re a freelance facilitator convincing a client that you’re the right person for the job, or an internal one persuading a manager or a team lead that a session is even worth the time, you had to make a case.

You had to earn the room before you ever stepped into it.

Most facilitators don’t realize how much of the heavy lifting happens before the session even starts.

Getting the mandate is harder than running the session.

So when I ask facilitators how long they spend designing a workshop, and the answer is consistently a full day or more, what worries me isn’t the time. It’s the risk.

You’ve already cleared the highest bar. You convinced a skeptical stakeholder to bet on you. And then you walk in with a session that doesn’t land. No clear outcomes. Energy that flatlines by mid-morning. Participants who leave and quietly go back to their desks.

For a freelancer, that’s a client who won’t call back. For an internal facilitator, that’s a reputation that quietly shrinks. You stop getting asked. The contexts are different.

The cost is the same.

Here’s what I’ve come to believe after six years of workshops: the design phase is where most facilitators lose.

Not in the room.

Not in the facilitation.

In the preparation.

Specifically in not having a reliable system to go from brief to structured agenda, fast and confidently.

The facilitators who keep clients coming back, who keep getting tapped internally, don’t design better by accident. They design better because they’ve internalized a repeatable process. And that process is learnable.

That’s what I built the Workshop Design Masterclass around.

Two days, in person, small group (10 people max). You’ll leave with a workshop design you built yourself, on a real brief, with feedback from me and the group.

But also with the framework, the tools, and the process to design every session after that. The goal isn’t one good workshop. It's walking into every room with confidence, knowing that your workshops will deliver.

Utrecht is up first: June 24-25. Two spots gone, eight left.

If you’ve been running workshops and wondering why some land and some don’t, this is where you figure it out.

Discover the full programme!

Two weeks ago, one of my client posted on LinkedIn about our team retreats together.

He listed what he got out of the day.

The structure.

The clarity.

How much we accomplished.

But the biggest benefit he mentioned? It wasn’t any of that.

It was that he got to fully show up as a participant.

No mental load. No watching the clock. No reading the room and deciding what comes next. He was just... in it.

… Facilitating a day like this yourself? Almost impossible.
You need someone who pulls you out of your comfort zone.
Who asks the questions you tend to avoid. Who helps you actually name things.

That hit me harder than I expected.

Because I never sell that.

When I pitch my facilitation services, I talk about collaboration problems. The value of a clear process. Getting more done in less time. All true, all valid.

But I almost never say: “And you’ll actually get to be present in your own session.”

Which is a bit wild when you think about it.

Because facilitating your own team’s session? You might be skilled at it. But you’re not fully in it. Your contribution gets filtered through your facilitator hat. Your real thoughts stay half-formed. Your colleagues get a version of you, not all of you.

That’s the hidden cost of running your own workshops.

And for a lot of leaders, “you’ll actually get to participate” might be the most compelling argument of all.

I’ve been leaving it on the table every single time I pitch.

So my question for you: do you use this argument when you sell your services? Or are you leaving it on the table too?

Yes, the newsletter of today is short and sweet.

Btw, this Thursday we’re hosting a free 90-minute training

On May 21, David and I are running a free live session from 2:00 to 3:30 pm CET.

We’ll cover:

• Why facilitation is becoming an essential skill for leaders, consultants, project managers, and team leads

• Why so many meetings and workshops feel confusing, slow, or ineffective

• How to structure a workshop from ideas to alignment to decisions

• How to ensure the right flow to get real outcomes by the end

Free, live, 90 minutes. Come with questions.

Save your spot!

One more thing

Now comes the big news. You’re actually the first to hear this one.

I’m taking the Workshop Design Masterclass outside of Belgium.

Until now, it only existed as a private training for my corporate clients. This year, I’m running it as a public format. Three cities. Small groups. Fully in person.

• Utrecht, Netherlands - 24-25 June 2026

• Graz, Austria - 24-25 August 2026

• Casablanca, Morocco - Fall 2026 TBC

Two days of hands-on training. You’ll leave with a system to design workshops from the first stakeholder conversation to a ready-to-run agenda.

Get more information!

Hey Facilitator Friend,

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I’m a big believer in ending your workshop the right way.

When people leave the room, I want them to have clarity on what needs to happen next. Because without that, there’s a real chance nothing happens at all.

And as someone always on the lookout for fresh ways to close a workshop, I was excited to sit down with Rebecca Courtney and hear how she does it.

So we recorded a special podcast episode about why the closing moment is the most important thing you design, and why it’s the one thing that most often gets cut.

Rebecca put it simply: if you end a session with “any final thoughts?”, you leave more than half the learning on the table. People walk out with a warm feeling and zero plan.

Her answer to that? A 20-minute activity called Highlight, Lowlight, Headlight.

Here’s how it works.

Before closing, give the group five minutes to reflect silently on three questions:

• Highlight (green sticky): What went well, and why does it matter?

• Lowlight (pink sticky): What could have been better?

• Headlight (yellow sticky): What’s the next concrete step I’ll take, and when?

Then you go around the table. One to two minutes per person. They share, they place their sticky on the wall, you move on.

What you get at the end isn’t just closure. It’s a shared map: what the group experienced, what they want to do differently, and who’s doing what next. No vague energy. No trailing questions.

Simple to explain. Simple to run. Simple wins.

The resource page has the full step-by-step, a free Miro template, and Rebecca’s tutorial video. No opt-in, no catch.

Access the free activity guide

It’s now inside the Workshop Deck app.

Rebecca is the first expert facilitator I’ve invited into the app. She shares her go-to activity, in her own words, on video.

One rule I set when building the Workshop Deck app: keep the library small, keep it good. No Netflix-style browsing. No picking for the sake of picking. You open it, you choose, you facilitate.

But small doesn’t mean frozen. So I started bringing in facilitators I trust, each one sharing the activity they use most. Rebecca was first. More are coming.

Get lifetime access to the app!

One more thing: 2 free facilitation events coming up.

The first Miro Meetup in Brussels

📅 May 12 · In person · Brussels Central

If you’re based in Belgium, this one’s for you. We’re gathering in an amazing venue to talk about how to run better brainstorms.

Not just theory.

We’ll walk through a real case study so you can see exactly how it’s done.

There will also be Miro swag, which is always a good reason to show up.

Save your spot!

The FFF One-Year Anniversary

📅 May 13 · 6 PM CEST / 1 PM EDT · Online

One year in, and we’re celebrating with the people who made it worth it. For this special edition, we’re bringing four incredible voices from the community to the stage:

• Gwyn Wansbrough on Ask Then Tell: a simple technique to make any content more interactive on the spot

• Mirna Smidt on brain-based learning tips that make workshops more memorable

• Ruben Gazki on the psychology of showmanship in facilitation

• Plus one surprise we’re keeping secret for now 👀

If you’ve been part of this journey in any way, thank you. Come celebrate with us.

Join us!

Hey friends,

A month ago, I gave a keynote in London at a great event called the Inclusive Facilitation Exchange.

A topic that matters more and more to me: Inclusive facilitation.

I know, I know.

Facilitation is all about inclusion.

So why am I talking about inclusive facilitation?

Because I learned the hard way that intention alone is not enough to truly design inclusive workshops.

A few years ago, I was facilitating a team retreat for a marketing team. I kicked off with one of my favorite connection activities. I asked people to reflect on the worst job they’d been through and what they learned from it.

One of my favorite activities. I’ve done it a hundred times.

Then someone answered literally to my question, and she talked about a toxic environment, harassment at work.

She almost cried.

And for the rest of the session, she was physically present but emotionally checked out.

I excluded her.

Not on purpose. But that didn’t matter.

Because here’s what most facilitators think inclusive facilitation is about: neurodiversity, ADHD, introverts, etc.

But that woman didn’t have ADHD.

She wasn’t an introvert.

And I hadn’t designed for her.

In today’s newsletter, I want to share the framework I use to make sure my workshops are truly inclusive. I call it CCI.

Because here’s the thing. Most facilitators think their job is to run activities. But your real job is to design the right conditions so that every person in the room can actually contribute.

Think of it like a bowl of insights.

In a regular meeting, that bowl is maybe half full. A few people speak, the rest stay quiet, and you leave with a fraction of what the group actually had to offer.

Our job as facilitators is to make sure that bowl is full.

CCI is the framework I use to get there.

Here’s how it works.

1. C: Conditions

Before anyone contributes anything, you need to create the right conditions for participation.

This is everything that happens before the work begins. How you kick off the workshop. How you explain an activity. Whether people actually understand what you’re asking from them.

I use a simple formula for this: What, Why, How. And if you can add an example, even better.

Let me illustrate with an example : silent brainstorming.

What: you’ll write your ideas on sticky notes, alone, without talking.

Why: the biggest obstacle to creativity is the fear of being judged, so we remove that by making inputs anonymous.

How: you have five minutes, one idea per sticky note, go for quantity.

Example: if the challenge is improving your recruitment process, one idea could be “present our offer package in a more creative format.”

The second thing you need to do is absorb the complexity.

Your job isn’t to sound smart. The first syllable of the word “facilitator” is “facil.” It means easy in latin. That’s the job. Use simple words. Repeat instructions. Put them on the wall so people can refer back. Add visuals when you can.

Free gift

To make sure you design the right condition, I created a color coded card deck with all the principles to implement the framework. There are 9 principles for conditions (orange), 13 for contributions (yellow), and 5 for the closing (pink).

The cards are ready to print or use digitally, and completely free. 🎁

Download the card deck for free

2. C: Contributions

Now that the conditions are in place, you want to maximize what the group actually gives you. I have 13 principles for this part of the framework, but here are the three most important ones.

Individual thinking first. Before anyone says a word, give people time to think. Even two minutes. This one change will do more for the quality of your sessions than any fancy activity you could run. It breaks the dynamic where the loudest voice sets the frame and everyone else falls in line.

Once they’ve thought individually, you can pair them up, then move to groups of four, then to the full room. It’s called 1-2-4-All (from Liberating Structures) and it’s one of the most reliable structures I know. But even if you don’t use that structure, the principle holds: think first, share second.

Anonymous input. The fear of being judged doesn't disappear just because you asked everyone to be open. In rooms with hierarchy, politics, or ego (which is most rooms), people self-censor. So give participants the same-color sticky notes and markers. This ensures we can't track back who said what, and people will feel more comfortable sharing. That changes everything.

Multiple ways to participate. People are different. Some think better when they write. Some when they draw. Some when they talk. If every activity in your session works the same way, you're only reaching part of the room. So mix it up. Let people sketch their ideas sometimes. Add a quick conversation in pairs before opening to the full group. It's not about adding complexity. It's about making sure more people can actually participate.

That being said, keep in mind that depending on the situation, some principles will matter more than others. If you’re working with a tight team that has deep trust and psychological safety, you probably don’t need anonymous input. It comes with a cost: time, energy, extra logistics.

Only pick the principles that make sense for your specific situation.

3. I: Impact

You’ve created the conditions. You’ve gathered the contributions. Now don’t leave without turning them into something real.

Three things need to happen before you close:

1. Decisions need to be made. This sounds obvious until you watch a group try to “choose the best idea” without ever agreeing on what “best” means. Is it the most innovative? The easiest to implement? The one with the highest business value?

   
   Clarify the criteria before you ask people to vote. And if you don’t know what the criteria should be, ask the group. That conversation is part of the work.
   

2. Reflection needs to happen. Don’t steal the learning from the group by summarizing everything yourself. Before you wrap up, invite them to reflect. What happened today? What decisions did we make? What should come next? Ask first, then tell. The learning sticks better that way, and people feel more ownership over what they created together.
   

3. Clarity needs to land. People don’t leave with the full picture of the workshop. They remember the fun activity or the one that challenged them most and forget the others. Your job in the closing is not to summarize everything. It’s to highlight the milestones that matter and make the next steps impossible to forget. Name who owns what. Name the deadline. Make it concrete enough that “I forgot” isn’t an option.

To conclude: Perfect inclusion is not possible.

I hope this newsletter made you realize our responsibility in designing for everyone. And the good news is: when you think about everyone, your workshops don’t just become more inclusive. They become stronger.

That being said, I want to be honest with you about something.

Perfect inclusion is not possible.

It can’t be because we’re not facilitating in ideal conditions. We have three hours when we needed a whole dale. The client’s scope is wider than it should be. You have 18 people in a room designed for 12. That’s the reality.

So think of it as a balance.

On one side: the requirements, the timeline, the expectations. On the other: genuine inclusion. Your job is to keep that balance somewhere reasonable, not to reach perfection on every activity.

If one activity is a bit rushed and leaves someone behind, the next one might be exactly right for them. Across the full session, the goal is that every person in the room contributed something real.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, I can only advise you to watch the full video on YouTube or listen to the episode on Spotify.

Live workshop case study happening next week:

I’m hosting a special live session, and this one is a bit different. It’s not just me.

Ruben is one of the Workshop Deck users who genuinely loves the product and has been contributing a lot to make it better. So when he offered to open up one of his real workshops and walk us through it live, I said yes immediately.

On Wednesday, April 29 at 5PM CEST, Ruben is joining me for a workshop case study.

He’ll walk us through:

• The brief he got from the client

• How he designed the workshop

• What actually happened on the day

• How he adapted when things went sideways

No theory. Just a real workshop, dissected.

I genuinely believe case studies are one of the most underrated ways to grow as a facilitator. Seeing how someone else thinks, decides, and recovers in the room teaches you things no framework ever will.

Save your spot

One last thing.

Three years ago, I created the first version of the Workshop Deck on Miro. What started as a simple tool for myself has grown into something I’m really proud of.

To celebrate, I’m running a special promo. You can get 30% off all versions of the Workshop Deck with the code FC30:

• The print version

• The app

• The mastery pack with the course

More than 120 facilitators are already using it. And they love it.

Grab the deal!

Hey Facilitator Friend,

Let’s do something fun today. Well, fun for you. Maybe a little painful for me. 😅

Today we’re talking about the mistakes that cost me real clients.

Not the cute little “oops, I forgot the voting dots.” I mean the expensive ones. The ones that hurt the session, hurt your confidence, and sometimes guarantee the client never calls you back.

I’ve been facilitating workshops for 6 years. And I’ve made most of these mistakes at least once. Some before I even walked into the room. Some live, in front of a group, while holding a marker and doing my best poker face.

So here’s how I organized them, by when they happen to you:

5 mistakes in preparation. 5 mistakes in the room. 1 bonus mistake that too many facilitators still make.

Let’s get into it.

Part 1: The mistakes that happen before the workshop even starts

1. Not daring to say no to the client

This is probably the most expensive mistake of all.

A client finally commits to investing half a day or a full day in a workshop. And of course, they show up with a wishlist longer than a Christmas letter.

Dear Santa, what I want for Christmas is: alignment, clarity, ideas, decisions, an action plan, better communication… and maybe world peace while you’re at it.

And if you say yes to all of that? You’re already in trouble.

Because you’re not Santa. Your job is not to please the wishlist. Your job is to protect the outcome.

That means asking enough questions to understand what actually matters. That means reducing scope. That means saying: “We cannot do all of this in one session.”

And honestly? Saying no is part of what makes you credible.

One thing I do now: I separate goals into two buckets. The minimum goals, the ones I fully commit to. And the “cherry on the cake” goals, the nice extras if time allows. That way, I protect the experience. And if we go further, it feels like overdelivery.

2. Overloading the workshop with too many activities

We all love a rich agenda.

An energizer here. A creative exercise there. A reflection moment. A framework from Miroverse. Another one because it looked good in the template.

The problem? Every activity costs time. And every explanation costs mental energy.

The more activities you pack in, the less time participants have to actually think, contribute, and build on each other’s ideas. Your agenda might look impressive on paper. But in the room, it can feel rushed, fragmented, and shallow.

You want enough activities to create rhythm. Not so many that people spend the whole day just trying to understand what they’re supposed to do next.

3. Making the workshop too complicated

This one is close to the previous, but even more dangerous.

Sometimes you find an activity that looks brilliant. Beautiful diagram. Clever framework. Elegant output. And then you try it in a real workshop and people get lost after step two.

The more complex the activity, the bigger the risk. Risk that people misunderstand the task. Risk that the output won’t be usable. Risk that you burn too much mental energy just explaining the thing.

I genuinely believe this is part of our job as facilitators: absorb the complexity, deliver the simple.

Even if the challenge is complex, the path you design should feel clear. If an activity takes five minutes to explain, it’s probably too complicated. Or at least, too complicated for this context.

4. Not having the right people in the room

A workshop cannot magically fix the fact that the wrong people were invited.

And yet, many facilitators don’t push back on the attendee list enough.

The question isn’t just “who is coming?” The question is “whose expertise and perspective do we actually need to reach the right outcome?”

You want diversity of thought, not five people with the same background saying the same thing in five different ways.

For me, the sweet spot is usually 5 to 8 people. After that, things get heavier, slower, and more energy-consuming. Of course, some sessions need bigger groups. But if you can challenge the list, do it.

And one more thing: ask who might be difficult in the room. Not because difficult participants should automatically be excluded. But because if someone is likely to derail the session, you want to know that before you’re standing there with a marker in your hand pretending to be surprised.

5. Not preparing your own performance

This one got me badly.

After a while, I became a bit too comfortable. I thought: I know how to kick off this session, or how to explain this activity, I've done similar things before, I'll just go with the flow

Bad idea.

Workshop design is one thing. Workshop delivery is another.

You still need to prepare your opening. You still need to rehearse the tricky explanations. You still need to make sure the first five minutes feel clear, confident, and intentional.

For me, confidence comes from preparation. I don’t rehearse the whole session anymore. But my introduction? Non-negotiable.

Because the way you enter the room sets the tone for everything that follows.

Part 2: The mistakes that happen in the room

6. Not setting the stage properly

The beginning of a workshop matters way more than people think.

The first words. The first instructions. The first feeling people get from you.

That’s when trust starts to form. Not because you say “trust the process.” But because people feel that you know where you’re taking them.

A good setup should answer at least three questions: Why are we here? What are we trying to achieve? How are we going to work together today?

If that part is fuzzy, you make people work harder from the first minute. And once confusion enters the room, it’s really hard to get rid of.

7. Making the workshop about you

Yes, you are the facilitator. No, you are not the star of the show.

Your job is not to impress people with how smart you are. Your job is to help them think better together.

You are there to guide, to frame, to ask, to summarize, to hold the process. But the content, the ideas, the decisions? Those should come from the group.

Sometimes, when facilitators feel pressure, they jump in too quickly. They over-explain. They suggest solutions. They fill silence. And suddenly the workshop becomes more about their performance than the group’s thinking.

Don’t be that facilitator.

8. Skipping the break

I know this temptation very well.

You’re behind schedule. You’ve lost 10 minutes here, 15 there. And then your brain whispers: “What if we just skip the break?”

Please don’t.

It never works. People need the break. Their brains need the break. You need the break. And sometimes, the best thing you can do during that break is use it yourself to adapt what comes next.

Also: five-minute breaks are fake breaks. Give people enough time to actually breathe. Fifteen minutes is the minimum for something real.

9. Ignoring what’s happening in the room

This is one of the biggest differences between following an agenda and actually facilitating.

Are people confused? Tired? Frustrated? Quiet for a good reason or a bad one?

That’s your feedback loop. And if you notice something, don’t ignore it.

If they’re confused, explain it differently. If they’re tired, pause earlier. If energy is dropping, change the rhythm. If something feels off, address it.

Your agenda is not sacred. It’s your best guess before reality starts.

10. Showing your doubt too much

This one is subtle, but brutal.

If you decide to run an activity, you need to sell it. Even if it feels slightly awkward. Even if you’re trying it for the first time.

Because the moment participants feel that you don’t believe in what you’re asking them to do, the whole thing starts to fall apart.

I learned this the hard way during a strategy workshop. I ran an activity I wasn’t fully comfortable with. My explanation was weak. The output was weak. My confidence dropped. The group felt it. Someone nearly hijacked the session.

That moment taught me something I haven’t forgotten since: people borrow confidence from the facilitator.

If you choose the activity, commit to it. You can adapt if needed. But don’t introduce it like you’re apologizing for it.

Bonus mistake: Stopping at ideas instead of commitments

Too many workshops stop at ideas.

That’s a problem. Because ideas are not impact.

At some point, the group needs to move from “this could be interesting” to “this is what we’re doing next, and here’s who owns it.”

If you stop too early, you leave people with inspiration and no commitment. And there’s one more thing that matters here: participants do not experience the workshop the way you do. They won’t automatically connect all the dots.

That’s your job at the end.

Bring clarity. Remind them of the goal. Summarize the key milestones. Name the decisions. Name the owners. Name the next steps.

When people leave the room, what happens next should be obvious.

That’s how workshops create real impact.

The real lesson

If I had to summarize all of this in one sentence, it would be this:

A good workshop is rarely ruined by one dramatic moment. It’s usually ruined by a series of small mistakes that could have been avoided.

Bad scoping. Too much complexity. Weak setup. Low energy. No commitment at the end.

The good news? These are all fixable.

So here’s the question I’ll leave you with:

What is one thing you can change in the way you prepare or facilitate your next workshop?

Not ten things. One.

Because if you change one real behavior, you’ve already improved.

And that’s what learning actually is.

If this newsletter resonated with you, I think you’ll love the full episode:

One last thing before you go 👇

On April 16 at 5PM CET, I’m running a free 90-minute live session called “Design Workshops in Minutes, Not Hours.”

Because here’s the truth: most facilitators spend a full day designing a workshop. And even after all that prep, there’s still no guarantee the session will actually work.

In this session, I’ll walk you through my complete workshop design system, so you can stop second-guessing your choices and start building sessions that flow, engage, and deliver real results.

We’ll tackle the four questions I get asked all the time:

• “How do I actually design a great workshop?”

• “How do I know which activity to choose?”

• “Does my workshop flow make sense?”

• “Where do I even find the right activities?”

It’s free, it’s live, and it’s practical.

Save your spot!

Hope to see you in the corner,

Cheers,

Mehdi

Hey Facilitator Friend,

Hope you’re doing well.

Last week, during the Facilitators Corner Bootcamp, someone said something that really stayed with me:

“Sometimes I feel like the parking lot is just a polite way of saying ‘shut up’… and nothing ever happens with it.”

Ooouuch.

It’s the kind of comment that makes you stop for a second.

Because if we’re honest, a lot of us have seen or used the parking lot used that way.

As a way to move things along.

As a way to stay on track.

As a way to make someone feel heard without really doing anything with what they brought up.

We park the topic.

We keep the session moving.

We feel productive.

But then later?

Nobody comes back to it.

Nothing happens.

And that’s where the problem starts.

Why the parking lot gets a bad reputation

The parking lot is one of those facilitation tools that sounds simple and harmless.

It helps you keep focus.

It prevents one topic from hijacking the whole session.

It creates a place to capture ideas, questions, or issues that matter but don’t belong in the current moment.

That’s useful.

But it only works if the group trusts that “not now” does not mean “not important.”

And that trust disappears very quickly when the parking lot becomes a polite holding zone for things we don’t want to deal with.

That’s when it starts to feel dismissive.

That’s when participants think:

Why did you write it down if nobody was ever going to do anything with it?

A parking lot should work like an actual parking lot

When you park a car, you do it because you plan to come back to it.

Not because you want to abandon it there forever.

The same should be true in facilitation.

If a topic is important but not right for the moment, park it.

But then your responsibility as a facilitator is to help the group come back to it somehow.

Because the parking lot is not where ideas should go to die.

It’s where important topics wait until the group is ready to deal with them properly.

The real question to ask before parking something

For me, the real facilitation question is not:

“Should I move this topic out of the conversation right now?”

It’s:

“Does this topic genuinely matter, just not right now?”

Because that’s a very different thing.

Not everything belongs in the parking lot.

Some things are out of scope.

Some are distractions.

Some are important, but need a different space.

And sometimes, a topic really does matter, just not in that exact moment.

That’s where the parking lot can be helpful.

Not as a way to avoid the conversation.

But as a way to hold it responsibly until the right time.

What good parking lot facilitation looks like

If you want your parking lot to feel meaningful, I think there are a few things that help.

1. Be clear about why you’re parking something

Don’t just move on quickly. Name what’s happening.

You might say something like:

This matters, and I don’t want to lose it. It feels important, but if we go there now, we’ll lose the objective of this part of the session. Let’s park it and decide together how we want to handle it before we close.

That kind of framing changes everything.

It shows respect.

It shows intention.

And it makes it clear the topic is being postponed, not dismissed.

2. Come back to it

This sounds obvious, but it’s often the part that gets skipped.

Coming back to it can look like:

• reviewing the parking lot in the last ten minutes of the session

• asking the group which items still matter most

• deciding what needs a follow-up conversation

• naming clearly what will happen next

But there needs to be a next step.

That’s what creates trust.

People need to see that what was parked still matters, and understand what happens with it after the session.

3. Give it ownership

If something is important enough to park, it may be important enough to assign.

• Who will take it forward?

• Who needs to be involved?

• Where will it live after this session?

Without ownership, the parking lot easily turns into a graveyard of unfinished thoughts.

4. Prioritize what actually deserves follow-up

Not every parked topic ne

eds the same response.

Some items need action.

Some need a later conversation.

Some just need to be acknowledged and then let go.

I’ve sometimes used a simple impact/effort lens, or value/cost lens, with groups to decide what’s worth following up on.

That small step can turn the parking lot from a random list of loose ends into something genuinely useful.

And if you want, I’d actually suggest changing the section title too, because “What responsible use of the parking lot looks like” is clear but a bit heavy. A sharper option would be:

What stayed with me

That comment really stayed with me.

Because in the end, the parking lot only works if people feel their point was genuinely held, not quietly dismissed.

When I shared this reflection on LinkedIn, a few facilitators pointed out something important: the phrase “parking lot”itself carries a lot of corporate baggage.

For many people, it already sounds like a place where ideas go to die.

So maybe part of the work is not only using the tool well, but also giving it a better name.

I loved some of the alternatives facilitators shared: bike rack, idea garden, greenhouse.

All of them create a very different image, one that feels more alive, more intentional, and more hopeful.

So next time, I might not just change how I use the parking lot.

I might change what I call it too.

Something exciting

We’ve been spending a lot of time lately working on the Workshop Deck App.

In the beginning, I saw it as an extension of The Workshop Deck. But after getting such encouraging feedback from some of the early users, I started to see its potential differently.

The more I worked on it, the more it became clear that it wasn’t just an extra. It was becoming a real standalone product in its own right.

So what is it?

It’s a web app that helps you design a workshop step by step, so you can build a flow that makes sense and leads to the outcomes you want.

It’s built around the 6C framework, which means it guides you through each stage of the design process and suggests proven activities at the right moment, instead of leaving you staring at a blank page wondering what comes next.

By the end, you have a full workshop agenda ready to facilitate, with timing, notes, and even break suggestions built in.

I also recorded a short demo to show you how it works in practice.

Inside the app, you’ll find:

• activity cards and workshop recipes

• the Workshop Builder, to design your session step by step

• featured activities from expert facilitators like Dee Scarano, Tim Leake, and Jan Keck

• the option to create your own custom activities

• PDF export and agenda planning features

The app is currently available with lifetime access.

And because you’re reading this newsletter, you can get 30% off with the code FC30.

That brings the price down to just 140 euros.

So if you want to design stronger sessions without reinventing the wheel every time, you can check it out here.

Get access to the app

Fit For Facilitation Update

Alex from the FFF crew will be sharing a story that I think many facilitators will find both inspiring and eye-opening.

Back in the day, he was running a facilitation agency with 10 employees, and to keep the business alive, he needed to sell €100K of workshops every single month. If he didn’t, the business simply wouldn’t survive.

In this session, he’ll share the strategy that made that possible.

He’ll break down the two key tactics that helped him consistently sell over €100K of workshops per month for several years, except during the summer.

So if you’re curious about what it really takes to sell workshops at that level, this session will give you a behind-the-scenes look at the approach that helped him do it.

That’s what we’ll explore in two weeks inside Fit for Facilitation – LEVEL UP Live:

How to sell €100K of workshops every month

🗓 Tuesday, April 14, 2026

🕔 5 PM CET | 12 PM EDT

Save your spot!

Hey Friend,

I’ll be honest.

For a long time, I probably put LEGO Serious Play in the category of fun workshop method.

Creative? Yes.

Playful? Of course.

Useful for team connection? Probably.

But serious?

Can it really help solve complex problems? Bring real impact

I had my doubts.

Then I recorded a podcast episode with Jenny Martin… and we did a live LEGO Serious Play exercise. ( you can jump 20:53 in the video)

And something clicked.

Not because she made a big flashy case for the method.

But because I experienced it.

And I could feel the benefits immediately.

Maybe LEGO Serious Play isn’t “light” at all.

Maybe it’s actually one of the most serious things we can do in a workshop.

Not because it uses LEGO bricks.

But because it helps people think, speak, and contribute differently.

What happens when people think with their hands

One of the most fascinating things Jenny explained is why building matters.

When people think with their hands, especially when they physically connect bricks, it can help unlock working memory.

That idea stayed with me.

Because if that’s true, the build is not separate from the reflection.

The build is the reflection.

It gives people something many workshops don’t offer enough of:

• space

• silence

• time

• and a way to think that isn’t only verbal.

Sometimes the thought is there.

It just needs a different door.

And that’s why someone who barely speaks in a traditional workshop can suddenly share something profound through a model.

The floor becomes equal

One other thing Jenny said that also stuck with me:

“The floor becomes equal.”

In many workshops, participation isn’t truly balanced.

(Not in mine of course 😁)

The fast thinkers speak first.

The confident voices shape the conversation.

The extroverts warm up quickly.

And then we call the output “collective intelligence.”

But is it really the group?

Or just the people most comfortable speaking in the format we chose?

LEGO Serious Play changes the rhythm.

First there is a question.

Then there is silence.

Then everyone builds.

Then everyone shares.

That sequence matters.

It slows the conversation down just enough for more people to enter it.

And that’s not a small design detail.

That’s inclusion.

The model is always right

Another idea I loved: participants learn early on that their model is always right.

That sounds simple, but it removes a lot of pressure.

People often think creative exercises are about being clever or impressive.

But the goal isn’t to build something beautiful.

The goal is to make thinking visible.

Meaning matters more than aesthetics.

And that shift is huge, especially for people who believe they’re “not creative.”

A few ideas I’m taking with me

Here are a few principles from the conversation that really stayed with me:

1. Build first, speak after.

Sometimes we ask people to respond too quickly. Building creates a pause that leads to more thoughtful contributions.

2. Silence is part of the method.

Not dead space. Actual thinking time.

3. Warm-ups matter.

Creative confidence is real. The first task should help people feel safe enough to begin.

4. Inclusion is designed.

It’s not just inviting people to speak. It’s creating formats that allow different kinds of minds to participate.

5. Play doesn’t make a workshop less serious.

Sometimes it makes the thinking deeper, because it bypasses rehearsed answers.

My biggest shift

Before this conversation, I mostly saw LEGO Serious Play as a fun technique.

Now I see it differently.

It can be a powerful way to design more inclusive conversations while unlocking creativity.

And like any method, the real test is practice.

So my plan is simple:

Start small.

Experiment.

Observe what changes.

I’m thinking of using it first as a connection activity with teams and see what it brings.

If you enjoyed these ideas, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy the full conversation.

Jenny shared a lot more insights in the episode.

This conversation became bigger than LEGO

What I expected was a conversation about a method.

What we actually explored was facilitation.

• How to include people.

• Why silence can be generous.

• Why psychological safety is not the same as comfort.

• A good workshop isn’t just about collecting ideas. It’s about creating the conditions for people to show up fully enough to have them.

That’s where LEGO Serious Play became really interesting to me.

Because it sits right at the intersection of things I care deeply about:

• participation

• reflection

• shared understanding

• creativity

• inclusion

In other words:

better conversations. Not louder ones. Better ones.

If you like this conversation, big chances you will love the episode

Listen on Spotify!

Join me at the Inclusive Facilitation Exchange in London

If you’re based in London,or just looking for a good excuse to visit, I’ll be speaking at the Inclusive Facilitation Exchange this March.

I’ll be hosting a hands-on session focused on practical tools to design and run workshops that are truly inclusive.

No theory overload.

Just techniques you can apply immediately in your own sessions.

This is part of a full-day event organized by Jane Livesey and Jenny Martin, bringing together facilitators who care about one important question:

How do we make workshops truly inclusive — not just in intention, but in practice?

The event will take place:

🗓 Friday, 20 March 2026

📍 Lumiere London (Old Street)

And I’m in great company, the lineup includes some fantastic facilitators I’m really looking forward to learning from as well.

If you’re planning to attend, let me know.

It would be great to meet in person 👋

Grab your spot!

If you’d like a little help with the ticket price: MEHDI10 gives 10% off 🎟️

The Fit For Facilitation Update

A lot of people are creating content.

Too few are creating demand.

Too many people post just to get likes.

Too few build a channel that actually attracts clients.

That’s exactly what we’ll explore next week inside Fit For Facilitation – LEVEL UP:

Build a Channel That Attracts Clients, Not Likes

🗓 Tuesday, March 17 2026

🕔 5PM CET | 12PM EDT

Register here!

This session will be led by Nathy Ravez, who built her now very recognizable pink brand, The WorkShoppeuse, over the past year.

One of the formats she used to do that?

Podcasting.

In this session, we’ll cover:

✅ What communication channels actually do for your business

✅ How to choose the right format for you

✅ What consistency really looks like in practice

And this is just one of the many sessions happening inside Fit For Facilitation, now home to 900+ facilitators, trainers, and L&D professionals.

It’s a beautiful space to connect, learn, spark ideas, and grow.

If you want your content to do more than get attention, this session is for you.

Have you ever looked back at a full year of work and thought:

“Wait… why did I spend so much time on that… when the results actually came from this?”

That was me, reviewing my 2025.

And it’s the reason I’m changing how I’m building my facilitation business in 2026.

A quick context

For the last years, I’ve been living in two worlds:

1. Corporate facilitation (workshops, offsites, training inside organizations)

2. Facilitators (teaching the craft, coaching, products like The Workshop Deck)

And honestly? I never planned to “serve facilitators.”

It happened almost by accident.

I started posting about facilitation on LinkedIn thinking it would attract corporate clients… and instead, it attracted my peers.

That led to experiments (a bootcamp, coaching, resources). Some worked. Some didn’t. All taught me something.

The surprising lesson

When I looked at my calendar versus the outcomes, I saw it clearly:

I was spending most of my time on one audience…

…but the business signal was pointing somewhere else.

That’s when I made a decision for 2026:

Double down on corporate.

Not because facilitators don’t matter. They do.

And I looooove teaching and coaching facilitators, I’m not stopping that.

But here’s the shift:

I’m keeping the facilitator work.

I’m just putting most of my sales energy on corporate.

Because now that I’ve left my full-time job, this business isn’t a hobby anymore and it needs to pay the bills.

What I’m doing differently in 2026

Here’s the exact plan I’m following (and sharing in the episode):

1) I ’m leveraging my network first

Not in a vague “I should network more” way.

In a practical way: reaching out, asking for conversations, and getting intros to decision makers.

2) I’m doing warm outreach (and yes… calling people)

Email.

LinkedIn.

WhatsApp.

Phone.

Old-school outreach still works, especially when it’s warm.
It’s uncomfortable, but it’s also one of the fastest ways to build momentum.

Painful for the ego.

Great for the wallet.

3) I’m moving into cold outreach with a system

Once warm leads are done, I build lists and outreach consistently, with realistic expectations.

(If you’ve ever sent a cold message and heard nothing back… you’re not alone.)

I’m using a simple message framework: ACA

When I message someone, I use:

• Acknowledge something real about them

• Compliment (genuinely)

• Ask with a clear reason why the call is worth it

Why it works: it builds trust fast, shows relevance, and avoids the awkward “virtual coffee?” or “can I pick your brain?” vibe.

Example (workshop-friendly):

Hey [Name],

I saw you [specific thing you noticed].

Congrats on that, especially [genuine compliment detail].

Quick question: are you noticing [pain] right now?

(Example: “decisions taking forever / priorities competing / meetings not landing / teams misaligned.”)

I’ve helped [similar teams] run [short format] sessions to get [outcome] in [timeframe].

Would it be useful if I shared a simple 3-step approach for how we’d tackle it?

If yes, open to a quick 15-min call next week?

One thing I also do sometimes:

Instead of “selling”, I share a micro case study.

I might say sth like

“I recently worked with a similar product team that was struggling with too many competing priorities. We ran a 2-hour alignment session and they left with 3 clear priorities + owners + a 30-day roadmap. It completely reduced the noise in their weekly meetings.”

That does two things:

• It shows I understand the pain point.

• It demonstrates the outcome without pitching.

It feels less like “buy from me”and more like “here’s what’s possible with the right method”

4) I’m using training as a “foot in the door” strategy

Training is often the easiest entry point into a company:

Lower friction, easier budget approval, faster trust.

And once leaders experience what facilitation actually is… workshops become a much easier next step.

5) I’m treating content as the long game

Content helps with brand, trust, and being “top of mind”… but it’s not the fastest way to get clients.

Unless you get lucky and go viral with the kind of post that actually brings leads. That hasn’t been my case.

I’ve been posting for three years. It definitely helps… but word of mouth and outreach have brought me way more work

So I’m combining both:

• Outreach = short game (revenue now)

• Content = long game (brand + inbound later)

6) Sales everyday

This one is huge: I’m structuring my week to protect the pipeline

Because what happens in service businesses is predictable:

You get busy delivering → you stop selling → pipeline dries up → panic mode.

So I’m building a routine that keeps sales alive even when delivery is intense.

If you’re building a facilitation business too…

This newsletter is based on the last podcast episode of another day, another workshop.

This episode is for you if you’re asking:

• “Where should I focus to grow?”

• “How do I get corporate clients without relying on LinkedIn virality?”

• “How do I sell without feeling salesy?”

• “How do I keep a pipeline while delivering workshops?”

🎧 Watch/listen to the episode:

And if you do listen, I’d love to know:

What’s the hardest part for you right now?

Getting leads? Pricing? Converting calls? Delivery?

Reply to this email, I read every message.

One more thing: I’m doing something crazy

I am hosting a free 2 hour training on facilitation. Something I usually charge for.

And honestly… the last time I did this for free was more than 2 years ago. I am not planning to do another one anytime soon.

It is called The Facilitation Starter Kit.

It is a practical foundation session for leaders and consultants who run important conversations and want more clarity, participation, and outcomes.

Without needing to become “a facilitator”.

In 2 hours, you will learn the core theory and you will leave with ready to use tools to:

• Define clear outcomes so meetings do not drift

• Get everyone involved without awkward pressure

• Guide groups from ideas to alignment to decisions

• Handle common dynamics like dominant voices, silence, and people going off track

The goal is simple: you finish the session with a plug and play starter kit you can use in your very next meeting, client workshop, or project session.

Still on the fence?

Here is what someone said after a past session:

“ The tips shared were not just theoretical but backed by hands on experience that can be immediately implemented. The dedication to answering audience questions showcased your expertise and added great value to the overall experience. The 2 hours invested in this training were well spent. I highly recommend this facilitation training to anyone looking to refine their workshop facilitation skills. ”

It’s taking place at 2pm CET on ZOOM.

Save your spot!

PS: if you know a team lead, manager, or consultant who runs a lot of meetings, forward them this email. You might save their Mondays.

Hope to see you there live. 🙌

Talk soon,

Mehdi

Hey guys,

One of the cheapest ways to level up as a facilitator is still the old-school way: books.

Read them, listen to them on a walk, steal the best ideas, try them in the room.

A few books have genuinely changed the way I design and run workshops, so I wanted to share them with you.

And no, I’m not going to give you the usual suspects like The Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making or The Art of Gathering (love them though 😅).

Instead, here are 5 books that gave me real “oh wow” upgrades in my facilitation.

The kind that helps you sharpen your style, stand out, and create workshops that feel different.

Also, if you prefer listening over reading, I recorded a podcast episode on this exact topic. Here it is:

Book #1 : Power of Moments

This book is a must-read, especially for those working in the service industry. It teaches how to create amazing customer experiences. The big takeaway is that people tend to remember the beginning, the end, and any peak moments of an experience.

When designing your workshop, keep this in mind: start strong, end on a high note, and incorporate memorable peak moments.

Here’s how I design the workshop experience for my sessions :

I start by brainstorming (yes by myself, or sometimes with my co-facilitator), thinking about activities that can create a strong start, build a peak moment, and end even stronger.

While you can always rely on your best hits like the right icebreaker or a special closing activity, I believe the best peak moments should be customized based on the workshop topic and the group type.

Here are some of my tricks to create a nice experience:

• Music

• Food, snacks and drinks (it always work)

• Breaks

• Surprises ( Special Guests, Ice creams, fun activities, after workshop…)

Nail these aspects, and you'll create an unforgettable experience that keeps clients coming back for more.

Book #2 : The Comedy Bible

Yes, a book about the science of comedy and how jokes are built can be surprisingly useful for your facilitation game.

Not because you need to become a comedian. But because humor is one of the fastest ways to shift a room.

It helps you:

• create a pleasant atmosphere

• spark creativity

• bring energy back when it drops

• release tension when things get sticky

• increase attention and participation

And it’s not just “a vibe”. Research on humor at work consistently points to benefits like higher creativity, stronger engagement, and better performance.

Here are a few insights you’ll often see mentioned:

• Creativity: people exposed to humor tend to perform much better on creative problem solving tasks than those who aren’t.

• Engagement: teams who laugh together often report higher levels of connection and engagement.

• Productivity: even short moments of humor before a task can boost focus and output.

I’ve read a bunch of books on this topic, and this one is one of the best.

The goal isn’t to be funny all the time. It’s to understand the structure behind what makes a joke land so you can use it as a tool when it matters and create workshops people actually enjoy being in.

Here is the structure of a good joke :

1. Set-Up

• What: This is where you introduce the premise. It's the foundation of your joke.

• How: Keep it short and simple. You're setting the scene and giving just enough information for the punchline to land.

• Example: "My parents' divorce settlement involved a bar tab. They had a big court battle on who got to keep me. Mom won. "

2. Punchline

• What: This is the unexpected twist or the surprise that makes people laugh.

• How: Flip the script. Take the audience somewhere they weren't expecting.

• Example: "She made me live with Dad."

The two types of jokes I use most in my workshops are:

1. Call-back

   A callback joke happens when someone brings up something funny they mentioned earlier in a new way later on. It's like a surprise reference that connects back to an earlier joke or fact. In my workshops, I often use the first icebreaker to gather information that I can refer to later. This will add a layer of humor and connection throughout the session.

2. Act-out
   
   An act-out is when someones acts out a funny situation instead of just talking about it. They use big gestures, funny faces, and sometimes change their voice or accent. It makes the joke more lively and funny because you can see the funny situation happening right in front of you. It's like a mini performance within the joke that adds extra humor.

Book #3 : Creative Confidence

This is a great book that explains how creativity is like a muscle we all have. Many of us haven't used it much since we were kids, so it might be out of shape, but it's still there.

The book offers lots of tips to help boost creativity and is filled with concrete use cases.

Here are my main insights of this book :

1. The biggest hurdle to creativity is the fear of being judged.
   
   In a workshop, people are scared that their colleagues will judge them or worse, that one of their ideas might get implemented and lead to failure, and that this failure will be linked to their name. The best way to remove this fear is by creating a safe place. This will enable the group to only focus on solving the problem and not thinking about what their colleagues will think about their ideas.

2. The importance of looking at the problem differently!

   
   A good way to avoid the group coming up with the same ideas, is to ask them to look at the problem from a different perspective.
   
   In the book, the authors share an IDEO case study where the team worked on a project to improve dissection tools used by surgeons. They started with some user research, and they found out that surgeons felt tired using those tools during long chirurgical procedures. Instead of answering the obvious challenge “How Might We make the tools lighter” and get the good classical ideas, they looked at the problem from another perspective, and raised the following challenge instead: “How Might We make the surgical tool more comfortable in the hand during long procedures?”.
   
   This other perspective removed firstly the assumption “doctors get tired because the tools are too heavy”, and secondly opened up the solution possibilities. Fun fact, they ended up by creating a heavier dissection tool but easier to hold that did not tire the surgeons.

   “You can’t dig a new hole by digging the old one deeper” — Edward De Bono

   
   So, keep in mind to ask your participants to look further than the obvious challenge, this way you will avoid them having the obvious ideas. The hard part of driving an ideation session is not the facilitation itself but finding the right way to make your participants look at the problem. The right way that will open-up their perspectives and stimulate their creativity. Once you have found the right perspective together with the group and you’re all aligned, the group can focus on finding solutions.

3. A series of small ideation exercises is the way to go for an effective brainstorming.
   
   Indeed, it's more efficient for an ideation session to guide participants through a sequence of small activities rather than jumping straight into a big brainstorming exercise.
   

4. Action over Perfection !

   Taking action is more important than waiting for the perfect idea. Start small, test ideas, and refine them based on feedback. Progress often comes from doing rather than endless planning.

   
   

Book #4 : Grit

This book is incredibly interesting and a goldmine of wisdom. It delves into the recipe behind success, performance, and growth. The main insight I've gained, which has made me a better facilitator, is the concept of deliberate practice.

To improve your performance, you don’t just need to practice, you need to practice in a specific, intentional way.

Key characteristics of deliberate practice include:

• Specific Goals: Setting clear, targeted objectives for improvement.

• Focused Attention: Practicing with intense concentration and avoiding distractions.

• Immediate Feedback: Receiving timely and constructive feedback to make necessary adjustments.

• Repetition and Refinement: Repeating tasks with a focus on continual improvement and precision.

• Challenging Tasks: Engaging in exercises that push beyond comfort zones to promote growth.

• Addressing Weaknesses: Concentrating efforts on areas that need the most improvement.

• Expert Guidance: Often involves a coach or mentor to provide expert advice and feedback.

Deliberate practice is demanding and requires sustained effort over time, but it is essential for achieving high levels of expertise and performance in any field.

How can you use this concept to level up your workshop game?

Set specific goals for each workshop, ensure your instructions are crystal clear by repeating them, and get immediate feedback. Look for workshop opportunities that challenge your facilitation skills and identify areas for improvement to focus on.

Book #5 : Start with Why

It's a fantastic book covering various aspects that make it a must-read for every manager. The main takeaway for me, particularly in workshop facilitation, is the author's insight into the secret of team productivity: trust. To enhance team collaboration, trust is essential. To build it, you need to create a safe environment and provide opportunities for colleagues to get to know each other better. These insights have significantly influenced how I kick-off my workshops and the principles I use to boost productivity and team cohesion in my sessions.

Here’s how I’ve applied some of these learning insights to my facilitation:

1. Starting the workshop by fostering connections.

This is why I always start a workshop with an icebreaker. Not a silly activity, but an exercise that helps the group learn a bit more about each other, fostering initial trust.

While a, icebreaker won't build trust immediately, it's a start, and I always notice a positive impact on the group's dynamic afterward.

2. Team Retreats

The ability for a group of people to do remarkable things hinges on how well those people can pull together as a team — Simon Sinek

When I facilitate team retreats or work on topics like team improvement or synergy, I always include exercises where team members can share more about themselves. The author of the book explains that a team is stronger when they share the same purpose, so I encourage people in these sessions to share their "why." One of my favorite tools for this is called the Team Canvas.

Last but not least, this book gave me the final validation that facilitation is what I want to pursue in my career. My "why" is about helping groups deliver their best work while having a good time.

These 5 books can level up your workshops just like they did mine.

These books have definitely made me a better facilitator. Some of them match my style and the types of workshops I run. I'm always trying to create the best workshop experiences that fit my style. My advice is to find your own style and keep looking for ways to get better at what makes you unique as a facilitator.

Want to level up your facilitation skills faster?

The next Facilitators’ Corner Bootcamp kicks off on March 2, and I’d love to have you in the room.

For 5 weeks, we’ll meet every Monday, and you can choose the time slot that works best for you:

• 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM CET (5:00 AM to 8:00 AM ET)

• 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM CET (11:00 AM to 2:00 PM ET)

A lot of you asked for an earlier option, so I made it happen.

This is a hands on, practical program to help you design and lead workshops with confidence, no matter the team, topic, or challenge.

No fluff. No theory overload. Just tools, practice, and real facilitation muscle.

Get More Information

What is the bootcamp about ?

It’s a 5-week journey to help you:

• Design workshops with clarity and confidence

• Lead sessions that people actually remember

• Build experiences that drive real outcomes

• Save a lot of time in your workshop design process

• Feel legit walking into any room as a facilitator

Over the last 5 years, I’ve facilitated workshops for corporates, startups, and NGOs, hosted dozens of podcast conversations with top facilitators, and invested €25k+ in training to sharpen my craft.

I’ve also taught hundreds of facilitators.

This bootcamp is the program I wish I had when I started.

Everything in one place. No need to hunt for frameworks, tools, or inspiration elsewhere.

When is it taking place ?

The bootcamp runs every Monday from March 2 to March 30, with live sessions lasting 3 hours each

All sessions will be recorded and shared, so you can catch up on your own time. We know it’s a big commitment, which is why we’re offering high-quality replays to support your learning, even if you miss a live session.

What the Bootcamp Really Gives You

In the last episode of Another Day, Another Workshop, I’m hosting Silvia, a brilliant branding strategist and coach. She was also one of the very first participants of the Facilitators’ Corner Bootcamp.

Here’s a short snippet of what she thought about the bootcamp and how it helped her.

And if you want the full testimonial, we go much deeper in the last 20 minutes of the episode too:

What’s new in the bootcamp this year?

This cohort is special.

Everything I built for The Workshop Deck is now included in the bootcamp:

• The printed card deck

• Lifetime access to the Workshop Deck app

• The full workshop design self-pace module

Last year, I only ran the bootcamp once. Between client work and the launch of the deck, it was simply too much to organize more editions.

So I can’t promise there will be many cohorts this year.

I truly love running this program, but it takes a lot of energy and focus.

If this feels like the right moment for you, my honest advice is: join while you can.

Only 4 spots left.

Good news: if you confirm your participation before February 23rd, you’ll get a special 15% discount.

Save your spot!

Special Bonus

A lot of you have been reaching out with the same question lately: how do I actually grow my facilitation business?

That’s why I’m adding a special bonus for everyone who joins the bootcamp: a free 3-hour masterclass where I’ll share the exact approach I use to find more workshop opportunities and turn them into paid projects.

I’m genuinely excited about this next cohort.

If you want to grow as a facilitator, design better workshops, and feel more confident every time you step into a room, this is for you.

PS: If you’ve already purchased The Workshop Deck or the Mastery Pack, reach out — I’ll make sure you get a special upgrade price that feels fair.

See you in the corner,

Mehdi

Hey guys 👋

333 days left in 2026.

Plenty of time to make serious progress on your goals…

…and also: it’ll disappear faster than you think.

If you’re here, chances are you want to level up your facilitation: design better workshops, lead conversations with more confidence, or use facilitation to become a stronger leader.

Good news: I can help with that.

The Facilitators’ Corner Bootcamp Cohort 4 is open.

I built this 5-week bootcamp because it’s exactly what I needed when I started: a practical, hands-on program to help you design great workshops and facilitate them with confidence.

And the best part? It’s not theory-heavy.

The magic is in the practice because that’s where real learning (and real transformation) happens.

Here’s what you’ll do in the program

Over 5 live weeks together, you will:

• Learn the foundation of Facilitation

• Experience a well-facilitated workshop as a participant (so you feel what “good” looks like)

• Learn how to run a strong stakeholder/customer conversation to collect the right inputs

• Design a workshop agenda from a real client brief

• Facilitate multiple activities live and get feedback from your peers + me

So the next time you have to run a workshop on your own, it won’t feel scary because you’ll already have done it for real.

And to make things even easier, you’ll also get access to monthly support calls afterward, so I can help you refine your workshop designs and answer questions as they come up.

Schedule (choose the slot that works best)

We meet every Monday for 5 weeks as from the 2nd of march:

• 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM CET (5:00 AM – 8:00 AM ET)

• 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM CET (11:00 AM – 2:00 PM ET)

Many of you asked for an earlier option so I made it happen.

Bottom line: this is a practical, hands-on program to help you design and lead workshops with confidence no matter the team, topic, or challenge.

But Mehdi, it sounds great but I want more information.

Sure…

What’s included in the bootcamp ?

The program is great, but don’t just take my word for it …

Here’s what Silvia (Cohort 1) had to say:

And if you want the full story, Silvia joined me on the latest podcast episode. We spent the last 20 minutes talking about what the training changed for her and how she went from listening to facilitation stories to actually building the skills (and feeling way more confident to lead).

What are going to cover during the 5 weeks?

I’ve developed 5 powerful modules that provide everything you need to master facilitation.

Module 1 : The Foundational Theory

In this module, you'll learn the essential theories, skills, and techniques every facilitator needs to master for guiding groups to work better together. You'll also discover how to design workshops that will help you effectively achieve the desired outcomes for your clients.

Here’s what you will learn

• The Real Problems that prevent groups from working together effectively.

• The Core Theory behind workshop facilitation.

• The 7 Golden Techniques for effective facilitation.

• The Workshop Principles that serve as guidelines for effective collaboration.

• The 6Cs Framework : A streamlined blueprint for understanding the structure of a workshop and designing best-in class workshops.

Module 2 : Show Don’t Tell : Real Workshop

You will experience a real workshop to see firsthand how the theory you've learned is applied in practice. We'll also pause the workshop at key moments to connect the theory to practice and provide additional explanations.

Here’s what you will learn

• Experience the essentials of effective workshop facilitation, learn to avoid common pitfalls, and master strategies to overcome them.

• Discover the behind-the-scenes work of what facilitators do while leading a workshop.

• The best problem-solving working recipe, the Lightning Decision Jam.

Module 3 : The Facilitation Masterkit

You will learn all the key workshop activities needed to design any type of session. Many people believe they need to fill their facilitation toolbox with countless exercises, but in reality, there's a core set of powerful and versatile activities that can cover 80% of your needs.

Here’s what you will learn

• My favorite warm-up activities to engage your audience and set the stage for achieving amazing results.

• The 15 core exercises to run any type of workshop.

• My top exercises for wrapping up your sessions, ensuring participants leave with great memories.

I’ve improved this module a lot based on feedback. That’s why it’s now a self-paced
e-learning, so we can spend our live time actually practicing the activities, instead of having me explain things you could just watch on your own.

Module 4 : Workshop Preparation & Design

You'll put your fresh learning to use right away by designing a workshop from scratch based on a real customer brief. You'll go through every step of the workshop design process, from extracting key information from the brief to creating a custom workshop that meets your customer's expectations.

Here’s what you will learn

• How to gather all the information you need from a customer to design a workshop.

• How to apply the 6Cs Framework to a real brief.

• The Tools to simplify your workshop preparation and design.

Module 5 : Practice Makes Perfect

At that time, you will be real facilitation pros! So it will be your turn to get your stickies dirty and demonstrate the skills you have learned through this program.

Each member of the cohort will facilitate one or two activities and receive feedback from their peers and me.

Here’s what you will learn

• How to put what you’ve learned into practice.

• Experience the facilitation styles of your peers.

• Receive clear and detailed feedback to enhance your facilitation skills.

Wow, this looks great! How much does it cost?

I’m planning to run only a limited number of trainings each year. Since this bootcamp is still in development, the price for the fourth edition is still quite accessible. At that price you usually only have an e-learning that you’re never going to finish.

And as a member of my newsletter, you can get 20% off with a special discount, a small thank-you for being here!

On top of that, I’m including €1096 worth of bonuses for free!

The Workshop Deck

I’ve designed a set of cards to simplify and gamify the workshop design process.These cards cover all the key activities you need to master to meet most of your facilitation needs.

Each card follows a simple formula, providing clear instructions on what to do, why it’s important, and how to do it. The cards are also color-coded based on the steps of the methodology I use to design workshops.

On top of that, you get access to most of my Miro templates

The Workshop Deck App

You’ll get lifetime access to a beautifully simple web app that makes workshop planning effortless from first idea to final agenda.

Pick the right activities, build a coherent flow based on the 6C Framework, and let the app take care of the timing.

No spreadsheets. No guesswork. No “wait… are we running over?” moments:

• A step-by-step planning flow to design workshops that feel smooth and engaging

• Smart timing that automatically includes breaks and buffer time

• Save, duplicate, and reuse your workshop plans in seconds

• Done-for-you examples to inspire you and help you start quickly

• All your workshop design assets in one organized place
  

The FC Miro Templates

You’ll get access to all my Miro templates, including the new ones I’m continuously creating.

Bonus Recordings

You’ll also get access to recorded content from additional facilitation training sessions. This includes sessions on designing a team retreat, a behind-the-scenes look at workshops, facilitation with AI, opportunity mapping workshops, and more

Live training + small group = Big results.

You can learn facilitation through e-learning programs and join a massive community…

Or, you can join live remote sessions, engage with peers in real time, gain deeper insights from their questions, and be part of a close-knit group. The choice is yours.

Here’s a sneak peek of the community :

One last thing, before you buy

I am very confident that you’ll love this training.

If you are not satisfied by the end of the two first modules, you can get a full refund. Your satisfaction is my priority, and I stand by the quality of my training.

So, join me risk-free and let your learning experience speak for itself.

Woooww

If you’re ready to take the next step in your facilitation journey, there are only 4 spots left, grab yours while you can.

You can join directly on my website:

Save your spot!

Prefer to talk it through first?

We can jump on a quick call, you can book one through my website, or email me at thefacilitatorscorner@gmail.com.

See you in the corner,

Mehdi

Hey guys,

Hope 2026 is treating you well so far.

I’ve just kicked off a new season of the Another Day, Another Workshop podcast.

Season 1 was a ride. We recorded 17 episodes with incredible guests, honest conversations, and a lot of facilitation wisdom (and yes… a lot of passion too).

And after listening back, taking notes, and re-living some of those moments, I realized something:

A few lessons kept coming back.

The kind that actually stick.

The kind you remember in the room, when things get messy.

So here are 5 takeaways that stayed with me from the first season.

Lesson #1: Good facilitation always gives people a choice.

Romy explained that good facilitation should respect different cultures and always give people a choice. Not every group is equally comfortable with creativity, risk-taking, or self-reflection, and that’s okay.

Instead of forcing people to take part in a specific way, create flexible activities that let them engage how they feel most comfortable. This helps everyone feel safe and open to learning.

For example, not everyone will want to close their eyes or draw their emotions and they shouldn’t have to.

👉 Try saying: “You can close your eyes if you’d like,” or “Use words or drawings, whatever works best for you.”

Lesson #2: Connection is really about risk management.

The real purpose of connection isn’t small talk.

It’s getting a group ready to take a risk.

Jan shared a key insight from writing his book:

Most meaningful work requires people to step into uncertainty, sharing something personal, offering a vulnerable idea, or speaking up when it feels uncomfortable.

But risk can’t be forced.

People only take risks when they feel safe with the group, safe with the facilitator, and confident that nothing bad will happen if they fail.

That’s why Jan uses the campfire metaphor.

You can’t light a big log with a lighter.

You start with tinder.

Then small sticks.

Only later can you add the big log.

Workshops work the same way.

The bigger the risk you’ll ask people to take later,

the more intentional you need to be about how you melt the ice at the start.

Connection isn’t about going deep fast.

It’s about warming the room enough so depth becomes possible.

Lesson #3: Different brains. Different needs. Design accordingly.

Facilitators often focus on tools and activities but forget that people’s brains need time, space, and structure to process.

Dee explained that the best facilitators design with this in mind, even if they don’t call it “neuroscience.”

Some people work fast and love quick brainstorming.

Others need time to reflect quietly. If your workshop is packed with back-to-back activities and no breathing space, you’ll lose people.

“If your entire workshop is back-to-back activities without thinking time, some people will disengage.”- Dee Scarano

Here are some of her tips

• Give people space to work both together and alone

• Balance active time with silent time

• Allow participants to submit ideas overnight

Designing for different brain speeds makes a massive difference in engagement and outcomes.

Lesson #4: Don’t overthink it. Don’t underthink it. Optimally think it.

This is one of Tim’s favorite concepts, and it really stuck with me.

Business culture is full of overthinking.

Workshops often suffer from underthinking.

We either spend months circling around a problem…

Or we rush through it in a 90-minute session full of sticky notes and surface-level ideas.

But a good workshop creates space for optimal thinking: time-boxed, structured, deep enough to solve without getting stuck in perfectionism.

And yes, that sometimes means pushing back when a client says, “You only have three hours with the leadership team.”

Because if the challenge is worth €30M, we need more than an icebreaker and a brainstorm.

Lesson #5: Don’t copy a facilitation style. Don’t invent one. Reveal yours.

Most facilitators start by collecting tools. That’s normal, it builds confidence. But your style doesn’t come from more techniques. It comes from noticing what already feels like you and doing more of it on purpose.

Rebecca shared a simple practice: after every session, ask yourself three questions:

• What went well?

• What didn’t go so well?

• What would I do differently next time?

“When you repeat the reflection, patterns appear! Your facilitation becomes less about performance, more about presence.” - Rebecca

Before you go…

Want to level up your facilitation skills?

The next Facilitators’ Corner Bootcamp kicks off on March 2, and I’d love to have you in the room.

For 5 weeks, we’ll meet every Monday, and you can choose the time slot that works best for you:

• 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM CET (5:00 AM to 8:00 AM ET)

• 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM CET (11:00 AM to 2:00 PM ET)

A lot of you asked for an earlier option, so I made it happen.

This is a hands on, practical program to help you design and lead workshops with confidence, no matter the team, topic, or challenge.

No fluff. No theory overload. Just tools, practice, and real facilitation muscle.

More info & registration

What is the bootcamp about ?

It’s a 5-week journey to help you:

• Design workshops with clarity and confidence

• Lead sessions that people actually remember

• Build experiences that drive real outcomes

• Save a lot of time in your workshop design process

• Feel legit walking into any room as a facilitator

Over the last 5 years, I’ve facilitated workshops for corporates, startups, and NGOs, hosted dozens of podcast conversations with top facilitators, and invested €25k+ in training to sharpen my craft.

I’ve also taught hundreds of facilitators.

This bootcamp is the program I wish I had when I started.

Everything in one place. No need to hunt for frameworks, tools, or inspiration elsewhere.

When is it taking place ?

The bootcamp runs every Monday from March 2 to March 30, with live sessions lasting 3 hours each

All sessions will be recorded and shared, so you can catch up on your own time. We know it’s a big commitment, which is why we’re offering high-quality replays to support your learning, even if you miss a live session.

What the Bootcamp Really Gives You

In the last episode of Another Day, Another Workshop, I’m hosting Silvia, a brilliant branding strategist and coach. She was also one of the very first participants of the Facilitators’ Corner Bootcamp.

Here’s a short snippet of what she thought about the bootcamp and how it helped her.

And if you want the full context, we go much deeper in the last 20 minutes of the episode too:

What’s new in the bootcamp this year?

This cohort is special.

Everything I built for The Workshop Deck is now included in the bootcamp:

• The printed card deck

• Lifetime access to the Workshop Deck app

• The full workshop design self-pace module

Last year, I only ran the bootcamp once. Between client work and the launch of the deck, it was simply too much to organize more editions.

So I can’t promise there will be many cohorts this year.

I truly love running this program, but it takes a lot of energy and focus.

If this feels like the right moment for you, my honest advice is: join while you can.

The good news? If you confirm your participation before January 31st, you’ll benefit from early-bird pricing with a 20% discount.

Enroll Now

I’m genuinely excited about this next cohort.

If you want to grow as a facilitator, design better workshops, and feel more confident every time you step into a room, this is for you.

PS: If you’ve already purchased The Workshop Deck or the Mastery Pack, reach out — I’ll make sure you get a special upgrade price that feels fair.

Second good news: if you’ve purchased The Workshop Deck or the Mastery Pack, you’ll also get access to two free practice sessions on January 19th. Make sure to join the community so you don’t miss them.

See you inside,

Mehdi

Hey Guys,

First of all, all the best for 2026!

May you achieve all the great things you wrote in your notes, Notion… or on that random page of paper 😅

To kick-start the year, I wanted to share a small behind-the-scenes moment from one of my last sessions in 2025.

Something that might inspire you to expand your offering and rethink what we can also propose as facilitators.

Recently, I hosted a large event for 150 people. It was for a client I regularly work with, and the request came in pretty last minute. At first, I thought it would be a workshop.

Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.

It was more of a classic corporate event. Lots of slides. Lots of talking.

Nothing against slides: I’m actually a slide lover myself.

My first instinct was to say no.

Then I paused and thought:

“These are exactly the kinds of events that need a bit of facilitation magic.”

Not to replace the content, but to move things away from a monologue and turn them into a real conversation.

So I took the challenge.

And in this newsletter, I want to share how I approached it, why I said yes, how you can take on similar opportunities, and why they can actually expand your service offering in a smart way.

Let’s dive in.

A bit of Context

This was the end-of-year event for a strategy department that had been set up at the beginning of the year.

The goal was to bring everyone together to celebrate what they had achieved over the past months. (If you’ve read that article before, it’s the same team.)

Starting with the Goals: The Foundation of Any Good Session

Just like in any workshop, the very first thing I did was align with the client on the goals.

And yes, clients will often jump straight into what they want to happen. But if you want to design a great session, you first need to clarify why the event exists and what success actually looks like.

Once that’s clear, designing the agenda becomes much easier. You suddenly have a clear target to aim for.

Here are the goals we agreed on:

• People feel they are part of a dream team

• People understand their strategic role in the organization and how it impacts the core business

• People simply have a good time together, celebrating and strengthening connections

Prepare the magic

When you’re preparing an event like this, there are two key things to keep in mind.

1. How do I make sure the content the client wants to share is best in class?

2. What are the small details I can prepare to make the experience feel a bit more special?

Just like in a workshop, my role was to make sure this didn’t feel like another day-to-day meeting. The ambition was clear: make it feel closer to a TED Talk than a classic corporate presentation.

To get there, I booked several prep calls with the client. The goal was to really understand the messages the management team wanted to share, gather the right content, and clarify what truly mattered.

Once that was clear, I could do my magic: package everything properly, make the content lighter, more visual, and easier to follow. We ended up co-creating and designing the entire presentation together.

One principle guided every decision: less is more.

No overloaded slides.

No walls of text.

Just the right amount of content, shaped as a story, to maximize what people would actually remember after the event. Because in the end, it’s not about how much you say, it’s about what sticks.

On top of that, I always schedule an extra session to help the client prepare the delivery itself.

We work on intonation, pauses, jokes, questions to ask the audience, and even refine the speaker notes.

The goal is to give them everything they need to truly own the stage.

Some people might say this isn’t part of the facilitator’s job.

I strongly disagree.

If you want to create an experience that sticks, motivates people to take action, and leads to real transformation, you have to get your hands into the content. People will spend a significant amount of time listening to leadership.

So yes, it absolutely matters.

Making Sure Everything Would Actually Work

Like with any good workshop, I arrived early to check the space and get everything ready for the day.

We had two setups: a main room for the keynotes, and another room for the teamwork activity.

In the main room, my focus was on making sure everything worked smoothly from a technical point of view. The mentimeter, slides, sound, music, transitions all the small details that can either elevate the experience or completely break it.

Here’s a small sneak peek of the last-minute prep, me giving the client a few final tips to help him nail the presentation.

In the second room, where we ran the breakout session, my co-facilitator prepared everything in advance so it was all ready when it was time for the team activity.

Setting the Tone: MC Mode On

I kicked off the event with a warm welcome and clearly set my role for the day.

Throughout the event, I stepped into this MC role, a bit like the host of a comedy show.

My job was to set the stage, create the right conditions for each stakeholder to share their message, and make sure the audience stayed with us.

Between presentations, I’d jump back on stage to summarize key takeaways, ask a few questions to the audience, and bridge smoothly to what was coming next.

The goal was simple: avoid information overload and keep people energized, curious, and ready for the next segment.

How did we kick things off?

Instead of opening with a keynote, we started with something I called the “SITO Games.” (SITO being the name of the Client department)

Think of it as a fun, quiz-style energizer designed to get people laughing while reconnecting them to the business.

The questions were directly linked to how each role contributes to the organization and impacts the core business, exactly in line with one of our key goals: helping people understand their strategic role and the value they bring.

It was a playful way to warm up the audience, activate the room, and bring serious business themes to life without feeling… well, too serious.

And from that moment on, the energy was exactly where we wanted it to be.

And you know me…

I thought about all the small details to make this moment even more memorable.

I even had a special gift for the winner: a custom trophy, plus a Facilitators’ Corner bag filled with goodies… including The Workshop Deck.

We then transitioned into the keynotes, with department leaders and team members sharing key successes and other important topics from the year.

I Borrowed a Game from Squid Game (No One Died)

After the break, it was time for the team activity.

The goal was simple: do something different and help people connect with colleagues they don’t usually work with.

While watching Squid Game season 2, I saw a game and immediately thought: “I need to try this in a workshop.”

I just needed the right opportunity.

This was it.

(Mehdi very happy.)

Enter: The Mingle Game.

In the show, there’s a carousel in the middle. A number is announced, and people have to quickly form teams of that size. I loved the idea, so I adapted it to create teams for the workshop.

Here’s how it worked.

Participants had to form a team of 8 people, with specific roles represented:

• 1 SITO Leader

• At least 2 Business Analysts

• 1 Business Architect or 1 Application Guard

The first team to form correctly earned a small advantage for the main team challenge.

It was fast, fun, and high-energy. People were moving, talking, laughing, and collaborating across roles within minutes. Exactly what I was hoping for.

Small side note: in Squid Game, people die if they don’t make it in time… so yes, be careful how you introduce the activity 😅

NB: The company’s brand color is orange, so I used AI to create a video where participants were wearing orange tracksuits. Because details matter.

Next up: The Marshmallow Challenge

The Marshmallow Challenge is a classic.

And fun fact: this was actually the first time I ever ran it.

I needed a short, hands-on activity that would mix people across roles, create energy, and still make sense for the context. This one checked all the boxes.

If you’re not familiar with it, the goal is simple:

Build the tallest free-standing structure using limited materials, with the marshmallow on top.

And you have 18 minutes. No more.

To run the activity, each team gets:

• 20 spaghetti sticks

• 1 meter of masking tape

• 1 meter of string

• 1 marshmallow

• 1 pair of scissors

What I loved about it is that it looks easy… until it’s not. Very quickly, it reveals how teams plan, test, communicate, and adapt under pressure. Perfect for a mixed group that doesn’t usually work together.

Once time’s up, you measure the towers to see which team built the tallest structure.

And here’s a fun twist: the team that won the Mingle Game earlier got a small advantage. They could choose one extra resource before starting:

• 5 additional spaghetti sticks

• 0.5 m of extra tape

• 0.5 m of extra string

A tiny advantage on paper… but in practice, it made the competition even more interesting.

If you want a great walkthrough of this activity and why it works so well, this video is the one I watch to get prepared.

Wrapping Up with a Vision for the Future

To close out the event, once the energy in the room was high, we brought the head of the department back on stage to share the vision for the next three years.

We kept it clear, focused, and light. The goal wasn’t to go into every detail, but to set a direction and create alignment.

There will be plenty of time to build on it later.

This moment was about leaving people with clarity, optimism, and momentum, not information overload.

Ending on a high note: The Wish Wall

For the final activity, I wanted something simple and meaningful to end the day on a positive note.

Before everyone moved on to the afterwork, I invited participants to write a wish for the team on a whiteboard.

It could be anything:

• qualitative or quantitative

• ambitious or playful

• inspirational or very concrete

I told them: “In one year, we’ll come back to these wishes and see how far we’ve come.”

It was a powerful way to close the event. People left smiling, feeling connected, and already projecting themselves into the future, which is exactly what you want at the end of a day like this.

Final Thoughts: The Value of Facilitation in Events

In the end, what really made this event special was treating it like a workshop, not just an event.

It wasn’t about pushing information from stage to audience. It was about engagement, interaction, and intention.

Making sure they didn’t just attend, but actually remembered something when they left.

And that’s, I think, the real power of facilitation, even (and especially) in a corporate event setting.

I’m genuinely happy I said yes to this opportunity. It added a new layer to my practice and showed me how much value facilitation can bring beyond “classic” workshops.

Clients invest a lot in these events. Money, time, energy.

They free up their employees for a full day, sometimes more. If you make that kind of investment, you want impact.

And that’s exactly where we come in.

This is where facilitation magic can turn a monologue into a moment that actually moves people.

Hope you enjoyed this little behind-the-scenes look.

One last thing before you go

Want to level up your facilitation skills?

The next Facilitators’ Corner Bootcamp kicks off on March 2, and I’d love to have you in the room.

For 5 weeks, we’ll meet every Monday from 5–8 PM CET / 11 AM–2 PM ET.

This is a hands-on, practical program designed to help you confidently design and lead workshops, no matter the team, topic, or challenge.

No fluff. No theory overload. Just tools, practice, and real facilitation muscle.

More info & registration

What is the bootcamp about ?

It’s a 5-week journey to help you:

• Design workshops with clarity and confidence

• Lead sessions that people actually remember

• Build experiences that drive real outcomes

• Save a lot of time in your workshop design process

• Feel legit walking into any room as a facilitator

Over the last 5 years, I’ve facilitated workshops for corporates, startups, and NGOs, hosted dozens of podcast conversations with top facilitators, and invested €25k+ in training to sharpen my craft.

I’ve also taught hundreds of facilitators.

This bootcamp is the program I wish I had when I started.

Everything in one place. No need to hunt for frameworks, tools, or inspiration elsewhere.

When is it taking place ?

The bootcamp runs every Monday from March 2 to March 30, with live sessions lasting 3 hours each(5–8 PM CET / 11 AM–2 PM ET).

I’m also considering running an earlier session from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM CET in parallel, if there’s interest. Feel free to reach out if this time works better for you.

All sessions will be recorded and shared, so you can catch up on your own time. We know it’s a big commitment, which is why we’re offering high-quality replays to support your learning, even if you miss a live session.

What’s new in the bootcamp this year?

This cohort is special.

Everything I built for The Workshop Deck is now included in the bootcamp:

• The printed card deck

• Lifetime access to the Workshop Deck app

• The full workshop design self-pace module

Last year, I only ran the bootcamp once. Between client work and the launch of the deck, it was simply too much to organize more editions.

So I can’t promise there will be many cohorts this year.

I truly love running this program, but it takes a lot of energy and focus.

If this feels like the right moment for you, my honest advice is: join while you can.

The good news? If you confirm your participation before January 31st, you’ll benefit from early-bird pricing with a 20% discount.

Enroll Now

I’m genuinely excited about this next cohort.

If you want to grow as a facilitator, design better workshops, and feel more confident every time you step into a room, this is for you.

PS: If you’ve already purchased The Workshop Deck or the Mastery Pack, reach out — I’ll make sure you get a special upgrade price that feels fair.

Second good news: if you’ve purchased The Workshop Deck or the Mastery Pack, you’ll also get access to two free practice sessions on January 19th. Make sure to join the community so you don’t miss them.

See you inside,

Mehdi

Hey Facilitator Friend,

This is the last newsletter of the year, and I wanted to share something that can help you start 2026 on the right track.

In case you don’t make it to the end of the newsletter (I get it, it’s long), let me say thank you already.

This year, more and more of you have been subscribing to the newsletter, listening to the podcast, watching the YouTube videos, or reaching out on LinkedIn. That support genuinely means a lot and keeps me motivated to keep going.

Now, let’s get into it.

Every year around this time, the same question shows up again:

“What do I want next year to look like?”

And every year, a lot of the answers sound… nice.

More balance. More impact. More growth. Less stress. More freedom.

But nice words are not a strategy.

So what if we used a bit of workshop magic on the most important participant in the room?

You.

If that sounds good, let’s go.

Design your own personal strategy!

One of my favorite books on strategy is Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt.

His idea is simple: a good strategy has three parts.

• A diagnosis

• A guiding policy

• Coherent actions

And honestly, it works just as well for your next year as it does for a company.

So let’s apply it to your own reflection, step by step, as if you were participating a workshop for yourself, facilitated by you.

You can use the same logic applies when you reflect on your own ambition for next year.

Let’s walk through it step by step as an individual exercise.

So let’s apply it to your own reflection, step by step, as if you were in a workshop for yourself, facilitated by you.

Start with a diagnosis

Before setting goals, intentions, or big ambitions for next year, pause.

If you have a bit of time and space right now, this is the perfect moment to start with a diagnosis.

Not a vague reflection, but something structured and intentional.

Every good strategy starts with looking back before looking forward.

One simple and powerful way to do this is a personal retrospective. I often recommend a SWOT because it’s familiar, easy to use, and surprisingly effective when done properly.

Try a personal SWOT

• Strengths: What worked well this year? What are you genuinely good at?

• Weaknesses: Where did you struggle? What drained your energy or slowed you down?

• Opportunities: What new possibilities are opening up around you?

• Threats: What risks, constraints, or recurring patterns could hold you back?

This exercise helps you look at two things at once:

1. What you control: your skills, habits, choices

2. What you don’t control: timing, context, external constraints

Understanding your strengths helps you lean into them.

Naming your weaknesses stops you from pretending they don’t exist.

Seeing opportunities sharpens your focus.

Identifying threats keeps you grounded in reality.

Without a diagnosis, ambition is just optimism.

If you want to go faster or keep things lighter, you can also use a simpler retrospective like a Sailboat exercise and just capture positives and negatives.

Once the diagnosis is done, you’ll have solid material to guide your strategy and make better decisions for the year ahead.

Define a clear direction

Once you have your diagnosis, it’s time to decide where you want to go.

This is where ambition comes in. And ambition doesn’t have to be a single thing. It can take different forms:

• A goal: What do I want to achieve next year?

• A vision: Who do I want to become?

• A purpose: Why does this next chapter matter to me?

What matters most is not choosing the “right” format, but being clear.

Here are two simple principles I always use in workshops and apply just as much here.

1. Start with a clear sentence starter

Abstract thinking is hard. So don’t make it harder than it needs to be.

Give your brain a starting point. For example:

• “Next year, I want to…”

• “I want to spend more of my time on…”

• “This year matters because…”

A single sentence is often enough to reveal what really matters to you.

And remember: constraints create clarity.

Limiting yourself to two or three strong sentences forces you to prioritize instead of listing everything you could want.

Once the direction is clear, the rest becomes much easier to design.

2. Be concrete, not poetic

You don’t need a perfectly worded manifesto.

You need something you can react to.

Something real. Slightly uncomfortable. Specific enough to make choices visible.

For example:

• “Next year, I want to create and launch the printed version of The Workshop Deck, even if it means running fewer workshops.”

• “I want to build a strong and recognizable personal brand around facilitation.”

That’s enough.

You can always refine later.

For now, make it tangible.

Identify your roadblocks

At this point, you have two things:

• A diagnosis

• A direction

That’s a great start.

Now comes the uncomfortable but necessary part.

What could stop you from getting there?

Instead of ignoring obstacles or hoping they won’t matter, name them.

A simple way to do this is to turn them into questions, starting with:

• “Can I…?”

• “Will I be able to…?”

For example:

• “Can I grow my business while having a full-time job?”

• “Can I create and sell a card deck without a publisher?”

• “Can I consistently create valuable LinkedIn content every week?”

Keeping your obstacles in mind will help a lot during the ideation phase. You’ll need to find ways to avoid them or work around them, and that’s what will really improve the quality of your plan.

Define your guiding policies

Now we’re getting to the heart of strategy.

Rumelt calls this part guiding policies:

“The guiding policy outlines an overall approach for overcoming the obstacles highlighted by the diagnosis.”

Guiding policies are not actions yet.

They are principles that help you decide how you’ll move forward.

To find yours, look back at:

• Your diagnosis

• Your direction

• Your roadblocks

Then complete this sentence:

“I realize this by…”

For example:

• “I realize this by focusing on fewer, higher-quality projects.”

• “I build the deck and validate in public, with my audience, before scaling.”

• “I prioritize consistency over perfection.”

• I reuse what already exists instead of starting from scratch.

These policies act like guardrails.

They help you make decisions when things get messy.

And they will get messy.

Small tip: your guiding policies should take into account your diagnosis and the roadblocks you’ve identified.

You want your plan to be pragmatic. That means being honest about what you’re capable of (diagnosis) and the real obstacles you’ll face along the way.

Time for action

Only now does it make sense to talk about actions.

For each guiding policy, ask yourself:

• “What needs to happen for this to be real and move me closer to my ambition?”

• “What are the very first concrete steps?”

Write those actions down.

Give them ownership (yes, that’s you).

Put them in time.

Ambition without action is just reflection.

Action without strategy is just movement.

Small tip: don’t try to plan the entire year in one go. Things shift. Priorities change. Actions influence each other.

Start with the next 6 to 8 weeks.

Then pause, assess what actually moved the needle, and either define the next actions or adjust your plan if it’s not bringing you closer to your ambition.

A final reminder

As you think about next year, keep this in mind:

Avoid fluff. Nice words won’t help you when things get hard.

Strategy is about choice. Doing this means not doing that.

Focus is not a limitation. It’s a commitment.

A bad strategy is vague, comforting, and disconnected from reality.

A good strategy is grounded, specific, and sometimes uncomfortable.

Goals give direction.

Strategy gives you a way through.

And if you take the time to do this work now, you’re not just hoping for a better year.

You’re designing one.

(Woow… I actually love how I wrote this paragraph. I can already see myself recording a black-and-white video, adding some motivational music, and going viral haha.)

If any of your goals are about becoming a better facilitator or building a stronger personal brand, I’ve got you covered.

So I’m back in January with three practical, high-energy sessions to help you improve how you work with others, lead groups, and design impactful experiences.

Design workshops in minutes, not hours.

I’m bringing this one back because you asked for it.

We’ll tackle the four most common questions I get about workshop design:

• “How do I actually design a great workshop?”

• “How do I know which activity to choose?”

• “Does my workshop flow make sense?”

• “Where do I even find the right activities?”

Expect concrete answers, simple frameworks, and things you can use right away.

The event will take place on Zoom on January 15 at 12 PM CET / 6 AM EDT.

Save your spot!

Level up your facilitation skills

In this session, I’ll walk you through the different levels of facilitation. From starting from scratch to confidently leading any group through complex challenges, without needing to overplan every detail.

It’s a great way to:

• assess where you are today

• understand what kind of facilitator you’re becoming

• identify the next milestone you should focus on

The event will take place on Zoom on January 22 at 6 PM CET / 12 PM EDT.

Save your spot!

The missing skill in most teams

Most teams don’t lack ideas.

They struggle to work well together.

In this session, I’ll show you why facilitation is the skill every team (and especially every leader) needs to make collaboration actually work, not just look good on paper.

The event will take place on Zoom on January 28 at 2 PM CET / 8 AM EDT.

Secure your spot!

Be visible

The monthly challenge of our free facilitation community (Fit For Facilitation, created together with Nathy, Said, Alex, and me) is all about visibility this month.

We’ll kick things off with a live session where we’ll share practical tips to improve your LinkedIn game. From your banner and one-liner to lead magnets and positioning, we’ll help you make your profile work for you.

No fluff. Just small, concrete actions you can apply right away.

The kick-off will take place on Zoom on January 13 at 6 PM CET / 12 PM EDT.

Join us!

Big thank you, and all the best for 2026💚

That’s all I wanted to say, really. Thank you for the amazing support throughout the year. More and more of you are subscribing to the newsletter, listening to the podcast, watching the YouTube videos, or reaching out on LinkedIn.

It genuinely means a lot. It motivates me to keep going and to keep creating content that’s useful, practical, and grounded in real work.

Together, we’ll keep making workplaces better places to work.