UK Tester Forums

Standard Format

We’ve evolved a fairly standard format for all sessions. All sessions are 75 minutes long. They are discussion groups. Typical sessions require a 15-20 minute introductory presentation to introduce the topic. (Approximately 10-12 PPT slides). The end of the presentation should post some questions to the group. These should focus on particular problems, challenges or should offer options that can be discussed. It is MUCH better not to get into discussion about your own services or tools – but if you have a solution, there is no problem you mentioning it.

People who want to know more will approach you during the day. Remember, delegates are in your session for the discussion. This is the format they are used to.

Your Facilitation Role
You can assume the delegates are intelligent and well informed. Many will be active in the areas you discuss and some may be advanced practitioners and have their own alternative solutions. Your role as facilitator is to pose the questions, encourage and manage the discussion and keep the discussion going. Sometimes, the discussion starts before you finish your introduction. Some topics start up very lively debates. If the conversation is flowing, it’s best to manage the discussion, and when there is a pause, continue your introduction. Occasionally, some introductions are never finished! This at least gives you an excuse to talk to people who showed the greatest interest in the topic.

Treat the Event as Market Research Rather than a Sales Opportunity
We encourage sponsors to treat the events as an opportunity to do some market research and learn what are the problems and hot-topics in the market. If you choose a good topic where lots of people have problems and you demonstrate a good knowledge of the problem you will make contact with good, qualified prospects, I think.

Powerpoint Slides and Handouts

(At the Summit) Every delegate gets a handout with summarised session materials. The handout will contain on A4 sheet for every session – 16 sheets in total. These will contain the PPT slides printed six slides per page double-sided, so please adhere to the 12 slide limit. If you present more on the day, that’s OK, but the handout will only have 12 slides printed out. If you have marketing material or other papers you wish to give to the delegates you can do that from your table, but there will also be plenty of space to leave materials around the venue.

After the Event

We will ask delegates and facilitators to send us their notes from the session and these will be posted on the uktmf.com website. We would also like to post your PPT slides and any other supporting material you think would be useful.

Leading up to the Event

Before the event, we invite you to register on the uktmf.com site and post a blog entry to provide more information/background to your session. Potentially you will get some discussion on your blog, the conversation can continue during the Summit and afterwards also.

We intend to invite our mailing list to complete a favoured topics survey. We’ll include your suggested topics and give you feedback on their popularity. We expect to finalise the programme in 2-3 weeks so all you need to do before then is settle on the title and have 100 words or so to describe the topic. We’ll need the final material (for the handouts) 5-7 days before the event – so there’s plenty of time.

Guidelines on Facilitation

A good facilitator is someone who is confident about sharing new ideas with others and sensitive enough to listen and draw out the views of all group members. This person should be committed to helping the group achieve its aims more effectively by learning together.

Facilitation is commonly understood to be less “directive” than presenting or teaching. A useful 'rule of thumb' distinction between facilitation and presenting is that in facilitation, the goal is usually for people to learn something that nobody knows at the beginning, whereas in presenting the goal is usually for people to learn what the presenter already knows.

Facilitation is often described as the art of making things easy for others, but if you make things too easy you risk returning to the spoon-feeding tradition in which delegates passively digest whatever the facilitator wants them to.

In essence, facilitation is an enabling role in which the focus is usually on what the delegates are doing and experiencing, rather than on what the facilitator is doing.

An impartial stance can help to encourage discussion or defuse conflict or help delegates become more independent and responsible in their participation. However, there are some issues that you should not attempt to be neutral such as your own non-negotiable beliefs and views about your selected topic. Then you should be clear about your views for the benefit of others and a full discussion.

You (as a facilitator) first need a reasonably clear picture of what it is that you want to facilitate. There are many options but for the TMF and Summit we suggest group development, or learning climate are the most relevant.

You may have a small group of 15 or a larger group of 40 delegates who have committed their time to listen, learn and participate and this can be achieved in various ways including:

• Taking a case study and encourage discussion (how to achieve, what would they do, why etc)
• Sharing your stance on a topic and open the topic up for discussion (who agrees, who disagrees, why, what would they do differently? etc.)
• If the facilitator is using PowerPoint – it is very important to consider the following:
• Keep words to a minimum with no more than between 5 - 7 bullet points per page
• Use pictures so as not to lose focus on what you have to say
• Ask lots of questions to encourage participation
• If all else fails – ‘lob in’ a potentially conflicting opinion to raise the energy of the delegates

To gauge the views of your group, you could ask relevant questions to your topic with a show of hands. For example:

• How many have a business (or a technical background)
• How many have experience of…
• Who thinks that…
• Who agrees with …
• And so on

At appropriate points, it’s good to summarise the discussion. For example, “From the discussion the majority think…..” “But there are some interesting and important exceptions……”

Good facilitators are: flexible, adaptive, proactive, responsive and resilient – they are good listeners and articulate and concise.

Good Luck and Enjoy!

If you need any more information, contact Susan Windsor or Paul Gerrard.