Coaching: Event Design and Facilitation

In recent years, a growing number of people have reached out to us seeking coaching and advisory support as they embark on the journey of designing and facilitating participatory events, meetings, and planning sessions. As passionate participatory processes needs, we love helping others succeed in this work!
We provide tailored coaching to help you navigate uncertainty and step confidently into leading.

• Are you stepping up to lead a participatory process for the first time?

• Do you need a design partner to think through processes and prepare well for a pivotal meeting or event?

Here are a few examples of how we’ve supported leaders recently:

1. Building a Collaborative Team in Government:
   A young professional was tasked with creating an interdepartmental team within the provincial government. They needed to define the team’s purpose, structure, roles, and guiding principles, while fostering collaboration. We designed a series of meetings using proven methodologies to create alignment and coached them through facilitating the process, preparing them for unexpected challenges.

2. Designing a 200-Person Event for Program Evaluation:
   To celebrate a multi-year program’s success, a 200-person event was planned with a focus on creating meaningful connections and gathering input for program evaluation. Colab helped design a playful yet impactful experience, ensuring the event supported both celebration and critical feedback gathering.

3. Strategic Planning During a Funding Crisis:
   A coalition of advocacy organizations faced a critical moment: with core funding ending after 10 years, they had to decide how to focus their final year’s funding. And operating on a tight budget, they needed to facilitate the planning session themselves. Together we designed a two-day retreat that facilitated key decision-making, addressing varying team capacities while guiding them through strategic direction choices in a challenging context.