The Art of Unlearning

How do you lead a group conversation? What is a good facilitators role in discussion? These are questions I thought I had the answers to before experiencing my first two seminars. College taught me many valuable skills about how to effectively lead. The problem is the style of leading I was taught focuses attention on the presenter. This is the greatest hurdle I must overcome before I will be ready to facilitate a seminar. I have 22 years of learning working against me. In order to conquer this obstacle I will have to combine the new lessons I am learning now to my past experience. My role in these seminars will be that of a participant and making sure discussions do not get off topic. A challenge to this style of facilitation is trying to keep everyone involved knowing that some people will want to dominate the conversation. I will also need to learn much more about the issues being discussed. Before coming to DC I thought I had a basic understanding of the issues I would be working on. I have now realized that I know next to nothing about the topics that will be discussed during seminars. My knowledge of these topics comes from the media and my college textbooks. While these sources of information can offer insight, I have realized that there is a whole side to these issues that I never knew existed. In order to learn more I will need to find new resources. Thankfully I work at an agency that has people who work daily on the issues I need to learn about. This has allowed me quick access to new resources and the chance to talk with others in the office. DC is proving to be better than I could have imagined and I am greatly looking forward to seeing what the future holds for me.