Public servants spend a lot of time in meetings. But learning how to run a great one isn’t easy.

At Apolitical's recent virtual event on How to Be a Great Facilitator, expert Vince Verlaan packed 30 years of facilitation practice into 17 minutes flat.

We summarised his top tips into this facilitation cheat sheet. Use it to set an agenda that works, plus find bonus tips to keep things on track with scripts you can use in real time.

The four-step structure for facilitating a great meeting

The sequence to build any agenda around, whatever the topic.

1. Frame it. Give the group a clear reason to be there.

Write down the purpose of your meeting:


2. Centre the discussion. Pose one clear question that needs an answer, then invite the room to help answer it.

Write down the question your meeting will answer:


3. Facilitate input and exploration. Open the floor, brainstorm without judgement, keep focus and manage the discussion.

Tips:

  • Don't get attached to one format. There are hundreds of tools and techniques; pick what suits the room, not what worked last time.

  • Make it interactive where you can. Getting people moving, talking and writing tends to generate richer results than discussion alone.

  • Plan for the loud and the quiet. Decide in advance how you'll draw out quieter voices and gently limit those who dominate.

  • Time each activity — and ensure you keep focus.

Plan your agenda to facilitate the discussion and allocate time to each one:

Plan the activities you’ll use to facilitate:Dedicate time on the agenda for each activity:

Need inspiration? In his slides, Vince recommended some resources you can use to find facilitation techniques for your next meeting.

4. Converge on actions. Narrow it down, check for real agreement, and lock in an action plan before anyone leaves. A session without a written record of decisions and next steps hasn't achieved much, however good the discussion felt.

Use a table like this one to document actions:

Write down the actions or decisions:Write down the owner(s) of each action:Write down the deadlines for each action:

Bonus: Use these scripts…

When someone takes over the room:

What do you do when one person is dominating the conversation? This was the top-voted audience question, and Verlaan's answer was refreshingly unglamorous: plan for it, because it will happen.

  • At the start of a session, name your role out loud:

"I'll manage the time, the focus and the question. You're responsible for the content. Do I have your permission to play that role?"

  • Ask for that permission. People almost always say yes.
  • That agreement becomes your licence to step back in later. It takes a bit of bravery, but the room usually thanks you for it afterwards.

When you're put on the spot:

When someone asks a question that you’re not prepared to answer, here’s what to say.

  • It's fine to say "I don't know”."
  • Turn the question back to the group. Collectively, they're smarter than you are alone. “What do you all think?”
  • You can also protect the group's time and suggest taking it offline or promise to follow-up after the meeting.

Catch the highlights video below, or head to the event page for the full recording, Vince's slides and his full speaker bio.

This article was written with the help of AI using an anonymised transcript and edited by a human before publishing.

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