Practice Sessions
Join practice sessions​
Practice sessions are an amazing way to make all the mistakes that you then later won't make when facilitating an actual process!
👉 To join a CF Practice Session look for events called "Practice Session" on our Community Calendar or under "Upcoming Events" at community.convergentfacilitation.org.
You don't need to sign up. You can just join those sessions via the link in the event. If this is a bit intimidating because you don't know any people yet join our community space first to connect and let others know that you are intending to come by leaving a comment on the event.
If you'd like to receive invites to your email address for practice sessions and all the other events scheduled by the community, you can receive Calendar Invites.
Why participate in practice sessions​
There's much we need to learn and to unlearn to become effective Convergent Facilitators. Similarly, we'll need a lot of practice to be able to steer and support a group in finding a decision that works for everyone. Stepping straight into holding an actual process might be beyond what you can do and might not serve the group you want to support either. If you have done a CF course with a group of people and have started to practice together—great! If not, we recommend joining practice sessions regularly!
Practice sessions offer loads of opportunities to try and fail, and learn, and try again... an no one get angry or frustated. And you can choose how you want to engage: stepping into the role of a person participating in a CF process, stepping into facilitaton (even if only for 5 minutes), or just observing others and offering feedback and appreciation.
Also, by participanting in practice sessions you get to talk to people who are already doing the work that you would love to do in the field. There is a lot to learn from them.
Offer practice sessions​
Anyone can organise and hold a practice sessions. If you don't find sessions that you would like to join on the calendar, create a post in Initiatives in our community space and let people know that you would like to set on up. That being said, practice groups are generally offered by someone who has some experience of applying CF in the world and will be able to bring real-life challenges into the group. They also bring practices and examples from coaching calls, courses or workshops offered by our experienced Convergent Facilitators that they themselves participate in, and might be able to offer some light coaching as well.
We see offering a Practice Group as a powerful step for you to co-hold your work together with others, digest and harvest previous facilitations as well as being able to practice and experiment for upcoming processes. It is also in service to people who are still new on their learning journey. Practising with a person who is bringing their real challenges from the field provides a powerful learning opportunity for everybody.