User:Jacob.Walker/Blog/2026-01-17 50th Birthday Party Plan/At Tables: First Facilitated Conversation

At Tables: First Facilitated Conversation

In person, people will still be getting food, as they are coming to the tables.

Learning how to Facilitate a "Yes, And!" Brainstorm

Please go through the following to get up to speed about being a facilitator for Yes And. (If you don't have a lot of time, just watch the example, and read the stuff below)

1. Watch the TEDx talk about Yes And that will be shown at the party, which show the power of Yes And:  📽️ Karen Tilstra's Yes And TEDx
2. Watch this example of the Yes And brainstorming technique, will will also show at the party: Improv: 📽️ Improv: "Yes, and" Marketing Brainstorm Exercise
3. Listen to this MP3 that has a group of us testing out Yes And online: Yes And Sample from Jacob, Jacob, Olga, and David Jones (The audio is not the best, but it does help give an example of how we will use it.)
4. And, if you want to practice beforehand, go to the online practice and question session Thursday Jan 15, at 6pm on Discord.

Here is what is important:

1. The most important thing is to have it enjoyable for folk!
2. The second goal is to have people become more connected to the work Jacob is doing.
3. And finally, we will use this brainstorming as part of our building process.

Second Facilitated Conversation

1. Everyone will have seen two Yes And videos and a live example on stage before the table does their Yes And
2. At the tables, facilitator reads the Cue Card, and everyone also has their own (or sees it in chat)
3. Facilitator starts with the prompt
4. Goes "Yes, And..." around the table, with the facilitator doing their own "Yes, And..." at the end
5. The facilitator then asks each person to share more about their "Yes, And..." idea, with natural flow of people being able to comment in productive ways etc.
6. Online this will be recorded automatically, but in-person we need a way to get the ideas recorded???
7. Jacob will ask for a share out from each team, to get their ideas and thoughts about the activity

Note, as it goes around the table, people can skip, but it will come back to them after the others do theirs.

Co-Facilitation Setup

The role of the table facilitator has little to do with knowing the topic of the table, and most to do with pulling people out of their shells.

Discord

In-Person and Online Facilitators both will need to use Discord, or for in-person ask Jacob to have someone to do it for you.

You should test using Discord:

• by going to the Discord Event Page
• and/or participating in the practice session Thursday January 15, 6pm Pacific Time

Laptop

The in-person facilitator will have a laptop with them so they can also be at the online table with the online facilitator. Since many of the online coordinators are from locations that have flaky infrastructure of electricity and Internet, the in-person facilitator may need to help online in case something goes wrong. We also will have an extra person at the online table if we can, who is a bit familiar with the topic, so they can help, in case problems happen.

First Facilitated Conversation

Conversation Facilitator ask one at time (don't do all questions at once, we want to go around quickly for each one)

1. Who are you? and...
2. What is one thing you want us to know about you? (The first 2 questions are asked at one time, since the first answer is short)
3. How do you know Jacob?
4. What is the most valuable thing you learned in school, college, or training?
5. What was the most useless thing you learned in school, college, or training?
6. What is the most valuable thing you learned outside of formal education?
7. If there was one thing you could have everyone in the world learn, what would it be?