Meeting Facilitation

We pride ourselves in facilitating creative processes that bring out the best in all members of your group.

Craig Freshley We facilitate meetings for groups seeking efficiency and professionalism. We use a variety of techniques to draw out all perspectives. We move groups toward shared understanding and agreement. We manage conflict objectively with compassion and respect.

Our philosophy is to provide you with a framework on which to hang your own issues and ideas. We manage the process so you can focus on the substance. Through an efficient, disciplined, inclusive approach, we facilitate a fertile environment that fosters creativity and enthusiasm.

We facilitate regular meetings of established groups, coalitions of organizations, special meetings such as board retreats and strategic planning sessions, and meetings specifically designed to gather public input.

With every meeting, what to expect from us

When you hire Good Group Decisions to plan, facilitate, and write up a meeting you get a highly professional team that typically includes two Associates or Craig Freshley and an Associate.

Tailored Meeting Design and Preparation

In an advance planning meeting, we will discuss meeting objectives with you (and hopefully a small group) and develop an agenda for your consideration
We will prepare handouts, charts, slides, signs, and other meeting materials
We will make sure we are familiar with the meeting facility and will help with set up and break down
We will become familiar with key issues and develop rapport with key players

Inclusive, Innovative, Efficient Facilitation

We bring our own equipment such as easels, computer, projector, screen, etc. and supplies such as name tents or name tags and tools for cardstorming, multi-voting, table-top surveys, and other group decision techniques for airing and seeing all views
We structure and respectfully guide difficult decisions
We are flexible and responsive

Themes and Conclusions on the Spot

Key findings, themes and conclusions will be documented on screens, flip charts, or our "greenwall"
As decisions are made, words are written on the spot for all to see in order to maximize shared understanding and agreements

Highly Satisfied Participants

Participants will feel heard and will feel a sense of ownership of the meeting outcomes
Participants will conclude that the meeting was a good, efficient use of their time
Meeting objectives will be achieved, good group decisions will result, and participants will leave the meeting enthusiastic for more work together

Professional Reports

Within two weeks after the meeting, we provide a nicely-formatted, well-organized, complete Report of the Meeting that documents major themes, conclusions, and decisions in addition to all discussion comments (paraphrased in outline form). Meeting Reports also include a list of participants, agenda, ground rules, presentations, and handouts as appropriate.
We provide a Draft Report and give you a chance to suggest edits which are then incorporated into a final version provided to the client in Word and PDF.

These are public domain reports we have prepared for clients, many of them posted at their own websites.

Fee Structure

For the above-described package, we charge a set fee depending on the length and complexity of the meeting. The fee covers all services and is fixed in advance no matter how much effort we put into the job. Additional charges are added for travel time, travel expenses, and other out-of-pocket expenses at cost.

We have three pricing levels: Premium, Standard, and Apprentice. With Premium pricing, you get Craig Freshley as the lead. With Standard pricing, you will work with one of our trained, talented Associates. Our Apprentice pricing allows you to get a meeting facilitated for as little as $100 while also providing an aspiring facilitator with some great experience. In many cases our Apprentice Facilitators are highly skilled and respected professionals in their field, simply looking to gain facilitation experience in the style of Good Group Decisions.

Additionally, for those on a tight budget or who don't want a meeting write-up, Craig Freshley and Associates are willing to offer a lower-priced package of services that includes advance preparation, expert facilitation, on-site documentation, and a sketch write-up of conclusions.

Craig Freshley and Associates are available for additional services at hourly rates.

We are happy to participate in an advance planning meeting at no charge if the job doesn't materialize.

Please call to discuss your project and we will gladly provide a cost estimate.

Scheduling

We manage our challenging calendar by thinking of commitments in the following three ways:

Potentially Available - Call anytime about your project and we will tell you what dates we are potentially available.

Pending - We're willing to hold two or three dates for two or three weeks. This means that if we have another client interested in the same date, we will confirm with you first before confirming with the other client.

Confirmed - This means we are committeed to serving you on a specific date and we tell other clients that we are unavailable. If you cancel a meeting after it has been confirmed there may be a charge.

Craig's calendar fills up particularly quickly. Please call in advance to discuss availability.

Virtual Meetings and Online Tools

Face-to-face meetings are the best but when your situation calls for gathering people without travel we can help you have a virtual meeting. We have accounts with and know how to use many online tools that allow participants to hear each other and view a common screen where things can be written and documents can be jointly edited from any location with a computer and high speed connection. In cases of face-to-face meetings with some remote particiants, we use state-of-the-art audio equipment so all parties can hear each other.

We also use online tools for advance preparation and scheduling. For many clients we administer advance on-line surveys so when the meeting occurs we "hit the ground running" with data already collected and analyzed.

Check out Other Assistance to learn about how we can help with:

Strategic planning

New organization start up

Mergers and collaborations

Mediation

Secretariat services

Research and report preparation

Check out our Professional Development Training and Team Building services.

Check out Publications to view a list of reports that Craig Freshley has authored or edited.

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