Skip to content

11. Facilitation and Session Plan

How to use this activity

This activity supports practical application of the concepts in your lesson.

  1. Download this activity as a docx file
  2. Work through the activity step by step. Keep your answers concise and focused
  3. Return to your lesson when you are done.

What to do: Plan the structure, timing, and facilitation approach for at least one session of your training

Expected output: A structured facilitation plan covering session flow, timing, roles, and contingencies

Approximate time: 30–45 minutes

Used in

Before you start

You will typically need:

  • Outputs from earlier activities (if applicable)
  • Notes from your current lesson
⬇ Download as .docx

Instructions

You have designed outcomes, activities, practice, and assessment. Now you need to plan what happens when you actually stand up and deliver. This activity asks you to build a concrete facilitation plan for one session — covering how you will open, transition between activities, manage time, handle problems, and close. The goal is a plan you can walk into the room with, not a script to memorise.

You will use

Plan your session

Pick one session from your training. If your training is a single session, use that. If it spans multiple sessions, pick the one you feel least confident about — that is where planning helps most.

Step 1: Define the session frame

  • Session title or topic:
  • Duration: (total time available)
  • Outcomes for this session: (pull from Activity 5 — which outcomes does this session address?)
  • Number of learners expected:
  • Delivery format: (in-person, online, hybrid)
  • Room or platform setup: (what does the physical or virtual space look like?)

Step 2: Map the session flow

For each segment, note what happens, how long it takes, and what you need.

Opening (first 5–15 minutes)

  • What you will do: (e.g., welcome, frame the session purpose, set expectations, icebreaker)
  • Time allocated:
  • Materials needed:

Core segments — list each activity or content block in order:

  • Segment 1:

    • Activity or content:
    • Time allocated:
    • Materials needed:
    • How you will transition into this segment:

  • Segment 2:

    • Activity or content:
    • Time allocated:
    • Materials needed:
    • How you will transition into this segment:

  • Segment 3: (add more as needed)

    • Activity or content:
    • Time allocated:
    • Materials needed:
    • How you will transition into this segment:

Closing (last 5–15 minutes)

  • What you will do: (e.g., summary, reflection prompt, preview of what comes next, logistics)
  • *Time allocated:
  • Materials needed:

Step 3: Add buffer time

Add up the time you allocated in Step 2. Compare it to your total session duration.

  • Total planned time:
  • Total available time:
  • Buffer remaining:

If your buffer is less than 10% of total time, you are over-planned. Identify what to cut.

  • What I will shorten if time runs over:
  • What I will cut entirely if needed:

Be specific. "I'll speed up" is not a plan. Name the segment and what you will skip or condense.

Step 4: Assign roles (if co-facilitating)

If you are working with a co-facilitator, interpreter, or technical support person, clarify the division of labour.

  • Who leads each segment?
  • Who manages time?
  • Who monitors chat or questions (if online/hybrid)?
  • How will you signal each other? (e.g., hand signals, chat message, eye contact)
  • What happens if one person needs to step out?

If you are facilitating alone, skip this step — but note whether any segment would benefit from a second person, and what you will do without one.

Step 5: Plan for what goes wrong

Things will go wrong. Planning for this is not pessimism — it is what separates a prepared facilitator from a panicked one.

For each scenario, write down your response:

  • Running 15 minutes behind schedule:
  • Technology failure (projector, internet, platform crash):
  • An activity falls flat (learners are confused or disengaged):
  • One participant dominates discussion:
  • The group is much quieter than expected:
  • An unexpected emotional response (conflict, frustration, distress):

You will not predict everything. The point is to practise the thinking — "if X happens, I will do Y" — so you are not making these decisions under pressure for the first time.

Step 6: Note group dynamics to watch for

Based on what you know about your learners (from Activity 3 and Activity 8), identify dynamics that may need your attention:

  • Power dynamics: Are there hierarchies in the room (managers and reports, senior and junior researchers)? How might this affect participation?
  • Language: Will all learners be equally comfortable in the language of instruction? What adjustments might help?
  • Energy: Where in the session are learners most likely to flag? What can you do at that point?
  • Participation patterns: Who might dominate? Who might withdraw? What structures (pair work, written input, think time) will help balance participation?

If you already have a training

You have delivered before, so draw on that experience:

  • Map a session you have already run using the steps above.
  • Where did you lose time last time? Build that into your buffer plan.
  • Where did learners seem confused or disengaged? Adjust your transitions or segment structure.
  • If you co-facilitated, where were the handoffs rough? Clarify those in Step 4.
  • Pick one thing that went wrong previously and write a specific contingency plan for it.

If you are creating a new training

You are working without delivery experience, which makes planning even more valuable:

  • Start with your activities from Activity 8. Put them in a sequence that makes sense for your learners, then add an opening and closing around them.
  • Be generous with time estimates — first-time facilitators almost always underestimate how long activities take. If you think an activity will take 15 minutes, plan for 20.
  • For contingency planning, talk to someone who has facilitated in a similar context. Ask them: "What went wrong that you didn't expect?" Their answers will be more useful than anything you can imagine on your own.
  • Write out your opening in full sentences — not a script, but enough that you know what you will say when you stand up. The first two minutes are the hardest; having a plan for them reduces anxiety significantly.

Context check

  • What aspects of your venue, technology, or institutional setting could disrupt this plan?
  • Are there constraints on session timing (e.g., fixed lunch breaks, shared rooms, travel schedules) that you need to design around?
  • What is outside your control, and what is your fallback?

Reflection

  • Looking at your completed plan, where is the biggest risk of the session not going as intended? What does that tell you about where to focus your preparation?

Reuse in later sections

Your facilitation plan feeds into: