Creative Facilitation Workshops

In an age of social media polarisation and digital echo chambers, we urgently need skills to engage authentically across differences. The People Speak’s  Creative Communication workshops harness 29 years of expertise in creative communication to equip participants with tools for meaningful dialogue in our fragmented world.

Our signature Talkaoke format – a television-style interactive talk show where participants control the agenda – creates a unique space for young people to practice engaging with opposing views confidently and constructively. Our workshops prioritise live human connection, fostering the nuanced understanding that emerges from face-to-face encounters with diverse perspectives. Our workshops create what one participant called “a space where people actually listened” – offers techniques to articulate ideas, ask better questions, and discover common ground across differences. These same skills unlock new creative ideas through collaborative thinking and cross-pollination of diverse perspectives. In a world where online polarisation threatens democratic discourse, we offer essential skills for rebuilding genuine understanding between communities.

Participants develop:

• Creative communication skills through hands-on practice with professional facilitation techniques
• Confidence building in expressing their views while listening deeply to others
• Active listening techniques to truly hear and understand different perspectives
• Live situation management – learning to navigate real-time conversations with unpredictable dynamics
• Critical thinking abilities to engage constructively with challenging viewpoints

We have delivered our Creative Facilitation workshops to many groups diverse in age, background, area of expertise and industry, including: The Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Newham Youth Services, King’s College London, The British Library, In Situ, Kunstenpunt (Belgium), Bielefeld University (Germany) and many more.

“I love the entire concept and the opportunity to hear different points of view. It was a very diverse group with at times conflicting opinions, but to me that is the beauty of it. I think there is a danger to living in an echo chamber, which has become even more prominent online, so having a space that nurtures open discussion is vital. Margot and Mikey are wonderful hosts who skilfully guided the room and I loved it” – Participant feedback

“The workshop prompted a lot of self-reflection for me. I became more aware of my own limits in such open (…) I learned how powerful it can be when others do speak up and take a clear stance, and how much presence and courage that requires. the experience stayed with me long after the event precisely because it challenged me—both intellectually and emotionally” – Participant feedback

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 2nd, 2011 at 9:00 pm. It is filed under Our projects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.