There is no formula; have the humility to mid-course correct.

principle — attributed to Mary Boone

Boone refuses to give a formula because she never has the same elements twice. The design depends on the business objectives, the facility, the constraints, the people, the moment. What does carry across is an intuitive sense of timing and the humility to ask the participants directly: how is this working for you. The question, asked mid-session, is not weakness. It is the only mechanism through which a facilitator finds out whether the design is actually doing what the design was supposed to do. The check-in is a tool, not a confession.

For experienced facilitators and meeting designers tempted to over-rely on a successful past template. Most useful in long-form retreats where small mid-course corrections compound.

adaptive-facilitation, humility, real-time-adjustment, intuition