Well, we had the Advanced Class (it went very well) and the FoCuSeD Facilitation Games book is now available for sale. The book is available from MGR Consulting, Inc.
We tested the book and the Participant Engagement Tools (PETs) in the Advanced Class. It was a treat to practice on people who were also learning the PETs. We also tested the PETs Behind the Agenda Steps that matches the PET to the need – it worked very well. In a nutshell, the book gives you lots of ideas for you to create or modify your own PETs as well as how best to use them in the workshop. That’s a big bonus as most books on games and exercises don’t fully explain when and how to use them.
Posts Tagged ‘Workshop’
FoCuSeD Facilitation Games
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 by Gary Rush, CPFFacilitation Games – new book
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 by Gary Rush, CPFMy new book – FoCuSeD Facilitation Games. I’ve been working on this since April. Millie has finished editing it and I’ve received comments from Izzy Gesell and Sivasailam “Thiagi” Thiagarajan – thank you all very much. I’m using this book for our FoCuSeD Advanced Class later this month.
I’m excited about this book. I like the name I’ve chosen for group facilitation exercises – Participant Engagement Tools (PETs). It resonates and captures what these truly are about. I have included every PET that I’ve used and found useful. In addition, I’ve thought through how to modify the PETs for different sized groups, face-to-face, teleconferences, mixed face-to-face and teleconference workshops, and others. I’ve also provided templates so that you can design your own PET. This book will make a difference for Facilitators – I’ve found no other book like it.
The best way to get the book is to attend the FoCuSeD Advanced Class on September 27th and 28th (contact me to register).
WI BADD – Wisconsin IIBA Conference Presentation
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010 by Gary Rush, CPFWell, it’s been a busy month. After returning from Nigeria, Millie and I took a well-deserved vacation in Puerto Rico.
We returned and drove to Madison, Wisconsin for the 2010 WI BADD (Business Analyst Development Day) conference. What a conference. Over 500 people attended – making it the largest BA event in the country and in a down economy. The organizers did a fabulous job – people like Roxanne Miller, Dave DeBruine, Nora Medina, and the others at the various Wisconsin IIBA Chapters should be commended for the work they put into this conference. It was well handled, contained many outstanding sessions, and went smoothly. We had our booth there to show Business Analysts that gaining facilitator skills will greatly enhance their analyst capabilities and their relationships with their clients.
I attended an excellent session by Barbara von Halle and Larry Goldberg regarding Decision Modeling. The decision model, along with a process model and a data model, completes the picture of a business. Capturing business logic – what the decision model does – is very helpful and makes good sense. I’m going to be investigating this further. You can check out the ideas at www.TheDecisionModel.com.
In the afternoon, I gave my presentation – actually facilitated a workshop – A FoCuSeD Business Analysis Workshop. Along the lines of the fishbowl session in April, I asked for volunteers to be participants in a workshop to define processes and data needs for Conference Attendee Management. I set up the situation, facilitated the volunteer participants (who did an outstanding job), and closed with questions from the audience regarding the workshop. It went very well (even though I had contracted Dengue Fever and was just beginning my bout with it – it isn’t contagious).
Gary facilitating the audience at WI BADD 2010
Next year, the conference is on October 11, 2011. If you are a BA or work with BAs, you should attend. I know I’ll be there 
.
Data Modeling & Teleconferences
Friday, July 16th, 2010 by Gary Rush, CPFI just returned from facilitating a data model workshop. We’ve been working on this since January with three face-to-face workshops and interim teleconference workshops. It’s interesting that the client, who is very experienced with teleconferencing, felt that the face-to-face workshops were essential to the success of this effort. I agree. The teleconferences were beneficial and worked well in developing pieces of the model, but a model is very visual. Even with good Internet tools and the ability to view desktops, etc., the group needed to see the entire model (very large) and get up and move elements around – something you can’t do as well via a teleconference. So, while I support the use of teleconferences, and they work well when properly facilitated, there are still times when we need to get in a room together and work things out. It is still nice to connect with others by seeing them in person and chatting with them during breaks – face-to-face interaction is still key.
Data Modeling and IIBA
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 by Gary Rush, CPFWell, the first week of May was busy. I spent two days in Miami facilitating a Data Modeling workshop. It was difficult but enjoyable. It’s always difficult because I find that Data Modeling really helps a business think through how they’ll manage their business – much more so than process modeling does. It forces the business to think through policies and scenarios more thoroughly. This one, in particular, was tough. It was the culmination of a 3-day workshop in January and two WebEx virtual workshops so the group was finishing the model. They are the type of participants who really think things through – which was great, but required a lot of pushing to get it done. What they ended up with was very good and well thought out. It is especially gratifying because the group had never worked with a Data Model before and was now fully engaged and supportive of the modeling technique. It’d be great if groups took this kind of ownership.
After facilitating the Data Modeling workshop for two days, I came home and then drove to Des Moines, Iowa to speak at an IIBA conference for the Central Iowa IIBA Chapter. I gave two presentations – one on Data Modeling (apparently a theme for the week) and a keynote presentation about why BA’s should be facilitative. The conference went well and was well managed. There were almost 200 attendees. I gave the Data Modeling presentation before lunch. It was well attended, the attendees enjoyed it, and I may have converted some to use Data Modeling more. My keynote presentation on why BA’s should be facilitative was at the end of the conference. It went very well and I think that we’ll see more BA’s using facilitative skills in the future. I have to thank the Central Iowa IIBA Chapter for putting on such an enjoyable conference.