The 7 Best Books For Facilitators

[@AJSmart]

🤔 Have you read any of these books? What's your favourite facilitation and workshopping book? Share your answer in the comments below 👇 ➡️ And if you want a more compact version of our learnings, then check out our FREE training and find out how to become a high-paid facilitator: go.ajsmart.com/start

[@kaisayed2504]

unlocking the Magic of facilitation Sam killerman and Meg Bloger, one if the best Books about facilitators soft skills, I really enjoyed it and used technics when rolling facilitation workshops, thank you for sharing all these Books

[@guzaraya]

Great list you have there! Other interesting reads I could suggest: Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision Making and The IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation.

[@AJSmart]

Thanks for sharing Bryan!! those are great suggestions. A very in depth look at facilitation and its principles. Cheers!

[@shamsbt]

Thanks for the recommendation!! Definitely learning a lot from your facilitation videos as an outdoor educator

[@shamsbt]

Best book i’ve read on facilitation is the art of gathering. Top notch. Worst smell, rotten mysterious container i opened from the fridge when living in a communal house with lots of ppl coming and going… who k all long it had been there

[@JohnElbing1]

I loved "The Workshop Survival Guide: How to design and teach educational workshops that work every time" by Rob Fitzpatrick

[@AJSmart]

That's a great title! Thanks for sharing, John!

[@VIDEOGRAFIKO]

Thank you for sharing your favorite books on facilitation. I was currently I. The market for some and this helped me. I already read sprint and workshopped playbook.

[@AJSmart]

Thank you Richard! Hope you enjoy these books! Cheers

[@vernielariosa]

Thank you for this list of books.

[@AJSmart]

Thank you Vernie! How many of these books have you already read?

[@alinensiah1123]

Thanks for your great job

[@ilichat0]

Thank you for the good work. Very nice collection of books! Worst Smell: Durian fruit (also somebody's feet, but you wouldn't know🤣) Best Book until now: Sprint! by Jake Knaap

[@AJSmart]

hahaha thanks for watching until the end Ilias! I hope the durian fruit didn't taste as bad as it smelled. And of course Sprint is one of our favourite books too. Glad you liked it. Have you read any of the other books in the video or are you planning on reading one? Cheers!!

[@nickfifield1]

Agile coach here.... Reading your book. Lots of useful info, I see you using the good old Sailboard retro for collection :) So.... the book appears to be focused on a co-located workshop. What about remote teams? In the post covid times, many, many teams (especially in the software space) are remote. I've notice a lack of material in dealing with remote teams.... i know why.... it's hard! :) Do you have another book in the pipeline?

[@SKDurgesh]

Very Nice Collection of books Thanks @Jonathan

[@AJSmart]

Thanks Durgesh! What's your favourite book from this list?

[@raianrazal]

Need recs where to start. Total beginner

[@DavideTarasconi]

I would add "Good Talk" by Daniel Stillman and "The Ten-Minute Trainer" by Sharon Bowman (yes, it's about training but there are 150 activities that can be helpful in workshop settings too, just like Liberating Structures).

[@AJSmart]

Thank you Davide! Those are great recommendations

[@kareycovey9914]

I also think designing your workshop experience is important. Check out "We've Got to Start Meeting Like This" by Dana Wright. It has inspired me to create engaging workshops by intentionally designing the engagement before, during and after your meetings/workshops. Love all your stuff and thank you for your generosity with all the free stuff. You are a start. Worst smell: by bulldog's farts hahaha

[@AJSmart]

Thanks for the suggestion Karey! You're spot on. Being able to design engaging and memorable workshops is one of the most important skills every facilitator should have. hahaha those farts are probably filled with love though 🐶💨 thanks for sharing! Greetings to your bulldog.

[@nsyll]

"How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk '' Ok don't laugh but parenting books like this really help me to run workshops. Techniques such as, how to listen you kids (so they will talk) and how to guide them to find their solutions and NOT just drop a solution for them there are essential for a workshoper

[@AJSmart]

Thanks for sharing Nektarios! That's a great approach. Facilitation requires a lot of different soft skills and I bet you can learn quite a few from parenting books. Have a great day!

[@lifefeaturingme6221]

I have "The Secrets of Facilitation" a great book.

[@sevaramasharipova3605]

Thank you from Uzbekistan

[@AJSmart]

Thank you from Germany!!

[@ma_zyc]

what do you guys think about "Facilitating with Ease" by Ingrid Bens as a starter?

[@Ariana2911]

I found it very thorough and really useful

[@zacheisey3112]

Sprint was definitely a game-changer for me, but I'm happy to have some new books mentioned here to add to my reading list. Worst smell ever has to be rotting, maggot-invested hamburger meat that was mistakenly left underneath a wetsuit at a barbeque I was hosting. We didn't find it for like a week 🤢🤮

[@claudiaspinelli]

Ok, 5' ago I bought Visual Thinking, I was looking for something like this book! I'm 100% visual person. I also see images in my brain when I'm working. That book is me 😂😂💕 Thanks! I'm back and looking forward for my Masterclass. I'll be asking soon about it ... I guess!

[@AJSmart]

Anytime! let us know how we can help 😃

[@Nathan-tf4tk]

Facilitator is actually good job, but I prefer something else so um yeah...but this helps so thanks

[@cillboon]

I'll be honest. I don't think I've read a book that's made me go wow. Maybe I'm difficult. Gen X talking. I did Liberating Structures a few years ago and bought the book as a reference. It is not a fun read but the detail on the exercises is great. You can also get it all on the website, if you don't want to buy the book. Gamestorming has probably saved me more times than I can count. I also like the simplicity of the Training from the Back of the Room or TBR. As for smells, I would have to say a visit to a veterinarian hospital for sick animals. It was so bad I had to go outside and get some air.

[@AJSmart]

Thanks for sharing William! Glad those books have helped you before. And also thanks for the recommendation! Cheers

[@nickfifield1]

Which books are best for facilitation with REMOTE teams?

[@PatriciaMasioni]

During the whole video I was just trying to figure out if you’re growing your hair in a man bun or not… then you dropped your mic and finally turn your head

[@AJSmart]

No man bun on Jonathan's head. Just a bit of messy hair. Thank you Patricia

[@limi7991]

nice haircut man, but plz less gel

[@AJSmart]

ohhh! but that's not even gel 🤔. It's probably the effect of that paint bucket 😉 Cheers!

[@jonathancourtney1175]

Not gel, just filth and grease. Deal with it.