WELCOME AND THANK YOU —

Thank you for accepting a role as a discussion facilitator at the upcoming Africa Summit in Colorado, organized by Africa Agenda.  We are extremely excited about the summit, and we are sure your expertise and experience will add to the night’s quality and success!

As this is an annual event, we are continuing to build upon previous experiences.

Africa Agenda has a few suggestions and requests to keep in mind as you share your thoughts and facilitate the discussion at your table.

GUIDE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Below are general guidelines and responsibilities to help you as a Table Leader. We look forward to working with you and thank you for moving the Africa Agenda mission forward through your dedication and participation!

Table discussions will last an hour; please track the time to plan the conversation accordingly.

• Our discussion questions were created to be broad enough to enable an engaged conversation, yet specific enough to encourage practical solutions and thought. Please moderate the table in a way that ensures all voices are heard and that the discussion is kept relevant to the topic.
• As there are multiple discussion tables, Africa Agenda staff will not be able to monitor and record the conversations at your specific table. We request that table facilitators and/or note takers record the major points of discussion in order to provide us with a post-summit report describing what was learned and shared. We suggest selecting a participant to take notes for you. 
• For table discussions and for the summit to be meaningful and productive, please implore your table members to stay throughout the entirety of the discussion. If members must leave, please ask them to leave the meeting quietly so as not to disrupt the flow of the discussions at your table.
• We strongly suggest introducing Conversation Norms at the beginning of your session to help keep the conversation productive and on task. Some Ideas are listed below:
• Seek to understand; Ask questions for clarification. Share the “floor”; Balance participation
  Stay with the topic
  Stay present; Listen actively
• As the facilitator, you may find it helpful to dig deeper into the conversation by asking additional questions. Questions should be broad enough to engage a wide range of audience members. You can use the Suggestion Questions on page 3 to help you plan.
• Please moderate the discussion in a way that ensures all voices are heard, and the conversation is kept relevant to the topic.
• You will receive a “10-minute warning” near the end of your discussion time. Please use this time to record some of the big ideas and takeaways on the Recording Sheet. This will be supplied for you at the event. You can see a copy attached.
• Objective: Gather facts, data, numbers, and statistics to set the context. What is the history of the situation?
  What facts do we know about the situation?
  What words, phrases, or pieces of data stand out?
• What are the deliverables, or what are we trying to achieve? What resources are available?
• Reflective: Elicit emotions and associations to surface personal reactions to the data. What does this remind you of?
  How does this make you feel?
  What did you find new or refreshing?
• What surprised or delighted you?
  What feels most challenging or worries you?
• Interpretive: Examine assumptions, values, and Implications to uncover deeper meanings
• What have we learned so far?
  What does this mean for us?
  How might this affect our work?
  What more do we need to know or further explore? What Insights have you unearthed?
• What are some of the strengths/weaknesses? How do they help or hinder us in the situation?
  What are the Issues underlying the current challenge?
  What patterns do you see among similar situations?
• Decisional: Develop options and determine priorities to drive actions. What do we need to start, stop, or continue doing?
  How does this fit into our priorities?
  What is relatively easy to do?
• What has to happen first, second, third?
  What skills or resources are we missing – how will we acquire those? What are the next steps – who will do what by when?

TABLE REPORT PREPARATION

• BEST PRACTICES
  What strategies are working to address this challenge?
• LESSONS LEARNED
  What information emerged during your discussion?
• RECOMMENDED ACTION STEPS: How can we move this solution forward?

We are thankful for your involvement, and we look forward to seeing you soon! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our office.