ATTENTION:
Professionals in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion,
HR, and Social Services!
Conversation Starters:
Focused Facilitator
Become a certified facilitator to confidently lead discussions on topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Start creating real change.
Space is limited! Apply by April 28, 2022.
Conversation Starters: Focused Facilitator will teach individuals who work in social services, Human Resources and DE&I how to expertly lead conversations in the workplace with confidence. It will also teach individuals how to talk to anyone (even people with whom they disagree) to create lasting change.
We want to help you find your voice.
We want to help you take action.
The ONLY WAY for you to create positive change is by having the right conversations.
The ONLY WAY for you to navigate difficult conversations is by utilizing the skills and tools learned through facilitation.
This is NOT an automated online course. This is a live, interactive training that is engaging and challenging.
Here’s what we cover:
1
First we dive into the fundamentals – Shared Language, and What Facilitation Is and Is
Not. In this session we get into somatic understanding and practice, conversation agreements, harm reduction in facilitation, and facilitator skills and habits of mind.
2
Next we dig into some specifics – What are You Bringing Into the Room, and Biases and Cultural Competency, which includes self assessment, conflict responses and triggers, cognitive biases, trauma informed principles, and cultural competency.
3
And finally we pull it all together with – Empathy, Radical Listening, Facilitation Tools & Techniques. This session covers empathy and psychological safety, calling in versus calling out, crafting a conversation, the anatomy of an apology, conversation management, and disruptors.
Your ticket includes:
- Conversation Starters: Focused Facilitator training
This is an in-depth course (Valued at $2,500) that will cover:
- Shared Language Terms and Conversation Agreements
We’ve heard from several past participants that this is one of the most valuable tools that they learned and they still use today. - Somatic Understanding and Practice
Understanding of physical and bodily space. This tool will help you understand how your physical body holds on to stress, tension and trauma and will increase your effectiveness as a facilitator. - Full Self-Assessment
Understanding of what you are bringing into the room. This tool allows you to gain a full understanding of your own conflict responses and triggers to protect yourself during your facilitation sessions. - The Anatomy of an Apology
Understanding of how to construct an authentic apology. This tool will give you the knowledge you need when you have to issue an apology AND you will be able to teach it to others during your facilitation sessions. - Conversation Construction and Management
Understanding how to expertly create and guide open conversations with others. This tool will help you explore topics with diverse groups of people, or single individuals, in a truly productive manner.
- Conversation Starters: Focused Facilitator Certification
Fundamentals of Facilitation Certification. When you complete this course you will be a certified facilitator. You will be in a cohort of professionals and in a safe(r) space where you can practice and perfect your facilitation skills. You will be able to ask questions and engage in deeper discussion. Valued at $1,499 - One personal consultation with a Professional Facilitator and Equity Educator
You will get one personal, one-on-one consultation with a certified Facilitator and Equity Educator with 20+ years of experience. You will be able to discuss your unique challenges, goals, and other items related to your diversity, equity and inclusion work. Valued at $599 - Empathy Training
One major element of the Focused Facilitator course is Empathy Training. You will be able to understand the needs, problems, and perspectives of others, then use that skill during your own facilitation sessions. Valued at $800+ - Access to the Facilitation Lab
FREE for 3 months. The Facilitation Lab is only offered by Conversation Starters and is a space where you can get ongoing support and guidance while you are applying these principles at your company or in your own community. Valued at $249 - Conversation Starters: Focused Facilitator Toolkit
We provide you with all of the notes, definitions, worksheets, and guides you need to be successful. Valued at $149 - And 16 CEUs
Conversation Starters is recognized by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) to offer Professional Development Credits for SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP. The Focused Facilitator training has been approved for 16.0 PDCs. Valued at $1,599
All of this is valued at $7,459.
But if you sign up today, it's all yours
for only $7,459 $799.
Ji’Carla uses what she learned even in her everyday conversations…
“I love laying ground rules whenever I am talking to people and groups of people. Having everyone invest on the front end of what is going to be acceptable and not acceptable during discourse. I think that is incredibly valuable, not only in group settings but also when talking one-on-one. I’ve even used this to settle conflicts between coworkers.”
Do you want to be seen as a LEADER who is taking real action to effect sustainable change?
?
Do you want to be part of your company or community’s diversity, equity, and inclusion work, but you don’t know where to start?
?
Are you scared to start a conversation about diversity, equity and inclusion because you are afraid that you will say the wrong thing?
?
Terrified that if you say the wrong thing you will deeply hurt others, get “canceled”, or even be fired?
Learn how to confidently start a dialogue around important topics like race, identity, privilege and change. Find out what to do when someone misunderstands you or reacts negatively to part of the conversation. Practice how to address the conflict upfront and keep the conversation moving forward. And do all of this without being seen as disruptive, but actually have people open up to you using focused facilitation.
Terry is able to use what he learned in his job working for a United States Congressman…
“Having the additional language and knowing how to organize and structure these conversations in a more effective way has definitely helped since I’ve been in D.C. Working for a United States Congressman, I talk to a lot of people all day. And sometimes those conversations can be very difficult, if it’s about a hard topic or event. The Facilitation course really helped when I’ve had to have hard conversations with people who are already emotionally charged.”
Who teaches Focused Facilitator?
Two Certified Facilitators and Equity Educators
Skyra Rideaux
Managing Partner & Chief Operations Officer
A Managing Partner and COO of Conversation Starters, Skyra Rideaux is an equity consultant, inclusive economic development expert, and a climate and environmental justice advocate who specializes in hyperlocal community development. She has worked with mid-sized and large municipalities to “localize” redevelopment and revitalization efforts and create research-based reinvestment strategies in historically excluded BIPOC communities.
A former bomb-builder for the US Navy, Skyra also serves as a diversity, equity and inclusion expert for a Fortune 10 global tech company. Skyra is a first-generation college graduate and holds a Bachelor of Arts in public relations from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
A featured TEDx speaker, Skyra has given keynote presentations and been featured on international panels to discuss the intersection of equity, policy and economic development for almost a decade.
Skyra is a 2021 International Economic Development Council’s (IEDC) Gold Rank award recipient, 2019 Girls Scouts of Louisiana ‘Woman of Distinction’ awardee, 2017 TEDx speaker, 2015 Acadiana Top 20 Under 40 honoree, a decorated United States Navy veteran, and a member of the Holy Rosary Redevelopment Board and a member of the IEDC’s Racism in Economic Development committee. A certified facilitator through the National Coalition Building Institute, Skyra specializes in facilitating the following populations groups: military, faith based, Black women, youth STEM, cross racial, and young professionals.
Elsa Dimitriadis
Managing Partner & Chief Impact Officer
A first generation American and Washington, D.C. native, Elsa Dimitriadis is a strategy and communications specialist and queer interdisciplinary artist with two decades of specialized work in art for social change, including work with Shakespeare Behind Bars,Young Audiences, Alternate ROOTS and interventions in juvenile detention centers. A story listener and story teller, she is a certified facilitator, end of life doula, and somatic coach.
Elsa is a Leadership Lafayette Class XXVIII graduate and was one of Acadiana’s 20 under 40 honorees in 2017. She holds a master of arts degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design and is currently the Interim Executive Director for the Acadiana Regional Coalition for Homelessness and Housing, an eight parish (county) region Continuum of Care lead agency.
A former faculty member at Tulane University, Elsa has CESR proficiencies of A2 in Spanish and C2 in Greek. Elsa served as the Public Information Officer for Acadiana Organizations Active in Disaster for four years, managing communication and coordinating responses between nearly a hundred agencies and organizations during unprecedented floods, hurricanes, and COVID-19.
Certified and trained through Dialogue on Race Louisiana, National Coalition Building Institute, Narrative4, Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute, Theatre of the Oppressed, and the Strozzi Institute, Elsa specializes in facilitating groups who have experienced incarceration, disasters, and death and dying.