Make your agenda planning more engaging by bringing art into the process. It can lead to surprising results.

I was preparing to facilitate a strategy retreat and my energy was soaring. I spent the day outside with my partner, and going back to my laptop did not excite me. I knew that I needed to share something with the organization's leadership before the morning, so I took a risk.

I pulled out the construction paper and started cutting. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, so I stopped thinking and let my hand take the lead. Suddenly more activity ideas started flowing through me, and I wrote activity ideas on each piece of paper.

Sometimes you need to kill the teacher-voice in your head and stop doing things the “right” way. Instead take a risk, and try another way. You can access different parts of your wisdom using different mediums. You may feel bound to your laptop, but take a moment and free yourself. Why not?!

If you are stuck on how to design your next workshop, get some construction paper and scissors, then start cutting. Create a couple shapes and write different activities on each shape. Let the art take the lead.

First play with the placement of the shapes and create a design that you like visually. Then look at it and review the activities written on the paper to find the logical flow. From there edit as needed.

When I tried this activity, I created a strategy retreat agenda that worked down to the minute. We actually got out an hour earlier than planned after making a decision and planning next steps. See what wisdom an artistic medium can offer you facilitation designs.