Leading Design Through Facilitation
A facilitation course for designers ready to lead with confidence and run workshops that drive real progress.
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Course overview
Lead workshops that drive clarity, action, and alignment.
This is a hands-on course for designers and product managers who want to level up their facilitation skills and lead workshops that actually drive clarity, alignment, and action.
Over 3 weeks, you’ll learn how to plan sessions with purpose, choose the right formats, and confidently guide teams through messy problems—turning collaboration into momentum.
Who is this course for
01
This course is for mid to senior-level designers and product managers who want to lead workshops with more confidence and clarity.
02
Those stepping into strategy conversations, project kickoffs, or messy team dynamics.
03
People who ever felt unsure how to structure a session or hold space for collaboration.
Prerequisites
This course is not for juniors or those just starting.
It’s best suited for mid to senior-level designers already working cross-functionally and wanting to upskill.
No formal facilitation experience required.
You should be comfortable working in cross-functional teams and curious. Basic familiarity with tools like Miro or FigJam is helpful.
What you’ll get out of this course
Facilitate workshops and team sessions that create clarity, alignment, and next steps.
Learn to lead structured conversations that move projects forward—no more meandering meetings.
Lead without formal authority by guiding teams through structured conversations.
Build the confidence to hold the room, guide decisions, and create space for alignment—even if you’re not the loudest voice in the room.
Apply facilitation to real design challenges, from discovery to delivery.
Run retros, strategy sessions, and ideation workshops that turn complexity into clarity.
Use templates and tools to confidently run retros, kickoffs, and more.
Get example boards and agendas you can adapt to your team, format, and challenge—no guesswork required.
Leave with a facilitation toolkit you’ll actually use.
Plan, document, and reflect with confidence using the same systems I’ve used to lead 35+ workshops in fast-paced product teams.
What’s included
Live sessions
Learn directly from Carolina Poll in a real-time, interactive format.
Lifetime access
Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.
Community of peers
Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.
Certificate of completion
Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.
Resources and templates
You will have exclusive access to Carol's templates, checklists and others.
Maven Guarantee
This course is backed by the Maven Guarantee. Students are eligible for a full refund up until the halfway point of the course.
Course syllabus
6 live sessions • 61 lessons
Week 1
Oct
7
Introduction to Workshop Facilitation
Tue 10/711:30 AM—1:30 PM (UTC)- 🖥️
What is a workshop
- 🖥️
Purpose, power and principles
- 🖥️
Types of meetings and workshops
- 🛠️
Design Thinking and Workshops
- 🛠️
Proprietary framework
Oct
9
Structure & Flow
Thu 10/911:30 AM—1:30 PM (UTC)- 🖥️
Structure & Flow
- 🛠️
Break down on popular frameworks
- 🖥️
What really happens Before, During & After
- 🖥️
Learn the 7-step prep process
- 🖥️
Explore tools and formats for in-person setups
- 🖥️
Remote sessions and why they work
- 🖥️
The challenge of hybrid steups
- 🛠️
Notion templates and checklists
- 🛠️
Miro templates
- 🖥️
When and how to use AI
Foundations
Understand the power of facilitation.
This week is all about what workshops really are—and why they matter. You’ll learn the principles behind great sessions, discover the difference between meetings and facilitated collaboration, and explore the structure that holds it all together.
Week 2
Oct
14
Planning Workshops
Tue 10/1411:30 AM—1:30 PM (UTC)- 🖥️
Setting goals and outcomes
- 🖥️
Choosing the right format and tools
- 🖥️
Choosing the appropriate exercises
- 📝
Drafting and agenda
- 🖥️
Defining participants and roles
- 🖥️
Prep work before the session
- 🛠️
Preparing a Miro Board
Oct
16
Tried & Tested Formats
Thu 10/1611:30 AM—1:30 PM (UTC)- 📐
Tried & Tested Formats
Complete by Nov 24 - 🖥️
Most popular templates and frameworks
- 🛠️
Brainwriting
- 🛠️
Dot Voting
- 🛠️
The sailboat
- 🛠️
Lightning Demos
- 🛠️
Brainstorming techniques
- 🛠️
Retrospectives
- 🛠️
Lightning Decision Jam
- 🛠️
Design Sprints
- 🛠️
Defining next steps
- 🛠️
Ice breakers
- 🛠️
Strategy Workshops
- 🛠️
Onboarding participants
- 🛠️
Foundation Sprint
Designing Collaboration
Plan workshops with clarity and confidence.
We’ll dive deep into planning: from defining goals and selecting formats, to mapping stakeholders and choosing the right exercises. You’ll explore tried-and-tested formats like LDJ and Retros, and leave with the tools to design sessions that actually move the needle.
Week 3
Oct
21
Facilitating Live
Tue 10/2111:30 AM—1:30 PM (UTC)- 🖥️
The role of a facilitator
- 🖥️
Holding space & guiding flow
- 🖥️
Time keeping
- 🖥️
Managing energy
- 🖥️
Managing different personalities
- 🖥️
Managing discussions
- 🖥️
Parking conversations
- 🖥️
How to use AI during the sessions
- 🖥️
Dealing with common tensions
- 🖥️
Troubleshooting
- 🖥️
Dealing with tech, blockers, and disengagement
- 🛠️
Facilitators box in Miro
- 🛠️
Facilitator Checklist
Oct
23
Keeping Momentum
Thu 10/2311:30 AM—1:30 PM (UTC)- 🖥️
What happens after the workshop
- 🖥️
Documenting workshops
- 🖥️
Next steps and follow-ups
- 🛠️
Build your post-workshop rituals and rhythm
- 🛠️
Notion Templates
- 🛠️
Miro Templates
- 🖥️
How to keep practicing
- 📝
Share your feedback
Facilitation in Action
Lead with presence, adapt with purpose.
This final week focuses on live facilitation and what happens after the session. You’ll learn how to manage energy, handle tricky dynamics, and guide your team through productive conversations. Plus, we’ll cover how to follow through and keep the momentum alive.
Bonus
- 🛠️
Miro Templates
- 🛠️
Notion templates
- 🛠️
Library of exercises and activities
Resources & templates
What people are saying
Faris Baidon
Mary Tresa Gabriel
Rosie Evans-Krimme
Christoph Poyault
Meet your instructor
Carolina Poll
17 years on Design | Strategic Product Designer & Workshop Facilitator
I’m Carolina Poll, a Strategic Designer, UX Consultant, and Workshop Facilitator with over a decade of experience helping startups and scale-ups build better products, faster.
I’ve led design and product teams across Europe and Latin America, worked with companies like CoachHub and Taxfix, and facilitated hundreds of workshops—from scrappy remote sprints to high-stakes strategy sessions.
After mentoring dozens of designers, I realized many of them struggle not with design itself, but with collaboration—getting buy-in, running productive meetings, and turning fuzzy problems into clear next steps.
That’s why I’m here:
To teach facilitation as a superpower for designers—because the ability to lead better conversations can completely change how you work, how you’re perceived, and the impact you make.
Course schedule
4-6 hours per week
Tuesdays & Thursdays
1:30pm - 3:30pm CEST
Live and hands-on sessions of about two hours.