Facilitation Matters is the must-attend event for coaches, trainers and facilitators throughout Australasia. Every year we change the focus—and the format, so you get to experience new ideas and fresh ways of doing things.
This year we’re coming back to an age-old principle of facilitation and acknowledging that the wisdom is always in the room. And when you have 100 experienced practitioners in one space, the depth and breadth of that wisdom is epic!
We’ll still be having awesome workshops and interactive plenary sessions, but we’re adding in more practice labs, more coaching clinics, and more open space discussions.
We’ve done a little of each of these things at previous festivals, and people told us they wanted even more. So, we’re going all in.
Here’s some of what you can expect:
Connection
Build real connections with others doing good work in the world. Find new friends and foster existing relationships.
Activities
Gather powerful activities you can immediately use in your own context.
Coaching Clinics
Get targeted support, fresh perspectives and practical guidance to sharpen your facilitation skills.
Open Space Discussions
Join dynamic, participant-led discussions shaped by the topics that matter most in the room.
Your Agenda
Pitch the topics you want to explore and help shape the multi-layered agenda of Day 2. Focus on what matters to you.
Interactive workshops and plenary sessions where you get to learn by doing, not just listening. You’ll get to connect with others in the room and contribute your insights and experience.
Hands on practice labs where you get to experience activities in action.
No more talking about how something is done, you get to experience useable activities as a participant. Then, you can explore how to use them in your own context.
Peer-to-peer coaching clinics where you get to bring your challenges and have a wise crowd offer support and advice.
We’ll have over 1000 years of combined facilitation experience in the room, and someone there has the answer you’re looking for.
Open space discussions about the topics that are important to you.
You get to set the agenda for part of the festival. What do you want to explore in depth? What do you want to share with others? What’s the burning question you’re currently wrestling with?
This festival is for coaches, trainers and facilitators who want to:
Stay up to play with current best practice, while gathering new ideas and fresh perspectives.
Explore topics that don’t usually make a conference agenda. This is your chance to meet with peers and talk about the issues that are pressing for you.
Expand your networks and get a real sense of what other people are doing in different spaces.
Get support from experienced practitioners who are willing to share ideas and offer advice.
As always, we’ll focus on both the art of facilitation and how to grow your facilitation business. The final programme details are still being shaped up, but if you’ve been to festival before, you’ll know the magic is about more than who’s on the run-sheet.
Now's you chance to grab a ticket before the programme is released and tickets get snapped up super-fast.
Space is limited to 100 participants and every year we sell out.
Register now to secure your space.
When: Thursday 6th August – Friday 7th August 2026
Where: Arena Suites, Mercury Baypark, Truman Lane, Tauranga
Cost:
$595+GST (Members of The Facilitators Network)
$695+GST (Non-Members)
What PeopleSay
If you do any work with groups of any size, in any industry—whether you call yourself a facilitator or not—this festival will give you connections, lessons, ideas and tools to do your work even better. Come!!
Jacinta Cubis
Independent Facilitator
I feel like I’m just drifting back down off Cloud 9 after such a wonderful couple of days connecting with people I knew and making new facilitator friends. What a treat!! Absolutely loved it. Thank you so very much for creating ALL of this.
Michelle Morpeth
Outdoorsy
Such an important opportunity to be affirmed, learn, connect, grow and have so much fun. So masterfully developed, curated and executed. Designed to lift everyone up so powerfully and authentically.
Carla Moore
RESET for Working Parents
