Maybe you’ve had this dream. You’re in a conference room naked, in front of a room full of workshop participants, standing next to a huge expanse of empty whiteboard with an old, dry erase marker. You’re facilitating, you’re back to the room because ass is better than front, and everyone ignores you.

Have you have had that dream? Are they staring at their email? Having side conversations about lunch?

When I worked in-house, I liked to run workshops to work with colleagues to create a shared vision of the awesome. As a consultant, I run even more workshops and train and mentor on how to make them better. When new facilitators ask for help, they always ask:

How do I make sure people participate?

Do you worry about getting people to participate? Maybe you fear facilitating a room full of strangers. Maybe monsters lurk in your noggin:

• What if they won’t listen to you?

• What if they don’t believe you?

• What if they know you don’t know what you’re doing?

• What if they don’t like you?

This might seem scary. But the scariest thing isn’t participants who won’t like or listen to you. The scariest thing about workshops is walking out without what you wanted. The scariest thing is workshops that waste everyone’s time.