November 2026 Workshop
Asking Better Questions
Learn to craft questions that open dialogue, invite genuine engagement, and turn routine meetings into productive conversations in one short, practical workshop.
Ask better questions. Have better conversations. Get better outcomes.
At a Glance
- Format: Live online, interactive (practice + real-time feedback)
- Date: Tuesday, November 17th
- Time: 2:00-3:00 pm ET
- Cost: $50
- Led by: Joy Jackson, Vice President
Best for you if you:
- Lead meetings, facilitate stakeholder engagement, or coordinate work with multiple organizations or partners
- Want to design more effective discussions with your team or a group of partners
- Want to build on skills gained in other ICL trainings and workshops
Not best for you if you:
- Want a longer, more in-depth training on meeting design (choose Facilitating Engaging Meetings)
- Need fully self-paced learning (choose Build Better Meetings)
- Are just getting started with group facilitation and haven’t yet led meetings or designed engagements
The quality of your questions drives the depth of your conversations, and the substance of your conversations determines the quality of your outcomes. That's true in meetings, in stakeholder engagements, and in the collaborative work that moves people and planet forward.
Rather than viewing good conversations as lucky accidents, participants will learn systematic approaches to design discussions that achieve specific outcomes. Participants will walk through strategic questioning frameworks that categorize question types by purpose. Examples include:
- Dialectical questions (questions that explore tensions)
- Perspective questions (How do others see this?)
- Challenge questions (What if we tried…?)
- Commitment questions (What will you do differently?)
- Educational frameworks like Bloom’s taxonomy
The session recognizes that, at its core, the work of individuals and organizations is done in community and requires the ability to engage and build connections. By learning how to craft inquiries that invite engagement rather than defensiveness and how to read conversational moments, participants will add practical skills to their toolkits.
Who is this training for?
This session is for leaders, community outreach staff, volunteer managers, and other staff who lead meetings, facilitate stakeholder engagement, and coordinate collaborative initiatives. Participants should ideally have 2-5 years of experience and be interested in learning more about process and conversation design. The workshop is open to everyone.
If you’ve taken our Facilitating Engaging Meetings course, this is a a great skill builder focused on designing effective questions for your work.
Who is leading this session?
Joy Jackson is a Vice President with the Institute for Conservation Leadership. In this role, she designs and facilitates collaborative processes to help groups find common ground, establish shared goals, and create plans to achieve them.
Joy is passionate about coaching, instruction, and capacity building. Joy has spent 15 years in senior-level administrator and education-related roles at non-profits and universities and has extensive experience designing and facilitating workshops.
What’s included?
- An interactive workshop focused on skill-building + practical tools and approaches
- Slides and ICL handouts/worksheets
- Workshop recording available for 60 days after it ends
Frequently Asked Questions
There is a no refund policy for our trainings. Registration transfers will be accepted on a case by case basis. Reach out to info@icl.org with questions or to request a transfer once registered.
Please send us an email to info@icl.org with your questions, and we will get back to you within 1-2 business days.
We will share a calendar invitation and Zoom link for the workshop after you register and before the training begins. You will also receive a welcome email to help you get oriented before we begin.