When you present to a group are you a one-person show or do you team up with other facilitators? Co-facilitation offers many advantages to both participants and facilitators, especially when training takes place over several days. Here are some of the advantages to team-training:

Advantages for Facilitators:

1. When you co-facilitate, you have an opportunity to see a peer in action. Each of us has our own unique style and way of presenting material. Watching (or listening to) a peer present can actually help you to improve your own skills and provide you with some alternative ways to address course content.
2. Leading a group through a long session can be exhausting. When you work in a team, each facilitator gets a chance to take a break from being "on-stage."
3. When you partner with someone you trust you can ask for feedback and suggestions on your presentation. Peer feedback is a great way to see yourself as your participants see you.

Advantages for Participants:

1. Co-facilitators can keep the group interested and the material fresh by presenting alternate segments of the course.
2. Participants enjoy experiencing more than one style and personality during the session, and it gives them an opportunity to learn from several instructors.
3. In large groups, or with highly technical training, multiple facilitators can provide more personalized instruction for participants than a single facilitator could provide.

As you can see, co-facilitation can be beneficial to all parties involved and can make for a more successful learning experience. A consideration is that many of us are restricted from this kind of effort because of limited training staff. There is a way to overcome this obstacle. Consider inviting a subject matter expert, manager, or other non-training professional to partner with you. You can add credibility to your course by having a subject matter expert take part in the facilitation. And most non-trainers who partner in this way learn a lot from the experience and increase their own value in the organization, so it can be a "win-win" situation. Of course, you may need to do some coaching on presentation skills, since non-trainers may not be naturally skilled in the art of training. Your time investment will be worthwhile when you have a partner who can share the facilitation workload with you!