Facilitation and speaking

I design and hold sessions where the stakes are real and the path isn’t obvious - strategy processes, multi-day convenings, decision sprints, leadership cohorts, and workshops on facilitation and public speaking.

Rooms I’ve held

  • A national leadership cohort for school-system leaders. Curriculum design and facilitation across monthly virtual sessions, multi-day in-person convenings, and individual coaching cycles.

  • The National Forum on the Future of Assessment and Accountability. Organized and operated a public-facing national event: 300+ attendees, 100+ speakers, 40+ sessions.

  • A national learning network on assessment and accountability. Led the network connecting advocates to align research, policy development, and advocacy.

  • A $15.8M grantmaking portfolio. Portfolio strategy, grant design, selection, reporting, and convenings built to let grantees learn from each other. Project budgets up to $4.2M.

  • Coalitions and communities of practice. Equity-focused coalitions advocating for students of color and English learners; virtual communities of practice supporting school and district leaders through the pandemic; convenings of up to 350 participants on social and emotional learning, whole-child assessment, and accountability policy.

  • Public speaking and delivery coaching. A workshop series for candidates and civic leaders on the delivery habits that quietly cost speakers their credibility and how to remove them.

  • Statewide assessment implementation. Research and reporting on the first full statewide year of a state through-year assessment program.

Formats

  • Half-day and full-day workshops - a group with a decision to make or a problem to name.

  • Multi-day convenings - cohorts and networks, where the arc across days matters as much as any single session.

  • Decision sprints - a specific call that’s been circling.

  • Speaking - facilitation craft, decision architecture, and why so much innovation in education fails to outlive the person who started it.

Published

  • Equitable Decisionmaking for the Retention of Diverse Educators Toolkit - a free facilitation resource for school and district leaders, supporting teacher wellbeing and retention through an equity lens.

  • The Power of SEL - a five-episode podcast on practitioner stories and the value of social and emotional skills for student success. Developed and hosted.

  • The Strategic Convenings Toolkit - co-authored.

  • Making the Most of Grantmaking: A Primer for Designing and Launching Open RFPs - co-authored.

Interested in a session? emily@ekbrookhart.com