Facilitator

The term facilitator can refer to a person's profession or their role in a specific meeting.

Professional facilitators are trained to design and lead meetings for teams and groups. A professional facilitator works for and with a leader to plan the meeting in advance, prepare the venue, materials, and conduct any pre-work, and to guide the group through the meeting. Facilitators focus on managing the meeting process and helping every participant engage successfully. Most facilitators remain neutral during the discussion.

Often, someone who is not a trained professional facilitator will facilitate a meeting. During that meeting, that person takes the role of facilitator by using facilitation skills to monitor time, lead the group through the agenda and any planned activities, and lead the review at the end of the meeting. A meeting participant asked to act as the facilitator does not necessarily maintain neutrality during the discussion.