The ways and means of closing your group sessions are just as important as how you open them. The ideas and attitudes shared during the close will be the last thing impressing upon participants minds as they leave and will be a good part of what they remember when they leave the session. This is a good time to integrate key insights and decisions, evaluate the work done against objectives and session purpose, review future actions, and celebrate accomplishments. Below are examples of three key elements of session closure. Next week, we'll look at three more.

Review Activities Performed.

This is simply a review of all the activities you performed during the facilitated session. This review can be accomplished by walking around the room to review your flipcharts identifying the processes used and the outcomes arising from each. This is a good activity to have participants do themselves, allowing each participant to review the activities in turn.

Review Session Purpose.

Now that activities have been reviewed, have participants review the stated purpose of the session and assess if in fact this purpose was achieved. If it wasn't, correct deficiencies immediately if possible, or make plans to do so at a later date.

Review Personal Objectives.

It's a good idea at the beginning of each facilitated session to ask participants to set their own personal objectives for the session. These can be posted visibly on a flip chart up front and during the close, ask them to asses if these objectives were met. If not, this is an opportunity to get them met or make plans to do so at a later time.

Below are examples of three key elements of session closure applied to my own business.

Review Activities Performed. Though this would typically be a list of activities performed during a working group session, as an example, I've listed some of the activities I accomplished in my business this year. This doubles as a great yearend wrapup for my business and I encourage you to do the same for yours.

• Completed design and offered three new teleclasses with adjunct instructors.
• Wrote and published three new facilitation guidebooks.
• Developed a strategic alliance with the International Association of Facilitators and the Global Facilitator
• Launched Facilitator U.com annual membership.
• Developed Joint Ventures with three other authors.
• Designed an elegant new animated logo for FacilitatorU.com.
• Hired an online business manager.
• Developed and began implementation of new subscriber attraction strategy.
• etc...

Review Session Purpose. My purpose for FacilitatorU.com this year was to extend the depth and breadth of services we offer and to package our offerings in the form of an annual membership.

The membership was accomplished. A key planned feature was left out however due to several nagging hurdles. We plan to bring this online next year.

Review Personal Objectives. My purpose this year was to launch the annual membership at FacilitatorU.com, to increase my subscriber base for this ezine, to delegate more of the administrative functions of my business, to develop relationships with more experts in the field, to develop more strategic alliances with other individuals and organizations, and to get involved in more live engagements.

Though I met many of my goals this year, I've got more work to do around building my subscribership and creating more opportunities to do live training and facilitation. I've joined a marketing group and am working on plans now to bring these and other goals to life next year.

Do the exercise above with your own business and let me know how it works for you, we'd love to hear from you.