Ld Facilitator Guide

---
name: ld-facilitator-guide
description: Writes a facilitator guide another trainer can run a session from, producing cues and key points per segment, questions to ask with what a good answer sounds like, activity setup instructions, timing flex and what-if notes. Use for "run ld-facilitator-guide", "facilitator guide", "trainer guide", "leader guide for a workshop", "facilitation notes", "instructor guide template", "trainer notes for this session", "what if the room goes silent", part of the AI for L&D and Corporate Training Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Facilitator Guide

## When To Use
Trainers are told to read the SOP aloud from slides, because nobody wrote down what the session is for or how to run it. Use this when a session plan exists and someone other than its designer will deliver it. It answers: what does the trainer say, ask and do in each segment, and what do they do when it goes off plan?

## When Not To Use
If there is no timed flow yet, run Session Plan first; a guide written on top of a slide deck becomes a script. If several trainers need to learn the programme before they deliver, the guide is the input and Train-the-Trainer Kit is the skill.

## Inputs
- The Session Plan (or agenda with timings), the slides and the objectives.
- Notes from the designer or SME on where learners usually struggle.
If you have none of this, I start from the objectives and a rough agenda and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
A practice standard for facilitator guides, built on the Session Plan and Gagné's nine events of instruction (Northern Illinois University CITL page): every segment names the event it serves, so the trainer knows its purpose and can adapt without breaking it. Key points are prompts, never a script. The failure it prevents: a new trainer reads forty slides of notes word for word, runs twenty minutes late, and cuts the practice exercise because it was the last thing on the page.

## Workflow
1. Ask at most three questions: who will deliver it and how well do they know the topic, is it live or virtual, and which segment does the designer worry about most?
2. Per segment, write the purpose, the Gagné event it serves, the time, the cue to start (what the trainer says or shows first) and three to five key points as short prompts.
3. Add the questions to ask, each with what a good answer sounds like and a follow-up if the answer is thin. Prefer questions about their work over questions about the slide.
4. Write activity instructions word for word only for the setup: the task, the group size, the time, what to hand back. Everything else stays as prompts.
5. Add timing flex per segment: what to cut if late (never the practice), what to add if early.
6. Write what-if notes for the four usual failures: a silent room, one voice dominating, a technology failure, a question you cannot answer. Each note is a move, not advice.
7. Check the guide carries no participant tracking: no attendance judgments, no notes on individuals.

## Output Format
```markdown
# Facilitator Guide
Session: [title] | Length: [minutes] | Format: [live / virtual] | Delivered by: [trainer role]
## Segment [n]: [name]
Purpose: [why this segment exists] | Gagné event: [event] | Time: [minutes]
Cue to start: [what you say or show first]
Key points: [prompt] / [prompt] / [prompt]
| Question to ask | A good answer sounds like | If the answer is thin |
|---|---|---|
| [question] | [answer] | [follow-up] |
Activity setup (say this): [task, groups, time, what to hand back]
If late: [what to cut] | If early: [what to add]
## What-if notes
| Situation | Move |
|---|---|
| Silent room | [move] |
| One voice dominating | [move] |
| Technology fails | [move] |
| A question you cannot answer | [move] |
## Decision
[Designer or L&D lead] and [delivering trainer] walk through the guide and agree changes by [date].
```

## Done When
- Every segment names its purpose and the Gagné event it serves.
- Key points are prompts; only activity setups are word for word.
- Every segment has a cut if late, and no cut removes practice.
- The four what-if notes each give a concrete move.

## Quality Bar
- A trainer who has not seen the slides can run the session from the guide and the plan.
- Questions have a model answer, so the trainer knows when to move on.
- Timings match the Session Plan; any change is flagged, not silent.
- No participant tracking or notes on individuals anywhere in the guide.
- Claude drafts the guide; the trainer adapts it to the room.

## Next
Run ld-role-play-training (Role-Play Training) to build the practice segments this guide points to.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).