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New Frontiers in Facilitation - 2026 MAFN Conference

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About this event

What to expect

Join the Mid-Atlantic Facilitators Network for a transformative day exploring how AI, polarization, and new business models are reshaping the facilitation profession. New Frontiers in Facilitation brings together 100+ facilitators, trainers, educators, coaches, mediators, and organizational leaders at the Mason Fuse Center in Arlington to tackle the most pressing questions facing facilitators today.

What Makes This Conference Different

This isn't a traditional lecture-style conference. Attendees direct their own learning journey through interactive workshops, choosing from three parallel session tracks throughout the day. The conference emphasizes intentional networking opportunities—from morning coffee connections to afternoon happy hour—designed to help you build relationships that extend well beyond the event.

Three Core Content Themes

The conference explores critical intersections where facilitation meets today's most pressing challenges:

  • Technology Shifts in Facilitation: Navigate the role of AI in your practice with workshops like "AI and Facilitation: Asking Not What It Can Do, But What It Should Do" and explore how to scale your facilitation brand in the age of AI
  • Facilitating Amid Polarization and Conflict: Learn techniques for coaching through polarization, reducing division through musical techniques, and building bridges with applied improvisation
  • Business Development in Dynamic Times: Discover strategies for making business development meaningful rather than mechanical, and build a thriving facilitation brand with purpose

Featured Sessions and Speakers

The day opens with keynote speaker Rae Ringel presenting "Rupture & Renewal: How Facilitation Evolves in a Polarized AI-Driven World," setting the stage for deep exploration of facilitation's future.

Choose from six workshop options across three parallel sessions:

  • Bola Audena: Scaling with Purpose—Building a Thriving Facilitation Brand in the Age of AI
  • Carly Chomer & Kim Fredrich: Make Your Business Development Meaningful Not Mechanical
  • Christine Gerson & Eboney Dixon-Crump: Clarity, Curiosity and Connection—Coaching Through Polarization & Communicating Across Differences
  • Jennie Toner-Algin: Find the Beat—Using Musical Techniques to Reduce Polarization and Navigate Group Conflict
  • Mike Burns: AI and Facilitation—Asking Not What It Can Do, But What It Should Do
  • *Nikki Frias

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