A facilitator adds value to your meeting by preparing the agenda, conducting the meeting, and writing minutes. All of these services free you to work on other tasks while getting the job done properly.

A professional facilitator will help you save money by holding a shorter meeting. The most expensive part of a meeting is the labor cost of the participants. Estimate this cost for your last meeting by multiplying the duration of the meeting by the number of participants by their payroll cost. (I've seen groups waste over $50,000 on a single bad meeting.)

A facilitator will help you get real results. For example, years ago, a group held three full-day meetings trying to resolve a difficult issue. Each of these meetings broke down after hours of painful arguing, bickering, and complaining. Then they hired me. My meeting lasted five hours and produced a list of realistic solutions, ranked in priority of their applicability.

A facilitator does more than watch people talk. A skilled facilitator knows how to apply creative thinking, problem solving, and decision making tools within a meeting. These help the group make methodical progress toward agreements, decisions, and solutions. And they produce results that everyone will support.

A skilled facilitator is an expert on business. Thus, a facilitator knows how to take your group through the steps that produce a realistic plan that accomplishes your business goals.

A facilitator frees you to participate in your meeting. It is impossible to facilitate and participate in a meeting because facilitation is a full time job.