Meeting facilitation & community engagement
We make better decisions together.
Create and Evaluate specialises in meeting facilitation and stakeholder engagement that brings people together, builds trust, and helps groups reach clear outcomes. Whether your challenge is aligning a team, navigating differing views, or engaging a community, independent facilitation ensures every voice is heard and that discussions lead to real action.
Based in Townsville and working across regional Queensland and beyond, Create and Evaluate designs and delivers sessions that are productive and bring out the best in the group.
Offering
Our facilitation services are tailored to your goals and group dynamics. We plan, design and facilitate meetings so that you can focus on contributing, not managing the process.
Our facilitation and engagement services include:
- Workshop and meeting facilitation for boards, leadership teams, staff groups, steering committees, and advisory panels.
- Community and stakeholder engagement sessions that gather input, build understanding and strengthen relationships.
- Stakeholder engagement plans for major projects.
- Facilitation of online meetings or hybrid meetings (combination of in-room and online attendees), ensuring effective participation regardless of where people are located.
- MC and moderator services for forums, conferences and public consultation events.
- Facilitation design and advice, helping you plan effective agendas and processes for your own facilitators or teams.
- Every session is structured for participation, respect and results, whether it’s in person, online or hybrid.
Client testimonials
“Renée is an incredibly capable facilitator. Renée has the ability to apply appropriate tools to facilitate large groups of disparate stakeholders to achieve agreed outcomes. Her professionalism and easy going nature, combined with skills and knowledge, shines through on every occasion.”
Donna-Marie Audas, Assistant Director, Environment and Sustainability at Department of Defence
“I would highly recommend this service to any business or organisation looking for more efficient stakeholder engagement meetings. Renée’s facilitation style is warm and inclusive, carefully guiding the group to the questions and answers needing to be uncovered. Her information check points and summaries along the journey kept the process on-track and easily avoided the fatigued minds that might appear around 3pm.”
Maree Dibella, Steering Committee member, Burdekin Dry Tropics Regional Natural Resource Management Plan
“Renée is consistently on‑point, reliable and professional. She brings a calm, level presence to complex discussions, and knows when to be firm to keep a group on track. Her facilitation style works well with participants from diverse backgrounds, and she creates a space where everyone feels heard.”
Sam Waldron, Project Director, Sunwater
“Renée’s ability to hold space, listen deeply, and draw together diverse knowledge systems, including Indigenous knowledge and scientific practice, resulted in rich conversations, shared learning, and a clear pathway for ongoing collaboration. Renée’s facilitation and evaluative insight significantly enriched the workshop experience and left participants feeling heard, respected, and motivated to carry the work forward.”
Natalie Friday, Ranger Coordinator – Minggamingga Ranger Program, Palm Island
Organisations we've helped to bring people together:
Experience:
Create and Evaluate has supported organisations and communities across Queensland to plan, collaborate, and make informed decisions through structured facilitation and engagement.
Our experience spans government, not-for-profit, education, community, and industry sectors – from small teams needing clarity to large-scale consultation projects with diverse stakeholders.
We’re trusted for our ability to design processes that encourage participation and respect the knowledge already in the room, ensuring conversations lead to meaningful outcomes.
Facilitating discussions between producers, industry, government, community and researchers.
Two-way knowledge sharing and identifying priorities with Traditional Owners
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of communities and stakeholder groups do you have experience working with?
I’ve worked with a wide range of groups and organisations including:
- Graziers, growers and other primary producers, and agriculture and aquaculture industry bodies.
- First Nations groups, including Traditional Owners and Indigenous rangers.
- Local councils, regional development bodies, and local government collectives.
- State and federal government agencies across a wide range of fields.
- Environment and natural resources groups, including advocacy groups, Landcare groups and most of Queensland’s regional NRM bodies.
- Community services organisations, e.g. veterans, aged care, alcohol and other drugs, youth support, disability services, women’s legal services.
- Sporting and recreation clubs and volunteer groups.
- Universities, TAFE, research organisations and technical specialists.
- Local business and social enterprises.
- LGBTIQA+ organisations and individuals.
Every group has its own culture, history and way of doing things. I take the time to understand that and approach every group with authenticity, honesty and respect, which helps people feel comfortable, heard and willing to participate.
You can read more about the different groups I’ve worked with on my Experience page.
What exactly do you do as a meeting facilitator?
My job as a facilitator is to help your group achieve its purpose. Whether the aim is to gather input, make a decision, or develop a plan, I’ll work with you to design a meeting process that’s focused on equal participation and clear outcomes. I’ll keep the discussion on track, make sure everyone has the opportunity to contribute, and guide the group towards shared understanding and agreement. I can also write up the outcomes afterwards if you wish.
When do I need an independent facilitator? Can I just facilitate the meeting myself?
The advantages of hiring an independent facilitator are:
- You can participate fully in the discussion instead of trying to contribute and run the meeting at the same time.
- A neutral person facilitating the meeting can build trust among attendees and encourage more open conversation.
- You’re more likely to come out of the meeting with results and an agreed way forward, particularly if the group has a history of conflict or circular conversations.
- A skilled facilitator can keep the discussion on track and manage any difficult conversations that come up, while maintaining a respectful environment throughout.
What happens if the group gets stuck or there’s conflict during the meeting?
This is totally normal, and it doesn’t mean that the meeting is failing. In these moments, I will:
- ask some key questions to help the group get unstuck and move forward
- support people to work through the issue constructively, managing the group dynamics
- keep the group focused on the meeting’s purpose and desired outcomes
- ensure people still feel heard and respected, even during difficult conversations.
You may be interested in my blog: Conflict isn’t failure: how to navigate tense moments in groups.
Should I wait until I have the date and agenda organised before I engage you as the facilitator?
No, it’s best to bring me in early, when you’re first starting to plan the meeting. This allows me to:
- Review your proposed agenda and attendee list with an independent eye
- Suggest improvements that will add real value
- Coordinate any pre-work if needed
- Keep the date free in my calendar.
For more tips see my blog on getting the most out of your external facilitator.
Have more questions? Visit our full FAQ page or contact Renée.
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Let’s make your next meeting count.
If your group needs support to work together, we can help.