Decision Making Facilitation Intensive (LIVE COHORT) - Fall 2026

Decision making is often treated as a litmus test for a group's principles. Sometimes a group may theoretically hold values such as sharing power, racial justice, and collective care as central to their work. However, when internal or external pressures impact a group's strategy, safety, or livelihoods, they may find themselves defaulting to decision-making practices that are in contradiction with their values, causing frustration and broken trust amongst the group members.

So, how can we put our values into practice around group decision making when we may not have the time or resources to ask everyone who is impacted by a decision what they think OR not everyone involved has the knowledge or skills to make a decision?

This five week intensive pulls back the curtain on how to build and practice deep democracy for groups resisting authoritarianism who are trying to live into our most liberatory values. Through case studies, discussion, and practice labs, you'll get simple, ready to apply facilitation tools and frameworks for clear, effective decision making processes and structures your group can implement right away.

We welcome you wherever you are making group decisions in social justice and liberation work–whether hierarchical non-profits, distributed coalitions, flat collectives, complex circles, unstructured neighborhood gatherings, or emergent community organizing spaces.

The Decision Making Intensive is organized around these key content questions:

• Which decisions require rigorous collective processes, and which can be made quickly by an individual?
• What are the distinct parts of a democratic decision making process? How long should each part take?
• How do I know who makes the ultimate decision, and who is consulted? When should I bring people into a decision? How do I engage them and manage the different power dynamics?
• What does a successful democratic decision making process look like in my group’s structure? What are the common trapdoors?
• How do I run design the meeting itself so I can genuinely engage people in the decision making process?

The content of this intensive builds on the Crash Course on Facilitating Decision Making. By signing up for this intensive, you will also receive a recording of the Crash Course for a limited time review before the start of the intensive.

Intensive Structure, Dates and Times

The intensive will run from September 16th - October 14th. The cohort will meet once a week on Wednesdays from 4-6pm PT/5-7pm MT/6-8pm CT/7-9pm ET.

• The first hour of each session: Lesson. Teaching key concepts, analyzing case studies, and sharing tools.
• The second hour of each session: Lab. Q&A, discussion and integration, and small group practice.

Note: We will be reserving, Wednesday, November 4, 2026 as a hold date in case illness or emergency requires us to reschedule one of the sessions.

Online Learning Community

By joining this intensive, you will also join a private, Mighty Networks group where participants can chat, share resources, and build relationships. Further reading and resources will also be posted in this online space.

Practioners Circle

*LIMITED SPACE AVAILABLE* [Fridays, September18th - October 16th, from 11am-12pm PT/12-1pm MT/1-2pm CT/2-3pm ET]

Each week during the intensive, meet with one of the intensive facilitators in a small Practioners Circle for an hour. This is an intimate and hands-on conversation for facilitation thought partnership and applying that week’s lesson into your group’s context. (Available as a paid add-on when registering).

Self Paced Option

We are also offering this intensive in a self-paced format. This includes an online classroom, session recordings, and handouts. If you would like to register for this instead, please click here.

Access information

• Zoom: We will be meeting via Zoom meetings and using the screen share function.
• Breaks: In our 2 hour training, we will be taking one 10 minute break.
• Breakout rooms: This training will include breakout rooms in each session. There will always be a solo work option available for participants.
• Captions: We will be offering CART Captioning during this training, with the exception of breakout rooms, which will have automatic captioning.
• Chat: This training includes use of the chat function in Zoom. Participants will be asked to enter responses in the chat throughout the training.
• Recording: This training will be recorded and shared with registrants for 30 days after the intensive concludes.
• Post-intensive Materials: After each week's session, you will receive a copy of the slide deck, worksheets, and handouts.
• Tech and access support: A tech and access support person will be present throughout the intensive to attend to any emergent participant needs regarding Zoom, the slide deck, and access.

How to choose your rate:

AORTA offers our public trainings at different rates depending on your individual and organizational access to money and wealth. Our sliding scale is an intentional effort to distribute resources equitably between organizations and organizers we work with.

Please reflect on the self assessment linked below to help you consider what rate to pay to attend this workshop. Note the rates below do not include Eventbrite fees.

https://aorta.coop/public-program-rates

Rates for Individuals

These rates are for you if you are paying for the training without financial support from an organization. The cost listed below is for 1 person registering for the full training.

• Discounted solidarity rate: $125* (Early bird available until July 31st)
• Solidarity: $250
• Sustain: $500
• Full Cost: $750
• Redistribution: $1000

*A limited number of spots are available at a deeply discounted solidarity rate. We welcome you to register for this rate if you are part of a collective or movement group that is organzing and working in local, volunteer (or unstaffed) formations. Examples of this may be clean air clubs, neighborhood block associations, etc. If you have any questions about whether you qualify, please contact us.

For individuals who are independent consultants or are affiliated with a 501c3 or otherwise receive institutional support, we welcome you to register at one of the other rates based on where you locate yourself on our sliding scale.

Rates for individuals supported by organizations

These rates are for you if you are a member of an organization that is paying for your participation in the training. The cost listed below is for 1 person registering for the full training.

• Solidarity: $325
• Sustain: $575
• Full Cost: $825
• Redistribution: $1075

Please note our refund, transfer, and cancellation policy for virtual trainings:

AORTA is a small business that depends on stable revenue from our trainings and offerings. As such, we are not able to make exceptions to our refund policy.

1. All of our training fees are non-refundable.
2. All registrants will receive a recording of the training.
3. You may request a transfer of your ticket to a different date within the training series (e.g. a training in the Spring of a calendar year) if a spot is available at your selected ticket rate. Requests must be made more than 7 business days prior to the training. Date transfers are not available for the intensive.
4. Additionally, you can transfer your registration to a different participant (their name and email address must be shared at least 3 business days prior to the start of the training).
5. If AORTA needs to cancel the training (due to unforeseen circumstances, such as the trainer becoming ill), then we will do our best to reschedule the training for a later date. If you are unable to attend at the rescheduled date, or if AORTA is not able to reschedule the training, then you will have the option to be fully refunded, transfer you registration as outlined in 3 and 4 above, or convert your registration fees to a donation to support AORTA’s ongoing work to strengthen movements and organizations working for social justice.