The art and practice of facilitating online
A global learning exchange. 48 hours of sessions proposed and run by the people who turn up — no keynotes, no vendor pitches.
You set the agenda
Sessions are proposed and hosted by participants. Bring a question you are stuck on, a tool you want to put through its paces, or a story worth telling — that is a session. Trying out new platforms and techniques together, in a room full of people who will tell you honestly how it went, has always been half the draw.
Practitioners, not panels
Facilitators, community managers, educators, leaders — people who do this work daily, or who want to. Newcomers are genuinely welcome: everyone arrives with expertise, experience and a perspective the rest of the room can use.
Built for a global room
Blocks are timed for regional prime-times across the 48 hours. Come to what fits your day; nothing depends on being awake at 3am (though that can be fun, too).
Last year at OFU 2025
- participants
- 130participants
- countries
- 29countries
- sessions
- 30+sessions
Accessible by design
Accessibility matters to us, starting with what a ticket costs. Facilitation is global; salaries are not. Take 25%, 50% or 75% off your ticket depending on where you live — honor system, no questions asked. Whether you are joining from Germany, Guatemala or Ghana, the price should not be the reason you miss it. A full-price ticket with the deepest geo discount comes to about $37; partner codes go further still.
We can do this because OFU runs on a cost-recovery basis. The Center for Applied Community Engagement LLC has hosted it that way since 2017: the organizing team needs to cover costs, nothing more.
Bring your community. Get something back.
Community partners share OFU with their network — an email, a couple of posts, whatever fits how you communicate. In return: your logo on this page, a 30% discount code for your members, two free tickets (plus one more for every ten people who register through your code), and a hand in shaping the program.
Your members use your 30% partner code, then apply the geo-fairness discount on top of it — at the deepest rate, a full-price ticket comes to $26.08. That is not a marketing offer you are passing along — it is a price your members can actually afford.
Sponsoring instead? Read the prospectus — it is a working draft, and sign-up opens shortly.