That was my first thought, too. But the main tenets of being a facilitator seem to be that everyone gets their say and that the facilitator takes no fixed position regarding the issue(s) at hand.

That interpretation seems inconsistent, which is why I researched further (such as it is).

>First thing that came to mind is "to stack the deck" - and in that context it would be the ability to predetermine the course of the conversation by limiting or directing its parameters.
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>>It seems there are people who work as professional "facilitators": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facilitator
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>>According to the article, it seems one high-level skill they should possess is the ability to "stack a conversation". Not knowing what that means, I Googled and Binged it. I couldn't find any references that said anything other than repeating that it's a skill they should have.