How can I motivate team members to participate in project retrospective analysis?

Both Respect and Courage is required from all the stakeholders to be part of retrospective meetings. Having said, they can be motivated by proper training - Agile Methodologies, Project know how, Project background and last but not the least - Technology insights.

Retrospective is a challenging part of the meeting to discuss what worked well and what didn’t in the past which can be useful to predict/plan in furture. Before meeting, share high level agenda to the team to make it easy for them to come prepared.

Agree with much of what has been said in this thread and Walter has made a very important point!

But as PM you can operate an open-door, stripes-at-the-door policy to encourage all project resources to communicate.

I also use regular retrospectives when milestones are reached, it keeps it recent and fresh in people's minds. It can also be shorter and less intense than an end-of-project saga.

In addition, use a feedback form, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, it is less formal and can be anonymous so removes the fear of speaking out. If distributed before a retrospective, as PM, you can table the items received, allowing the originator to participate in discussion rather than being seen to have raise the topic.

Paul