A basic diagram for hosting questions that create extraordinary conversations. In the life of organizations and communities there are times when questions arise that just can’t be dealt with in the regular course of events. This is often when those of us who are consulting facilitators are brought into an organization. We are often told that “we have reached a place where we need a facilitator to help.” Usually there is an obvious need or purpose stated right in the first few sentences of the phone call or the email. This is something that consultants like us have to bear …
I’ve been thinking on similar lines; it’s quite tempting to write stuff about faciliation to guide the “leader”… but maybe it would be more powerful to write for the participants. Steve, in fact, goes ahead and does this, suggesting 12 Acts of Courage to Change Meetings for Good. via Johnnie Moore’s Weblog: Facilitation for participants. Yes indeed Johnnie, and I see this as fundamental to the invitation process, so that participants know what they are getting into.
I’m currently engaged in a number of projects that have me working at the margins, exploring margins, eliminating margins and generally working with difference, otherness, power and exclusion. These projects include: Running an Open Space Technology event in September to create collaborative actions around reducing addictions-related stigma in the health system in Vancouver. Working with the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service in the United States on supporting and expanding a culture of welcome and acceptance in their work with migrants and refugees, work that is stunningly radical in the context of the current “conversation” on immigration in the USA. Part …
In this video piano soloist Maria Joao Pires is confronted with a nasty situation. As the conductor begins the piece of music they are to play, she discovers that it is not the piece she prepared. She has left her music at home Imagine that. Undaunted, she engages in a short conversation with the conductor who encourages her to play it any way – she played it last season, she knows the piece well. Pires digs ddep – you can see it in her face – and conjures up Mozart’s D minor concerto form the depths of her mastery. There …
Mashable.com shares a useful primer on how to Plan and Promote Events With Social Media. Inviting people to an event is at least as much work as organizing it. It’s not just a question of getting the right people in the room but jhaving them engaged before hand as well in order for a gathering to be a good a productive use of time. Using these tools is a big step in that direction. For a recent example, see my mate Geoff Brown’s harvest of work we did together in May in Australia.