The format of the conference is similar to previous years; an opening ‘get to know you’ session, followed by three 75 minute ‘learning experiences’ facilitated by local people for their peers. Participants will have a choice of three workshops at each session. We will conclude by getting back together as a group to reflect on our experience and learning.
Program
Registration and coffee at 9.00am for 9:30 am sharp start.
| Session One | 10:00 am — 11:15 am | |
|---|---|---|
| Hey! Just listen, won’t you! | Winning Business: Navigating proposals and tenders. | PeerSpirit Circles: An Introduction. |
| Is that all it takes? Can we deepen our listening so that when we deal with tricky issues, we start to listen for what’s needed to match the complex problems we face. Have some practical experience of the depth of listening through a range of simple exercises. Listen to some tips, ideas and theories from Clare’s research on listening in mediation, and from some great world listeners. | The aim of this session is to make participants more confident about writing tenders and proposals by knowing what to expect and providing a game plan. The other aim is to make it interactive and interesting! Please give some thought to what you want to know more about and specific challenges you have in writing proposals. | Participants of this session will be introduced to the PeerSpirit Circle Process, which lends itself to a range of facilitation events and is a basis for more effective outcomes. It is also valuable for stakeholder consultation, problem solving and conflict resolution. |
| Clare Coburn | Rosalind King | Marie Dumais |
| Clare Coburn PhD is a professional listener who works as an educator, storyteller and mediator. She is keen to help herself and others learn to listen from the heart. | Rosalind King acquired exceptional business writing expertise through a varied career in government, higher education and international development. She now runs her own company — BidWriter. | Marie Dumais works as an independent consultant and facilitator. Marie also specialises in organisational change, stakeholder consultations, strategic planning and review. Her clients are from education and not for profit organisations. |
| fabled.com.au | bidwriter.com.au |
| Session Two | 11:45 am — 1:00 pm | |
|---|---|---|
| Telling Tales: Exploring the use of wisdom stories. | When does thinking not matter? | Facilitators ... and Activists? Roles facilitators can play in changing the world. |
| Wisdom stories can frame and reframe, illustrate, shift thinking, open up possibilities, remind us, connect us, teach us and much more. That they can do all this and be memorable, enchanting and entertaining is like having chocolate that’s healthy. Why wouldn’t you eat it?
So as facilitators how can we use stories in our work? How can we add the power and magic of ancient story wisdom to our toolkit? Lets share stories, explore possibilities and eat facilitation chocolate. |
The ‘Thinking Environment’ is a methodology that generates the best thinking in people and creates an environment where people can think well for themselves with rigour, imagination, courage and grace. The workshop will introduce participants to the Thinking Environment and provide the opportunity to experience its transformational impact. |
Skilled facilitators can make a significant difference to the effectiveness of groups working on social and environmental justice campaigns. This interactive session will explore the social change passions of participants, introduce approaches to social movement learning and development, and discuss opportunities for facilitators to get involved. |
| Kate Lawrence | Cathy Duvel and Mary Maddock | Holly Hammond |
| Kate Lawrence is the Principle Facilitator at Circle Wise. She has, for the last four summers, facilitated groups of neighbours to discuss and prepare for bushfires. More recently she has been working with communities recovering from the 2009 bushfires. | Cathy Duvel is a member of the Global Faculty for Time To Think and pioneered the method in Australia. Mary Maddock is an accredited Time to Think facilitator, coach and consultant. She is the Director of MM Consulting a management consulting practice that focuses on facilitating change to create possibility. |
Holly Hammond is the Director of Plan to Win. Plan to Win assists individuals, groups and campaigns to develop the skills and clarity required to win change in the world. Holly brings twenty years of experience to her work as an educator, facilitator and mentor. |
| circlewise.com.au | timetothink.com |
| Session Three | 2:15 pm — 3:30 pm | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimising the impact of conflict in the workplace | Drawing on the unconscious … making and taking the Facilitator role. | Visioning Resilience |
| Conflict in the workplace. What it is? This session will look at the impact of conflict in the workplace; how it damages business; ways in which conflict is created and how to bring awareness to unconsciousness. New strategies will be offered for dealing with conflict and opening to the underlying humanity of the people involved. |
In this session participants will be given a taster of role theory stemming from the discipline of systems psychodynamics and then invited into reflective practice using work role drawings generated during the session. With the drawing as a catalyst, participants will be encouraged to explore their deeply held values and assumptions about themselves as facilitators and the groups they serve. | Come and participate in, and contribute to, an engrossing session and experience a new technique in facilitation and collaborative vision making called ‘Collage Visioning’ — a method that can be used with a diverse range of groups and participants. The session will be hands-on and demonstrate — exploring the topic of ‘resilience’ — how collage can be used effectively. |
| Alistair McKinnon, Ruth Newport and Karen Thompson–Anderson | Lindy Amos and Kris Wilms | Deb Humphreys |
| Alistair, Ruth and Karen are communication and facilitation specialists, with particular expertise in the Non Violent Communication (NVC) model, which provides a powerful means to speak the truth of our stories in ways that compassionately connects with our hearers. | Lindy and Kris have been delving into role analysis and group dynamics through their recent completion of a Masters in Organisation Dynamics at RMIT. Both Lindy and Kris work extensively as facilitators, consultants, coaches and trainers in State and Local Government, not for profit and corporate sectors. | Deb Humphreys has a background in graphic design, adult education, facilitation and community development. She is currently working with the CFA in Surf Coast and Colac Otway Shire communities in a research partnership project with the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment. |
| consciousdirections.com
gkisocialnetworking.com |
collectivepossibilities.com.au imagineactachieve.com.au |
| Reflections, closing and tea | 3:30 pm — 4:30 pm | |
|---|---|---|