Please watch the full 3 minute video below … you will be moved, as we’re the 1000 people watching! Once Sam get’s singing it really takes off! But first, let me set the scene with a story about Community … It’s the Monday morning after the 5th annual Aireys Open Mic Music Festival and our community has celebrated another magical festival – with the tag line “It’s All About The Music”. This festival attracts thousands of music lovers, but it’s not the numbers that’s important … the vibe and sense of community it supports is amazing. This time last year, …

This is a great reminder for anyone doing anything. Ira talks about storytelling, but “hanging in there with “perseverance”  & “doing the volume of work/practice” is sound advice for all of us! HT to the DoLectures Email Newsletter for pointing this one out!

Last Tuesday night I went dancing! Not to a nightclub and not to a structured form of dance like Flamenco, Ballroom or Swing. It was a practice of dance known as The 5Rhythms. The classes have a host/facilitator to hold the space and invite participants to move, play and interact. In my case, the facilitator is a long time friend of mine, David Jurianz. Whilst I am intensely interested in the application of improv, movement and music to my facilitation work, I didn’t attend this workshop to figure out some magical formulae of how I can “apply it”. I showed …

Imagine a world where most people think that life’s events are largely predictable. A world where people believe that planning, expert analysis, centralized control and risk assessments will smooth out the bumps of unpredictability … and ensure that predetermined targets are hit. Sound familiar? Now imagine a world where the universal human tendency is to ‘be prepared for the unexpected’ … because that’s life! In this world, planning is still done, but is balanced by the formation of improvisational teams – teams that emerge in response to what is happening in the moment. In this world, the term ‘script think’ …

Viv McWaters has been my mentor, colleague, co-conspirator and friend for many years now. Viv has a knack of seeing beyond the ‘established norms’ of facilitation and create new ways of working from out beyond the horizon – its quite inspirational. Viv is a pioneer of Open Space, action methods and in the application of Improv Theatre to facilitation (and life). In recent times, Viv and Johnnie Moore have been breaking new ground in world of facilitation and facilitation training. Together, they have been working at the edge and applying lessons from improv theatre, neurological sciences, psychology, systems biology, design …