Here is a gift from my beautiful neighbours. They lovingly created a 40th birthday message across our front doors at home. I felt honoured (and a little emotional) when I arrived home to see this after a birthday weekend away with family. And YES, I have just turned 40 … and YES, 1 of my nick-names is “TEDDY”. ‘Story of Name’ as a group process ‘Teddy’ is a nick-name that came from an spare-class that my dad took when in year 9 at High School. Somehow, he let slip that I still slept with a teddy (and yes I admit …

Most times when we talk about ‘spaces’ to run conferences and gatherings in, we talk about the size, number of breakout rooms, location to accommodation and public transport, access to wifi and other logistical features. Rarely do we talk about texture. The texture of a space gives it a certain feel and atmosphere. It’s purely subjective I know, but it can make a big difference to the ‘experience’ that individual and group has. I am facilitating the ACAPTA Flashpoint Forum at a great venue called ‘Legs on the Wall‘ in the suburb of Lilyfield in Sydney, Australia. It is a …

As I re-design a 5 day community leadership program, a whole bunch of little statements and slogans ended up on my mind-map – some are just ideas and others are borrowed from others. See the Wordle-Cloud below. A few things I know about this program … Improv games and principles will feature prominently – play, then sense and apply Participants will learn (very early on) to take the lead on hosting conversations and create inviting questions Everyone will be connected online and conversations will happen between the weekly gatherings Past participants will connect with new – the conditions for a …

Here is my latest addition to the world of online slideshows. I had the opportunity on Wednesday night to chat with a mixture of people from the Melbourne KMLF network and the RSA (Australia/NZ) Fellowship. They gathered for a Knowledge Cafe with David Gurteen – who is on a whirlwind tour of South East Asia, Australia and NZ at the moment. Now … I often take pot-shots at the ‘keynote-presenter’ model, but I must admit it was nice to leave to facilitation to David and have 15 minutes to talk about the world as I see it. I also learnt …

Have you ever wondered how the brain works? At high school I did and went onto to study it at University and it continues to fascinate me. Sebastian Seung in this TED talk has a story to tell of future possibilities in brain research and discovery. 3 aspects of this presentation I really liked were … 1. He speaks so clearly and effortlessly 2. It is the best explanation of the structure and function of the brain I have seen. Why? The use of visuals is brilliant. His verbal descriptions are supported by pictures that make the complex relationships between …