SFN Offers & Needs Market with Andrea de Wattignar | Monday February 13, 2017 | 5.30pm

Imagine yourself living in a small town and using a scooter as your primary mode of transport.  You break down and frustratingly spend time trying to get the scooter to restart.  As there isn't a local repair shop, you end up having the vehicle towed 30 kilometres to be fixed.  Much to your embarrassment and annoyance, you learn that the scooter had merely blown a spark plug.  To add insult to injury your neighbours later laugh, saying that the spark plug was something anyone in town could have replaced, especially the many ex-mechanics who had retired to the area. That's the irony of the modern market - it can deliver a spare vehicle part from across the world, but a neighbour might not know that the mechanic with the skills to fix the vehicle lives two doors down. Have you ever wondered about the assets, knowledge and experience of the people in your local, professional and social communities?  And how would it feel to be able to share yours with others? Imagine, then, if in just one hour you could match hundreds of detailed offers and needs within a group of people, even if the group were all strangers.  What if such an opportunity not only stimulated meaningful connections but had the potential to re-localise your economy and reduce your ecological footprint, all through a fun activity?  Well, it certainly is possible! In this session we’re running an ‘offers and needs market’ focused on developing professionally.

The offers and needs market method is far from unique; in fact it’s just a variation on the traditional marketplace! It’s a process you can successfully run with groups as small as three and as big as 100. Where the offers and needs market is unorthodox is in its use of silence as an important means to encourage participation from people with introverted tendencies, its rapid-fire exchange process, and its use of a particular set of descriptors to classify each offer and need. Aims To reduce consumption To encourage new, locally based economies and self-reliant communities Reconnect our hearts with exchange Gain a deeper understanding of the assets and strengths our community and its individuals have Build community trust Foster asset-based community development, and how it moves communities to thinking about what they have, rather than focusing on what they don’t. So, come to the Feb SFN armed with your considerable skills and experiences and perhaps you will be able to share them with someone in the SFN community.

About Andrea de Wattignar Running the Offers & Needs Market is facilitator, collaboration designer and change specialist, Andrea de Wattignar. Her curiosity for group dynamics, passion for exploring emergent possibilities and the belief that we all have the capacity to transform and powerfully contribute has found her primarily playing in corporate and government spaces facilitating groups to self-solve complexity. What if we were supported with the right conditions to powerfully collaborate with others and allow emergent possibilities to transform the human experience? A supportive container where ego is left at the door, and together we make break-through common? What if indeed?Andrea utilises a range of methodologies to unleash group genius and move people's thinking into the realm of possibility whilst tapping individual potential. She employs excessive travel habits, daydreaming and a book addiction to create powerful experiences for communities and organisations. Venue: [NOTE: we are trialing a new venue] SFN is always on the lookout for simple ways to keep things fresh. Knowing that physical space can have an impact on head-space we thought we would kick of SFN 2017 with a new venue!  As a trial, we will use Customer Central in Pitt Street. Customer Central is a Transport for NSW purpose built collaboration space, designed to support the government's agenda to foster innovation and make the NSW public transport sector world class. Details below: Customer Central Collaboration Hub Level 8 South (Rawson Place end), 477 Pitt Street, Sydney Central. Time: From 5:30pm to 7:30pm sharp | No RSVP - Just turn up | Donation $5 Enquiries | Eoin Higgins  eoin.p.higgins@gmail.com ; 0407 411 684 Call for Guest Facilitators: If you have an idea or know someone who has an idea for a session at a Facilitators Network meeting in please contact Eoin Higgins 0407 411 684 eoin.p.higgins@gmail.com