AFN 2017 Conference Announces Line-up!

The 2017 AFN Conference Team has announced a fantastic line up for this year's conference (16 - 18 October).  This is going to be an awesome conference thanks to the wonderful program and great presenters,  dedicated organising committee, beautiful location and rich theme of sacred communication.

Take a look at the full program here.
Interested? Register here.

Let Go of Your Plan with Johanna de Rutyer | Monday June 19 2017 | 5.30pm

“Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.”

Structure and planning can provide useful frameworks to guide and contain action but sticking to our plans can also limit action. How often have you been in a meeting and the convenor is doggedly following a pre - arranged agenda that is not responding to the dynamics of the audience? Ever felt like a deer in the headlights, startled and frozen in front of an audience, instead of the competent person you usually present – particularly after an unexpected question or challenge?

The unplanned moment is full with creative possibility, spontaneity, excitement, playfulness, energy, focus, challenge – it is dynamic to say the least. A range of possibilities emerge and your ability to respond and then navigate within this dynamic involves taking a risk in not knowing, courage to be open and explore and practice. Some are more well versed and comfortable than others in this dynamic space. Johanna de Ruyter has been practicing the art of navigating the emerging and unstructured process for over 25 years. She is a long term ensemble member of Playback Theatre Sydney a theatre form that blends story sharing, Improvisation and Communication. Over her 30 years engagement in theatre making Improvisation has been at the centre of her creative process. She is experienced in navigating the balance between being in the planned and unplanned, structure and unstructured which ultimately takes us to a relationship between mind and body.

This will be an experiential and playful session so if possible wear comfortable clothes and shoes. Johanna will invite you meet to yourself and others in the present and emerging space of being in the unplanned.

Between stimulus and response there is a space and in that space lies our freedom and power to
respond – Janice L Marturano, Finding the space to Lead.

About Johanna de Ruyter
Johanna is passionate about the complementary relationship of communication and the performing arts. She has been working for over two decades as an actor and collaborator on various award-winning theater projects both nationally and internationally.

For Johanna the central core of theatre has always been about authentic communication – which is encompassed in the process of creating a show, in the performance itself and also in the specific style of theatre I practice, Playback Theatre. For over twenty years she has worked as an improviser, facilitator and trainer at Playback Theatre Sydney - a rich and dynamic communication forum that uses improvisation and personal storytelling to explore, expose and illuminate specific issues. Since 1981 Playback Theatre Sydney has been commissioned by Government, Corporate and Community organizations to perform roles of trainer, role play and performance.

In addition, she facilitates Leadership Presence training programs throughout the Asia Pacific region, with The Ariel Group, a leading US and more recently Australian based Executive Training Company. Johanna draws on her theatre and communication experience to design and deliver her own experientially based Training, Coaching and Presentations programs for a range of clients in the Community and Corporate sector.

Venue: [We will be at UTS]

University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Jones Street, Ultimo corner Thomas Street. Room 5.580 Level 5, Building 10, Take the lift to level 5, cross the atrium footbridge, walk straight ahead to room 580.

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

Engaging Your Audience with Tony Sloman | Monday May 08, 2017 | 5.30pm

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel"  - Maya Angelou, American poet and civil rights activist

‘Engaging Your Audience’ is a practical workshop to explore 3 key techniques you can use to feel more confident as a speaker, reduce your nerves and inspire your listeners.

Conceiving and delivering a message to an audience are often misaligned processes. The formality of delivery is something that unhinges many people. They lose the core connection to their material and are left feeling an opportunity has slipped by or that they could not really portray themselves the way they really want to. Sometimes it is nerves, other times it is about our fundamental right to speak.

 “There are two types of speakers. Those who get nervous and those who are liars” - Mark Twain

Tony will demonstrate how nerves play a role in our speaking; the physiological response to being ‘exposed’ and the corresponding mindset. Together we will discover what we can do to accept our vulnerability, to embrace and utilise our nervous response constructively. Through a blended learning approach, we will explore how it feels when you ‘embody’ your messages, when you own your space and relish in your opportunities to speak out.

Come and join this experiential session to learn how to own your authenticity as a speaker and what to activate to achieve it – with passion and purpose!

About Tony Sloman
Tony Sloman is the director of Passion and Purpose, a business that transforms people into passionate communicators who can own their space, inspire their listeners and achieve their business purpose at every speaking opportunity. Their solutions are delivered through tailored workshops for corporate, government, leadership forums, SME’s and NFP, as well as one-on-one coaching and in public programs.

Tony has a rich background in facilitation, training, coaching, presenting, relationship management, business development, consulting, computer science, financial services and the performing arts.
 
Tony has worked all over the world in theatre, film, television, radio as a professional actor and writer/director. He has been practicing his craft for over 30 years and having trained at one of the most prestigious drama schools in the world (The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London), being tutored by world-renowned experts in performance, Tony understands the complexities of high stakes communication.

Venue: [NOTE: Pitt St venue]

Customer Central Collaboration Hub
Level 8 South Entrance (Barlow St 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

Deep Deomcracy | Monday April 10, 2017 | 5.30pm

The term ‘deep democracy’ was coined by Arnold Mindell (a physicist and Jungian psychologist) in the 1980s to refer to the need to engage with the range of one’s own internal voices, as well as all the voices in the community, to achieve social change.   Myrna Lewis (a clinical psychologist also working in the corporate sector) and her late husband Greg Lewis, adapted Mindell’s work when they were consulting to Eskom, South Africa’s power utility. They were contracted to help the workplace transform after the apartheid regime. They followed the ‘teach people to fish’ approach knowing that this was the only way to tackle issues at scale, and provided people with tools for communication, decision making and conflict resolution. The Lewis Method ‘tool kit’ was born and Myrna has been refining and expanding the work with a growing network of instructors over the last nearly 20 years. CoResolve, a participative leadership program has also been developed. Powered by the Deep Democracy tools, it addresses the challenge leaders have in holding neutrality, when the very nature of their role is that they have a view. The Lewis Method is learnt experientially and Cath Elderton will use the session on Monday 10th April to provide people with a taste of some of the tools, such as the Soft Shoe Shuffle, the 4 Steps and The Argument.  It would be good if you can come with a topic that you think it would be good for the SFN to discuss!

About Cath Elderton Cath Elderton came across The Lewis Method Deep Democracy at a workshop Myrna Lewis ran in Darwin in 2011, and has been learning it ever since. She has many years’ experience in development practice (both overseas and in northern Australia), including learning and development work. She has recently completed training in Process Oriented Psychology, a psychotherapy methodology that is another plank that underpins Deep Democracy. Venue: [We will be at UTS] University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Jones Street, Ultimo corner Thomas Street. Room 5.580 Level 5, Building 10, Take the lift to level 5, cross the atrium footbridge, walk straight ahead to room 580. 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

Open Space with Donald Marmara | Monday March 13, 2017 | 5.30pm

How would you describe a workshop with no agenda, no leader and no set structure? And why would anyone want to participate in such workshops?

Some years ago in London Donald Marmara and a group of management consultants created an informal group (akin to the SFN) whose slogan was “Bringing Human Values Into Organisations”. They met regularly to discuss possible ways of supporting and learning from each other. The management consultants came from a range of backgrounds and worked in a variety of settings including corporate, NGOs and local government.

An experimental process emerged from the group where people met with no agenda, no set structure, and no leader.  The meetings continued once a month for a couple of years, and many personal friendships as well as professional connections developed. A lot of spontaneous co-working opportunities also came about.

Buoyed by the experience Donald experimented with “open space” (not to be confused with Open Space Technology) with different groups, and had great results also with groups of practitioners of different modalities.

Following the success of the SFN co-design day in in the MCIC (UNSW) last October, Donald felt the time was right for a new 'Open Space' group to emerge in Sydney. So if you are curious about the emergent potential of the SFN please join us for an experimental evening of facilitation. We hope that the March SFN will serve as a catalyst for an new ongoing smaller group gatherings to explore this process and create new connections and new friendships.

About Donald Marmara
Donald Marmara’s 40 years’ of international experience has seen him run seminars for health centres, organisations and training institutions throughout the UK, Europe and Australia.

As well as training for several years with leading pioneers of Somatic (Body) Psychotherapy and Personal Development in Europe & America, Donald served an 8-year apprenticeship with a Native American Medicine Man.

Donald is the creator of Core Development. He has a particular interest in experiential learning and integrating mind, body, emotions and spirit and currently maintains a private practice in Sydney.

Donald also works with children and teenagers and loves applying what he learns from them to enrich the lives and work of adults 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 Entrance (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

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

Innovation Wildcard with End of Year Social | Monday December 12, 2016 | 5.30pm

Do you have a short process that you want to practice before you do it live with a client?
Have you been considering taking a guest facilitator spot but want to get some experience with the group first?
Do you have a short process that is energizing and fun?

All these and more are what wildcard is for. You can be guest facilitator on the night for between 5 and 20 minutes.
Typically there is time for around 6 short sessions.

Wildcards are for everyone no matter what the experience level. They are unpredictable, engaging and always fun.
Wildcards are a great way to experience a range of ideas and tools from a variety of different experiences.

Wildcard sessions are organized dynamically on the night. Just turn up with your idea.

Everyone else just turn up to learn from the experience and have fun.

Xmas Social

Please join us for networking, conversation and laughter afterwards at the nearby, very economical Pho Mumum Vietnamese Restaurant, No 16 Broadway, Chippendale (opposite the Big UTS Tower). Average meal cost only$10. 

Venue: [our usual venue]

University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Jones Street, Ultimo corner Thomas Street. Room 5.580 Level 5, Building 10, Take the lift to level 5, cross the atrium footbridge, walk straight ahead to room 580.

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