Facilitation Around the World

All Facilitators in Singapore,

Please find here information on the forthcoming conferences, as far as their dates are known, as well as on IAF Certified Professional Facilitator assessment events .

Africa 23-24 July 2008
Hurry with booking, only 1 month away! (Hyperlinked to text underneath here, from where the link then can go to the respective conference website.)

Asia 27-29 August 2009 On-line registration still ongoing!

Europe 2-5 October 2008 On-line registration opened!

Australia/New Zealand 26-28 November
Early bird rates still available!

North America 20-25 April 2009
July 1 deadline for conference and workshop submissions!

2008 IAF Global Conferences: Africa (Muldersdrift, Gauteng, South Africa), 23-24 July.

For information, to view the programme, or for on-line registration, go to www.sbs.co.za/IAF2008

Asia (Kuching, Sarawak, East Malaysia), 27-29 August. Asia will host its 11th annual IAF conference in Borneo with the theme of "The Savoury Spices of Facilitation." Always a popular conference in the network of IAF global conferences, the Asia conference often draws up to 25 different nationalities among the participants.

Programme details are available through www.iaf-world.org Register on-line at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=OPCMbMpIkNKdLZd4pKPg7Q_3d_3d

Europe (Groningen, Netherlands), 2-5 October. The IAF Europe Conference 2008 will be held in Groningen on the campus of Hanze University of Applied Sciences, founded in 1040. The conference website at www.iaf-europe-conference.org is now open for registration.

Australia/New Zealand (Bathurst, New South Wales), 26-28 November. The theme of this year?s conference is ?Pushing the Boundaries: Facilitation Frontiers.? A three-hour drive from Sydney, the Bathurst site is accessible by air, rail, and bus. To register refer to www.afnconference.com.au. Early bird rates are available through 31 August.

IAF Certified Professional Facilitator assessment events are scheduled in conjunction with all of the above conferences, Please see the IAF website: www.iaf-world.org for details. 2009 IAF North American Conference: North America (Vancouver, Canada) 20-25 April.

The theme of the conference is 'The Art and Mastery of Facilitation: Explore Diversity'. The organizers are calling for proposal submission by July 1, 2008 for the conference and workshops.

Workshop Focus areas are: Team Intervention, Community Engagement, Alternative Dispute resolution, Enhancing Your Facilitation Tool Kit, Personal and Professional Development, and Large Groups.

Submission forms are now posted on the IAF North America web site (www.iafna.org). If you have any questions about the overall process for submitting workshop proposals, please contact the Program Team Co-Chairs, Taralee Hammond (Taralee.hammond@nscc.ca) or Coleen Davidson (davidsoncm@ccrsb.ca).

Enhancements to the FNS Website

We are pleased to inform that to serve you better, we've enhanced the FNS website.

To minimise your time of registering for our events, the website is now able to retrieve your contact details after it has been provided once.

When you submit a registration for the first time, please provide your contact details to enjoy this value added service.

If you have any feedback on the website, please email admin@fns.sg

We look forward to your continued support for our events!

Facilitators Network Singapore

24th Singapore Facilitators' Forum

Date: 12 Jul'08, Saturday

Time: 8:30am – 1:00pm

Place: Focus Conference Room,
#15-08, Sim Lim Towers,
10 Jalan Besar,
Singapore 208787
(This is NOT Sim Lim Square!)

Agenda:

8:30 am Arrivals & Registration
9:00 am Part 1 – Divergence Problem Solving Tool – Reverse Brainstorming for Idea Generation
10:30 am Tea Break & Networking
11:00 am Part 2 – Convergence Problem Solving Tool – Compound Decision Matrix
12:30 pm Special Announcements
12:40 pm Closing Circle
1:00pm End of Session

Outcomes:

Have you ever tried running a Brainstorming session for a repeated 'die-hard' problem in your organisation with the same group of people? What's the outcome of the session? Have you ever generated a long list of possible solutions for a project but were unable to arrive at a satisfactory solution with your team? This session is designed for you if you ever faced any of the above challenges.

Part 1 – Reverse Brainstorming. Most of us are familiar with Brainstorming as a idea generation tool. Reverse Brainstorming is conducted in a similar way but instead of thinking of solutions to solve an issue, team members are to think of ways how to make things worse for a defined set of problems. With the negative solutions, the team then analyse what are the root causes and then finds a solution to each of the problem identified.

Part 2 – Compound Decision Matrix. The Compound Decision Matrix cascaded a series of simpler Decision such as the Grid Analysis and the Paired Comparison Table to allow teams to explore all possible options before arriving at a conclusion based on a set of pre-defined conditions.

The Facilitator

Ms Cynthia Zhai is a trainer in customer service and part-time facilitator. She's a member of IAF.

She's active in Toastmasters and a regular volunteer at Changi prison. She's also a NLP Practitioner and dedicated to bringing NLP in her training. Cynthia was born in China. She has a Masters degree in Management and worked in Human Resources in Shanghai before.

Fees:

Early bird registration 1 week before forum date or earlier:

Full-time tertiary students S$5.00
Others : S$10

Normal Rate after registration deadline:

Full-time tertiary students : S$15Others : S$15

Please register online via FNS website at http://www.fns.sg/current_programs.htm

If you are unable to register on-line please email our Forum administrator - Ms. Emily Ng at emilyng_fns@yahoo.com.sg

Fee is payable at the door. Once registered, the forum fee would be payable regardless of actual attendance. Cancellation or withdrawal is not permitted. We welcome replacement.

If you require directions, please log onto the following website to download the map of the venue.
http://sg.pagenation.com/sin/Sim%20Lim%20Tower_103.8545_1.3037.map

If you have enquires, please email our Forum Administrator - Ms. Emily Ng at emilyng_fns@yahoo.com.sg .

11th Annual IAF Asia Facilitator Conference - An Update

Missed signing up for the Kuching conference? ... come on and join the 107 from 19 countries who will be there...

Countries

AUSTRALIA 4
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM 3
CHINA 1
GERMANY 1
INDIA 5
INDONESIA 6
KOREA 1
LAOS 3
MALAYSIA 30
MYANMAR 6
NEPAL 1
NEW ZEALAND 2
PHILIPPINES 2
SINGAPORE 33
SOUTH KOREA 1
TAIWAN 3
THAILAND 1
UNITED KINGDOM 3
USA 1

Total participants as of 7 June 2008 = 107

Download Conference brochure at http://www.iaf-world.org/files/public/Kuching%20Conf%202008.pdf

Register on-line at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=OPCMbMpIkNKdLZd4pKPg7Q_3d_3d

From Conference Organising Team
11th Annual IAF Asia Facilitator Conference
The Savoury Spices of Facilitation!
August 27-28, 2008
Kuching, Sarawak,
Damai Puri Resort & Spa,
Sarawak,
Malaysia

COP Knowledge Facilitator Needed

Dear FFW Alumni,

UNESCAP is looking for a suitable Knowledge Facilitator for the Community of Practice for the Millennium Development Goals . He/she is expected to work for six months in Bangkok, Thailand (from June-November 2008).

The knowledge facilitator would be responsible for leading, moderating and generating on-line discussion amongst COP members.

The facilitator would ideally be Asia-based and ESCAP would offer around-trip ticket from wherever that person might be.

The deadline for applying to this position is 16 May 2008.

Please write to Marie Sicat ( sicat@un.org ) and/or Wanphen Sreshthaputra ( sreshthaputra-korotki@un.org ) for the Terms of Reference. You are to send them your application as well.

from

Ms Marie Sicat
Associate Social Affairs Officer
UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
Rajadamnern Nok Avenue
Bangkok 10200,
Thailand tel: (66 2) 288 1237
sicat@un.org

Training & Development Schedule 2008 - An Update

Here is the latest updates on the schedule of training and development programmes from Jun to Nov 2008:

Action Learning Coach Workshop (SFW 23 ) - 05-Jun-2008

Foundational Facilitation Workshop (FFW 22) - 25-Jun-2008

FFW15 From 24 to 26 Oct 2007

FFW14 from 22 to 24 Aug 2007

Power of Questions Workshop (SFW 24) - 02-Jul-2008

Foundational Facilitation Workshop (FFW 23) - 16-Jul-2008

The Flip Flop Debate (SFW 19) - 04-Aug-2008

Please register on-line at http://www.fns.sg/.

Next Facilitators Forum

Singapore Facilitators' Forum (Forum 24) - 12-Jul-2008

These were what participants said about the previous faciltiators' gatherings when we asked how they find the sessions:

New tips and ideas.

Rich sharing and pick up new ideas.

It is worthy; knowledgeable experience and it gives me lots of information.

There was full participation from everyone and a lot of sharing throughout.

Very useful and a great learning and sharing experience.

Very useful. Thinking how to introduce techniques in my tutorial lab classes.

Not only learned a lot about facilitation, but find creativity.

Enriching for a first timer.

Another new learning. Excellent energy very important to both facilitator and participants.

Fruitful experience. Many great tips and strategies by both facilitator and participants on how to maintain energy level during facilitation.

19th Facilitators' Forum 15 Sept 07

The Language of Facilitation

There is such a thing as the ‘language of facilitation’. This kind of language is unique to facilitation and the facilitator uses it to move the conversations ahead without controlling the heading of the conversation. The structure of the language is constructed in a way that promotes the flow of ideas between conversationalists without letting the psychodynamics get in the way. The language is authentic and promotes authenticity within the conversational group since it communicates the exact meaning that does not come across as been critical and judgemental.

There are several language techniques in facilitation, in fact there are eight, but I will share the most popular and well known here – Paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing involves a restatement, using your own words, of what another person has conveyed.

Statement made by a conversationalist:

“I have just bought ten tickets for Ironman – The Movie and they cost S$10.00 each. Could you pay me?

A paraphrased statement looks like this:

“Do I understand you correctly that you have gotten the tickets to Ironman – The Movie for us and you want me to pay for my share now?”

The Science of Paraphrasing

By deconstructing a typical paraphrased statement created in a facilitative mode, we will notice that it is not purely just a description of the original statement in your own words. It is framed in three unique ways, which gives this language technique its character:

• It is worded and sounded tentatively when introduced into the conversation.
• While the paraphrased statement need not necessarily be a question, it does present an invitation to your counterpart so that he/she could enrich this piece of the conversation.
• It also provides your counterpart an access into your cognitive and affective perceptions to the original statement, thereby giving him/her the springboard from which he/she could enrich the conversation.

So, it is not surprising to see the headers of most paraphrased statements begin like this:

“Am I right to say that….”

“Are you saying….”

“What I’m hearing you say is….”

Paraphrasing becomes even more important when the conversation gets stuck or turns heated. The facilitator and his paraphrasing technique becomes a buffer between conversationalists, which serve as an assurance that ideas are still being heard and as a damper to prevent the conversation from spinning out of hand.

This article is written by Anthony Mok on 29 April 2008.
Copyright 2008. Anthony Mok. All Rights Reserved.