Invitation to the 26th FNS Forum

Dear facilitators in Singapore,

You are invited to the 26th FNS Forum and the details are as follows:

Date: 15 Nov 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!)

Fees:

Normal registration 1 week before forum date or earlier:

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

Late rate after registration deadline:
Full-time tertiary students : S$15
Others : S$15

Agenda:

8:30 am Arrivals & Registration

9:00 am Part 1 – Introduction to AI

10:30 am Tea Break & Networking

11:00 am Part 2 – Continue on AI

12:30 pm Special Announcements

12:40 pm Closing Circle

1:00pm End of Session

About the Session

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a process tool that forges a positive path for change. Deliberately starting away from a problem-solving focus and its deficit-based discourse, AI brings individuals and groups to discover their positive core; elements which are life-giving and sustaining. This positive core in turn informs and directs energy towards an affirmative topic; the focus of the change effort, which no longer is framed in 'problem' terms. About 20 years old, AI is growing in popularity as a change process. In the context of an Appreciative Inquiry of their own facilitation practice, participants at the November FNS Forum will experience for themselves AI's 4 stages of Discovery, Dream, Design and Destiny, and place themselves on a positive path for change.

The Facilitators

This session will be co-facilitated by Fiona O'Shaughnessy, Noel E K Tan and Denise Wright

Fiona O'Shaughnessy is a Singapore-based Trainer and Facilitator. Some of the client projects she has recently used Appreciative Inquiry for include: a planning meeting for the Executive Committee of a charity who wanted to review their vision and strategic thrusts; an A*Star Institute who needed to implement major organisational structural change; and a regional customer service management team who wanted to review progress at the beginning of their annual regional team meeting.

Noel Tan is a recovering idealist and philosopher. In recent months, he has used AI in such settings: with a not-for-profit group seeking to chart a change strategy to improve its core services, with an educational institution seeking integration of existing stove-pipe divisions into a larger collective identity, and with a group of middle managers in a public service organisation articulating common hopes and dreams about impending organisational change.

Denise Wright works with organizations, teams and individuals across Asia and beyond to facilitate leadership, team and organizational development and inspired, positive change. She brings a true passion for her work, a stretching and supportive solutions-focused approach and 18 years of rich Asia based global corporate experience. Her area of expertise includes Leadership Development, Team Learning & Development, Team Coaching plus Peer / Group Coaching, Career Planning and Transition, Systemic Coaching & Mentoring, Change Solutions-Leading in challenging situations, Solutions Focused Strategy and Organizational Development-building new levels of organizational purpose, vision and contribution.

Register on-line at www.fns.sg

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 enquiries, please email our Forum Administrator - Ms. Emily Ng at emilyng_fns@yahoo.com.sg.

SFC 2008 - Pre & Post Conference Workshops

Singapore Facilitators Conference 2008 12 & 13 Nov 08

"Rainbow of Facilitation"

BENEFITS
CREATE different experiences
ACQUIRE processes + techniques + methods + tools
USE processes + techniques + methods + tools in practical way
COMPEL people into action
STRENGTHEN relationships
PROMOTE learning + collaboration

140 Registrants so far!

Gate closes on 31 October 2008!

Please book now to secure your workshops!

Here are more details of the pre and post conference workshops:

P1 - Learning to work with complexity, seeing what we cannot see by Ms Sheila Damodaran

Have clarity of some of the tools of Learning Organization. See life examples of the tools in organizational contexts Internalizing the understanding the tools in learning to apply it themselves. Seeing the shifts in the ways one may think and seeing its impact on what does. 3-legged stool. Framework of the 60 tools. Structural Tension Model. Systems Thinking building blocks - Reinforcing / Balancing Loops. The 11 Laws of complexity. Case-study work. Introduction to the legs of Mental Models & Personal Mastery.

P2 - Creating a Rainbow of Service by Ms. Audrey Goh

"Some where over the rainbow, skies are blue, & the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true!" ~ brace yourselves for a decadent "dessert" of a session ~ sweet, sincere & service-oriented! This gourmet Asian facilitation channel will explore the different service roles we undertake ~ as service providers to internal and external customers, both @home & @work; the service-related issues, concerns & challenges that we encounter and grapple with daily; and our rainbow strategies for coping. Make time to indulge in a slice of my authentic, home-baked facilitator's P.I.E & partake in a participative, interactive & engaging gastronomic service session, seasoned with creativity, infused with metaphors and garnished with rosettes of rainbow service!

P3 - Consciously Competent Meetings for Facilitators and Leaders by Ms. Nadine Bell

Effective, collaborative meetings don't just happen. There are millions of meetings a day in which countless hours are lost, hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent and the desired results are not achieved. Consciously Competent Meetings for Facilitators and Leaders provide the tools to significantly enhance your meetings and accomplish your business objectives. Whether your meetings are same time, same place or geographically-distributed conference calls, this highly participative workshop will prepare you to employ:Constructing the Foundation- Productive planning and preparation. Materials for Building - The elements of effective, collaborative meetings. Framing the Structure - The importance of context for an effective meeting. Laying the Floors - Methods to elicit information and inspire open discussion. Creating Space - Communication tools that move the discussion forward. Installing the Power - Ways to encourage participant engagement and buy-in. Putting On the Roof - Techniques to keep the group on track and on time. Applying the Finishing Touches - The value of an effective wrap-up.

P4 - Positive Epidemic of Large Scale Transformation by Ms. Christine Whitney Sanchez

Is there such a thing as large scale transformation? What are the essential design elements for inviting transformation? How can we work on large scale transformation while keeping personal and group transformation in the foreground? This workshop will explore the heart of Large Group Facilitation and Blending the Essence of Appreciative Inquiry, World Café, Open Space Technology and Reflection Circles. Use the principles and practices of Methods for Strategic Collaboration to design facilitative processes. Tap large group facilitation best practices. Craft questions for Appreciative Inquiry, World Café, Open Space Technology and Reflection Circles. Develop a personal action plan for using large group methods.

P5 - Rain or Shine: Achieving Flow in Facilitation by Mr. Azim Pawanchik and Dr. Suraya Sulaiman

As facilitators and change leaders, we have a great responsibility to create the context and space for meaningful and fruitful conversations to happen. Today's participants are easily distracted or irritated, at times, exhibiting symptoms of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). With the participants already being inundated with technology, heavy workloads and stress, the task of creating flow is an uphill battle. As facilitators, we have to deal with this distraction and still ensure that there is good and engaging communication flow. Facilitating is not about being a traffic police; directing who to speak when to speak or when to stop speaking; its also not about timing everything to the final second or have everybody follow the rule. This would be a flawless session in terms execution but devoid of the heart and energy required to have a meaningful outcome. We believe that to achieve greater results, a facilitator needs to help their client or participant achieve `flow' during the sessions whereby they are fully connected and engaged in achieving the set goals.

P6 - Exceptional conversational skills and their underpinning by Alan Stewart, PhD

Conversations are not just something we do among other doings; they are our human niche, we live in a world formed through conversing. Conversations make one world or another; not only in how we relate to each other, but in how the whole lived world arises around us. The associated social experience helps to promote understanding and to destroy barriers between us. This workshop is about the skills of being a competent conversationalist, integral to the rainbow of facilitation. Is this vital to you? Appreciate how vital people skills are to success as a facilitator. Discover the attributes of a competent and effective conversationalist. Be aware that conversational skills are not `givens' – they can be learned and practiced to good effect. Recognise which elements of your own pattern you would do well to develop. Speak so that the hearer is dancing with you. Know the importance of asking the right questions before it is too late. Notice who has particular skills as a conversationalist and learn from them. Be confident in letting your true personality shine.

Download details & Register now on-line at: http://www.fns.sg