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In praise of whiteboards
I mentioned in my last post that we moved homes in the fall and I've been busily (or languidly) setting up my new home office ever since. Since I LOVE to organize, this activity fills me with glee as I add each piece of art or furniture or storage solution to make my...
Something for the holidays
What a year! It's been wonderful, transitional, and full of great work and new beginnings both in business and at home (we moved!). As I wind down for the holiday season I thought I'd leave you with some little gems that have engaged me in one way or another recently....
What’s on your “big papers”?
One of my not-so-guilty pleasures is reading the blog of Kelly Rae Roberts, a Portland-based mixed media artist. Today I listened to Episode 3 of her "Possibilitarian Podcast" in which she talks about (among other things) the time when she had lots of "big papers"...
Experiential workshops are fabulous
The other week I pinch-hit for a friend of mine, facilitating a workshop of her repertoire which teaches participants a whole bunch of energizers, icebreakers and games. The workshop is experiential - we don't just talk about the activities, we do them! It was a nice...
Behind the scenes: Website banner and headshots
I've been working on a few little tweaks for my website this past week. For one, I've always meant to have a custom banner image created and I'm finally getting around to making it happen. I'm working with my fabulous graphic designer who is creating a special look...
Safety in learning spaces
Recently I went to a presentation which had me feeling unsafe. The presenter asked us to write a personal statement (about our business niche) on an index card and place it in a basket at the front of the room after we came back from a break. He didn't tell us what...
What’s your “big idea”?
I've been reading a lot about human-centred design these days and one of the "mindsets" of HCD is to have creative confidence. To help achieve this, experts advise that we should venture out of our comfort zone, including learning about and immersing ourselves in...
The facilitator shouldn’t always have all the answers
While facilitating a recent conference session on facilitation skills, near the end of the session a participant I was sitting beside asked me a direct question about my opinion on something. We were having a "raise the curtain" sort of workshop, talking about why I...
What seems normal at the time…
A friend of mine here in Victoria was a "maple syrup connector" for me this week. She, through a friend of hers, brought in a few cases of Quebec maple syrup and I got my cans out of her trunk on Monday afternoon. We spent a few minutes talking about the deliciousness...
One easy idea to improve workshop culture
At a facilitation skills session that I offered at a conference last Friday, the group participated in nine interactive activities in 1 1/2 hours. The first activity was so simple, and something people very often don't do. As the group wandered into the workshop room,...