I had the pleasure of speaking with Nick Sweeting, Producer, Improbable Theatre Company, London about their use of open space with the theatre industry in UK and Europe.
Nick was in Australia to facilitate the open space day at the Australian Theatre Forum.
Hope you enjoy!
I came across the Applied Improvisation Network five years ago when I was searching for the uses of Playback Theatre in business settings. Little did I know when I went to my first Applied Improv Conference in San Francisco in 2004 that I would unearth a whole swag of new learnings, approaches, ideas and inspiration. And, make some really good friends. If I could go to only one conference a year, this would be it – for the generosity, the connections, the friendship, the fun and, of course, the improv. What a gift, to me personally and to my work.
I was delighted to be asked to open space for the final day of this year’s conference in Chicago. And sad too, that I would not be able to stay until the end. Those pesky flight schedules between the USA and Australia meant I had to leave early. So I employed the ultimate ‘invisible’ facilitator role, advocated by none other than Harrison Owen. He takes a nap. I left the country! But before I left I recorded some comments about the conference.
Thanks to Joey, Alan, Yael, Bobbie, Rita, Sven, Kathryn, Andrea, Jodi, Sue, Paul, Leif, Zohar, Alieke and David. There’s about 20 minutes of comments from these insightful folk. At about 12 minutes in there’s an absolutely delightful piece from Jodi Cohen.
Listen here; Reflections on the AIN Chicago 2008 Conference
Viv’s off round the world on another facilitation journey! Here’s some extracts from her blog about the Taiwan leg of her journey … and the podcast for your downloading pleasure is below!
First, I’ll be in Taiwan at the China Facilitation Conference – doing a one-day pre-conference workshop with about 30 people on ‘facilitating in the moment’. Many don’t speak English so I’ll be working with a translator. The following day I’ll be facilitating a two-hour workshop on ‘improv gifts for facilitators’, and then taking part in an open space on the future of facilitation in China.
Podcast – Reactions (in Taiwan) to the China Facilitation Conference
During the Open Space I took advantage of an opportunity to record a podcast of people’s reactions to the conference. There were themes of growth, experimentation and exploration and a suggestion that such conferences provide ’space to connect to self again’. There were many new faces at this year’s event, indicative of the growth of facilitation in this region. An interesting comment from Evelyn Philbrook: “Facilitation provides the tipping point of how we’re going to create a new society.” Sounds like something worth being a part of.
Enjoy!
Viv and Geoff
Finally it has happened! A spontaneous Winkipod conversation with Johnnie Moore at Winkipop (the surfbreak)!
We have been following and contributing to Johnnie’s Blog for some time now. Johnnie’s creative posts often provide us with ‘ah ha’ moments and we often build on Johnnie’s ideas in our own.
Johnnie’s Phoric and other podcasts were the inspiration for creating this Winki-podcasting blog.
So … we jumped at the chance to meet Johnnie and have a chat at the birthplace of Winkipod.
Enjoy this ‘raw & unedited’ podcast …
Johnnie Moore WinkiPodcast – Live at Winkipop! Aug 2008
Watch the Video …
See the Pictures …
Viv McWaters … Geoff Brown … Johnnie Moore
Geoff & Viv
Whilst away in San Francisco at the 2008 World Open Space on Open Space conference, Viv chatted with 2 of Canada’s best exports! Chris Corrigan and Larry Peterson on Open Space.
We have divided this interview into 2 podcasts of roughly 20 minutes each. Enjoy!
Viv interviews Larry Peterson_2008 WOSonOS
Viv interviews Chris Corrigan & Larry Peterson_2008 WOSonOS
Open Space Technology has four principles:
Viv McWaters
Winkipodcast with Nick Sweeting – Improbable Theatre Co.