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Professional Development Opportunities

The following professional development opportunities are not sponsored by the Wild Rose Chapter, but may be of interest to our members.

IAF North America Conference Week

Vancouver, April 20-25, 2009

In just a few weeks, the IAF North America Conference in Vancouver will be in full swing. Sessions featuring Dorothy Strachan, Michael Wilkinson, Marian Pitters, Sam Kanar, Jo Nelson, Tony Nash, Lucille Michaud, Susan Peryam, Bill Olsen, Jen Hunter, Myriam Laberge, Brenda Chaddock, and others are already filling up. Join 600 colleague facilitators and practitioners in related fields from around the world for four days of intensive professional development workshops, plenary sessions, networking, and fun, followed by a two-day professional certification event.

The Conference theme, The Art and Mastery of Facilitation: Explore Diversity, speaks to the daily reality of all facilitators. The Conference site, the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel, is in the heart of downtown Vancouver, one of the world’s most beautiful and livable cities. The $169.00 CDN per night rate is a tremendous bargain for such an excellent facility less than one year before the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Conference Week 2009 begins on Monday, April 20 and Tuesday, April 21 with a series of 25 intensive One- and Two-Day Training Workshops. Late in the afternoon of April 21, the Conference will formally open with a Networking Reception and Celebration, featuring keynote speaker, internationally-recognized psychologist Dr. Brian Little. Dr. Brian Little's opening address on "diversity in personality" will be the perfect beginning to a Conference devoted to exploring the many ways we work, develop ourselves professionally, interact with client groups, and experience the practice of facilitation. Brian is, without doubt, one of Canada's most entertaining and informative speakers.

On Wednesday, April 22 and Thursday, April 23, Short Workshops and Plenary Sessions enable delegates to learn more specific tools and techniques of facilitation, to meet each other around meals and receptions, and to sample the information and products of Conference sponsors, exhibitors, and bookstore. The Conference itself concludes in the early evening of April 23 with a Closing Celebration.

Access the Conference brochure and registration page directly through the IAF North America web site (http://www.iafna.org/). Click on the Conference logo, then go to the Conference brochure to start exploring all that IAF North America Conference Week 2009 will have to offer. For more information, please contact the IAF Canada Regional Representative, John Butcher, at jbutcher@magma.ca. See you in Vancouver!

PublicDecisions.com

PublicDecisions.com is the worldwide leader in online training for public participation. It provides training for:

P2 practitioners and planners
Elected and appointed officials
Non-profit and NGO leaders

Masterful Facilitation: Becoming an Inspired Facilitator

Masterful Facilitation is an institute of programs to build confidence and skill facilitating in any setting, from in-person team meetings, to large group sessions, to the virtual environment. Go to this link for more information.

http://masterfulfacilitation.blogspot.com/

Stakeholder Engagement & Dialogue: A Two-Day Workshop
How to Communicate, Consult, Collaborate and Co-Create in a Networked World

Stakeholder engagement is a critical 21st century competency in today's complex, dynamic, and interconnected world to:

Prevent conflict and mitigate risk
Increase support for projects and develop informed plans and decisions
Enhance reputation and value creation.
Generate innovative solutions that cross traditional boundaries
Ensure healthy communities and environments

Companies, government agencies and civil society organizations often find it difficult to work with diverse and conflicting stakeholder needs. This two day workshop is for senior decision-makers and experienced practitioners who want to enhance their strategic abilities and skills in co-creative stakeholder engagement.

If you are interested in building a network of trust-based stakeholder relationships, and are looking for new ways to engage stakeholders to resolve complex issues, this workshop is for you. During the course, you will acquire the skills, models and tools to effectively identify, segment and engage stakeholders to generate mutual value, avert risk, and co-create novel solutions with increased impact.

http://www.sfu.ca/cscd/cli/executive_programs.htm

Calming Controversy & Conflict in Public Involvement

The purpose of the course is to help identify and develop communication skills, engagement skills and behaviours that will assist in creating positive and productive engagements, diffusing conflict and eliminating defensiveness in public participation exchanges. Often, a lack of knowing where to begin or how to undertake public participation initiatives results in confusion and conflict between the organization and its stakeholders. Conflict resolution and communication skills can go a long way in diffusing the degree of its intensity, especially if these tools are used before the public involvement forums are conducted.

Dates/Locations:

Calgary, AB - April 22, 2009

Group Facilitation Skills for Public Involvement

This two-day course will provide the guidance, skills and knowledge necessary to become comfortable with the basics of group facilitation – with a focus on facilitating public and stakeholder involvement. Participants will learn facilitation skills to calm controversy, expand positive participation, build consensus and move discussion forward. This course emphasizes the planning and designing of facilitated public involvement processes and has a practicum component that gives all participants ample opportunity to facilitate in a supportive and constructive environment.