ToP LOCALLY & GLOBALLY

At the same time the ICA International board was meeting in Mto Wa Mbu, Tanzania, ICA Associates, ICA-USA, and the ToP Network came together to be the Summit Strategist Sponsors for the IAF's North American Conference in Banff, Canada.

The conference theme was:Innovating, Promoting and Applying! Seeking New Facilitation Heights and Insights.

• Innovating -learn about new trends, research, and creativity in facilitation
• Promoting -communicate and market facilitation profession and services
• Applying -learn, practice and improve facilitation skills

The conference wove three learning streams of Face-To-Face, Graphic (Visual), and Virtual Facilitation through the conference themes.

ToP Network members presented the following sessions:

• Making Organizational Change More Sustainable: Change Management Essentials - Melanie Chase
• Virtual Facilitation: A Cutting Edge Tool for Inclusive Participation & Social Change - Barb MacKay
• Master Images: "religious" experience of facilitation - John Miller
• Facilitating the Attack of the Unexpected when You're the Facilitator: Dealing with Difficult Situations; Exploring Multiple Paths to Breakthrough Thinking - Ann Epps
• Transformational Practices to cultivate facilitator authenticity & deepen impact - Sharon Almerigi
• Facilitating with Digital Mind Maps - Paul Penny
• Applying a Magic Facilitation Toolkit - Jo Nelson
• Facilitating Groups From Breakdowns Through Breakthroughs - Nadine Bell
• Transformational Practices to cultivate facilitator authenticity and deepen impact - Barbara MacKay & Sharon Almerigi

A team of ICA Associates and ToP Network colleagues coordinated and planned for each of these opportunities; they are John Miller, Suzanne Esber, Jo Nelson, Janice Weber in cooperation with IAF reps Helen Wythe and Trevor Sinclair.ToP Network members designed a ToP facilitated session - Peer Rendezvous' - for the opening reception. Network members also provided goodie bags with sample Focused Conversations and a description of the Flip Chart Consensus Workshop method. Participants were encourage to apply these methods during their peer-to-peer meetings.

This sponsorship and working together represented an opportunity to deepen ICA's and the ToP Network relationship with IAF. At the East African Gathering, (article above), the African Director from IAF attended for a day, and great conversations about collaborative efforts took place there, as they did in Banff.