My friend Peggy Holman is about to write a short series of posts on how to manage the tension between hearing from luminaries and hosting participation in gatherings that aim to: Make the most of the knowledge and experience of the people in the room; Support participants to make great connections; Bring the wisdom of luminaries – respected, deep thinkers – on whatever subject drew people together; and Deepen collective understanding of a complex topic. Peggy notes that: A common design challenge with such gatherings is to work the tension between hearing from luminaries and engaging participants. When the mix …
It had to be an Irish politician that finally suggested this! Ireland has been leading the European Union the past six months, including chairing and hosting the EU’s meetings. Micheal Ring tried a different approach to having all 27 ministers show up and read a speech. Sports Minister Michael Ring might actually have made a difference. At the Council of Sports Ministers in Brussels, the Ringer pioneered a new approach to these meetings. The usual drill sees each of the 27 ministers reading a prepared script outlining their country’s viewpoint. It’s tedious stuff. Minister of State Ring decided to change …
For something like 100 years, generation after generation of indigenous children in Canada were rounded up at age five and taken away from their families and communities and placed in residential schools, where they were taught English, taught western values and Christianized. This was commonly a brutal experience, full of physical abuse, exploitation, sexual abuse and the express purpose of eliminating the Indian in the child. Some of the abuse took the forms of rape, sexual molestation, physical beatings, deprivation of food or warmth, children being forced to work in kitchens or laundries or on farms or in stores for …
I don’t know how I missed this hash tag: #shitfacilitatorssay but I plead guilty to some of these. And if you have ever worked in front of a group, I’ll bet you do too!
Over the past 15 years First Nations artists in Canada have taken to hip hop as a powerful storytelling method. First Nations hip hop is an incredible blend of traditional art forms, evocative imagery and raw and real exerpience relayed with a beat. It’s as if hip hop was built for indigenous expression – being story based, status informed, poetic and underscored with a heartbeat. I have a bunch of friends in this field including Skeena Reece, Jerrilynn Webster, Manik1derful, Rachel Oki, Wasaskwun Wuttunee and others. Beat Nation was an exhibition of indigenous hip hop artists that closed in …