2013 Themes of the Month

An inspiration arose during the 2013 ToP Network Gathering planning to offer a THEME OF THE MONTH opportunity for members to contribute around something they cared about.  It has been quite a year!  Creativity unleashed!  Here are glimpses of this first effort.

JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH
2013 Gathering in Durham absorbed our time and attention.  Read about the Gathering.	Marilyn Oyler encouraged members to enroll in the Virtual Certification Cohort as the feature of the first 2013 ToP Network newsletter.	Barbara MacKay offered tips to help us achieve the facilitation business we want.
APRIL	MAY	JUNE
No one signed up for April, but the big push to retire Groupsite resulted in the transfer and reorganization of almost 1,000 files.  Here are tips to finding them.	No one signed up for May, but a lot was happening.  The last pieces from Groupsite were posted. Methods Modules and Magic (the Curriculum Team) made a call for ideas in preparation for their July launch.	Multiple members attending the IAFNA Conference provided a rich sampling of experiences and observations.  A first report of the ToP Resource Tool Kit appeared as well.
JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER
Methods Modules and Magic (Curriculum Team) met and launched an ambitious plan to freshen and expand courses.  Breathing new energy into our curriculum.  Nancy Jackson provided a lively newsletter article to share the news.	Jane Stallman led an ambitious exploration of environmental sustainability, with two facilitated virtual presentations featuring professionals in the field and four articles.  We expanded our use of forms to collect data and created our open forum where members and non members can interact.	No theme was planned for September.  That opening provided a great opportunity to celebrate the launch of the ToP training website and the enormous work required to make it happen.
OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
The Virtual Facilitation Collaborative (VFC) recruited vendors and hosted 6 JAMs for which 47 facilitators registered.  We experienced different platforms, we "jammed" with facilitators in South Korea, The Netherlands and Ukraine.  Nine facilitators contributed articles sharing their insights and experience. Intrepid participants captured information about multiple platforms and posted it in an open forum to encourage ongoing exchanges.  Virtual facilitation is one hot topic!	Jane Schadle and team members highlighted the work of Public Health in ToP - (PHiT).  We celebrated the contribution ToP methods have made in public health by highlighting the new MAPP Users Handbook.  We shared success stories.  Jane created something new -- a narrated discussion of PHiT's work to crosswalk ToP Methods to MAPP!	Linda Alton, Sue Laxdal, Irina Fursman and others involved in MNToP have developed an ambitious agenda and a large cast to deliver the 2014 Annual Gathering.  Nearly 150 people have registered for part or all of the event. Materials for this Gathering will be available electronically - placed in the 2014 Annual Gathering forum for registrants to access and share.