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Table of Contents
- ToP Presence at IAFNA
- ToP Resource Toolkit
- Linda Alton Podcast
- Federal Government Contracting
- IAF Addendee Comments
- Tools for Facilitating Teams Through Change
- Navigating top-network.org Jams
- Welcome New Members
- Call for Facilitation Acrobats
- Jo Nelson receives IAF Gold Impact Award
Tools for Facilitating Teams Through Change
Mary Flanagan's high praise for an IAF experience (see comments in IAF article) goes to Marsha Acker, CPF and Laurie Reuben, CPF, PCC for their workshop:
"Creating Safe Space for Organizational Transformation"
Mary asked and Marsha graciously granted permission to share their workbook and slides through this newsletter. Here they are:
- Participant Workbook pdf
- Creating Safe Place Slides pdf
- What Creates Safety? jpg
- Tools for Signs of Anxiety in a Group jpg
- AI Themes jpg
Navigating top-network.org Jams
Nine members participated in the first of five jams to explore top-network.org and how to use it. Topics explored navigation; profile, privacy and notification settings, public and members only content; circles and committees.
These sessions are intended to help members gain confidence in finding stuff and using features. From time to time we’ll post updates at the Developing the ToP Website Circle. A summary of features discussed on June 17 is posted there now.
Additional jams are calendared for July 1, July 15 and August 12. Details about these jams are provided in the Event Calendar. After login, check the event calendar (hover over “EVENTS”).
A Big Welcome to New Members!
Nine new members have joined ToP Network in May and June.
* Recently minted CTFs (see Community tab)
Let's welcome them. Clicking on their names above will take you to their profile. Take a moment to learn more about them and send a welcome message.
Call for Facilitation Acrobats for 2014 Gathering
The intrepid Minnesota team continues their planning and development work on the 2014 ToP Network Gathering.
A request for proposals was recently distributed to solicit persons who are interested in designing/ facilitating a session around any of the following facilitation arenas. A form to note and submit your interest is attached. Please return it to [email protected] by September 1, 2013.
- Education
- Youth Development
- Diversity
- Public Health
- Local / State Government
- Community Development
- Environment
- Virtual Projects / Teams
- IT
- Change Management
- Business / Private Sector
- The Arts
IAF Gold Impact Award goes to Jo Nelson
 ToP Network's May newsletter shared the news that Jo's work with the University of Toronto would receive a Gold Impact award at the IAF meeting in Orlando.
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ToP Presence at the IAFNA Conference in Orlando
The IAF North America Conference was held in Orlando, Florida June 5 – 8.
ToP was present & visible! Eight ToP Network members (Nadine Bell, Ester Mae Cox, Ann Epps, John Epps, Connie Foster, Mary Flanagan, Cheryl Kartes, and Jo Nelson) participated. We proudly wore buttons that said “Ask me about ToP!”
A ToP exhibit booth displayed an ICA banner Jo Nelson shared from Canada. At least one of us was present at the booth when workshops were not in session. We displayed books, sold sticky walls, distributed info about trainings & certification in the US and Canada, and gave out bookmarks with the addresses of the ToP Network and ToP Training websites.
Visitors to the booth included past graduates of ToP courses and others who had never heard about ToP Methods.
Two ToP-Based workshops were presented: Jo Nelson led “Designing Compelling Short Meetings”; Ann Epps & Cheryl Kartes presented “Facilitation for Innovation – Ways to Inspire Group Creativity”.
Jo Nelson was honored along with one of her clients with a Facilitation Impact Award, a highly prestigious, peer reviewed award provided for the first time this year to organizations who present evidence of organizational impact resulting from facilitation.
We all shared delight in opportunities to connect with other facilitators from places near and far; to build and deepen relationships; and to gain new tools or insights from high quality sessions.
The future of an annual IAFNA is in question due to declining participation. The possibility of coordinating our conferences/gatherings in some way in the future to maximize participation and advance the field of facilitation seems worth exploration.
Mary Flanagan
ToP Resource Toolkit
Of the action teams formed at the 2013 ToP Network gathering in Durham NC, one was the “The Top Resource Toolkit Team” (a mighty team of 2 – Beth Glommen and Tramaine Paul).
The ToP Resource Kit team sent out a survey (April 3 and 9) to all ToP Network members to identify resources and tools members use.
Beth and Tramaine have released the first part of their work – the most frequently used and recommended books (using the list of books available through the ICA-USA webpage). See their findings at www.top-network.org/top-resource-toolkit. They are now compiling a list of other books that ToP Network Facilitators have found helpful to their facilitation practice. They promise that list will be coming soon!
Beth and Tramaine send a hearty thank you to all who responded to their survey.
ToP Network applauds Beth and Tramaine for their ambitious project and their first report! Thank You!
Linda Alton Interviewed Podcast Debut
A new marketing strategy aimed at making meetings better debuts with an interview with Linda Alton. The concept involves interviewing ToP facilitators and trainers and making those interviews available via internet podcast. Several ToP Network members have stepped up to do interviews.
You can learn more about the approach and hear Linda's interview at www.meetingtipsradio.com. The interviewer, is himself a ToP trained facilitator and CTF candidate. If you like the concept and what you hear, you might want to sign up!
Interested in Federal Government Contracting?
Did you know that the ToP Network and ICA is listed on the Federal Schedule to provide training, consulting and facilitation services to federal agencies? Are you interested in providing services to the federal government? If so, please click on the survey below and express your interest in various ways to participate.
About 12 years ago, a group of ToP Network members and ICA staff worked diligently to complete the paperwork and obtain approval to be listed on the federal schedule known as MOBIS (Management, Organization and Business Improvement Services). Having MOBIS status allows ICA to short cut the normal lengthy federal contracting process. This provides a large incentive and a vehicle for federal agencies to contract through ICA with ToP Network members. There are four areas that we are “pre-approved” to provide services – Facilitation Training, Facilitation Services, Consulting Services and Products. There are approximately 33 million in these types of services requested annually by the Federal Government.
Terry Bergdall reports that the ICA MOBIS contract has just been audited by the Federal Government. Currently, the ToP Network members are providing about $10,000 per year in services. In order to retain the contract, the auditor is requiring ICA to provide at least $25,000 in services to the federal government per year.
Heidi Kolbe reports that several members of the ToP Network have been exploring how to better market ToP Network member services to the Federal Government. We are in discussion with WinBids – an entity that researches and screens Federal RFP’s that ICA and the ToP Network could then bid on. This team is also investigating the structures that would need to be put in place to support a concerted effort to obtain federal contracts.
If you are interested in joining the pool of federal service providers on MOBIS, Heidi would like to include you in the exploration. If you are interested in learning more or becoming engaged in this effort, please click here to let us know about your interest and capacity to participate.
Survey responses are needed no later than June 30!
IAF Conference Attendees' Comments
Seven ToP Network members attended the recent IAF North America Conference in Orlando FL. They share their comments…
From: Connie Foster, CTF, River Falls, WI
I was a first time attendee at the IAF Conference in Orlando. I am a new CTF and I have only been involved in facilitation work for the past four years. I wanted to attend the IAF conference to learn more about the field of facilitation and to meet other people who did this kind of work. Everyone I met was friendly, supportive, helpful, knowledgeable, and very willing to engage in conversation and share ideas. I learned many new exciting facilitation tools and techniques.
Another learning area for me was observing a facilitator present at a workshop or speak at a short “FAST Talk” session during breakfast and lunch. My observations of style and content provided me with new ideas and applied tips for engaging people.
I signed-up for sessions I knew little about, like graphic recording and creating templates. I was amazed with how comfortable I felt and how much I learned. I also attended an excellent session on designing short meetings, which utilized the ToP methodology as well as other methods. I attended three full days of meetings as well as group breakfasts, lunches, and other evening events and I feel as though I barely scratched the surface of what was available.
I met a lot of new facilitation friends, many who were also attending the conference for the first time. Sharing our experiences, stories, and practices was extremely helpful. I am so glad I decided to attend. I plan to go again next year.
From Mary Flanagan, CTF, President of ToP Network, Mentor Trainer and Strategy and Leadership, LLC, San Antonio TX
I went to the IAFNA this year totally out of a sense of responsibility to build relationships for our ToP Network. (I know, I know, NOT an ideal, open stance. It seemed important for me to "show up", as Chair.)
This was my 4th IAFNA conference. My experience in the past had been mixed. I never felt like I really connected with people beyond ToP colleagues. And, though I always left with a few "takeaways", my experience of the workshops I attended was mixed. . .some not helpful, a few pearls here and there. I never felt I quite fit in.
IAFNA 2013 far surpassed my expectations!
The meeting had about 200 people from all over the world, mostly from North America. Lots of Canadians! This is a change from the days when the meetings would be 1000+ from all over the world. This change occurred post 9/11, when regional IAF conferences became the norm.
I focused on visual & creative competencies for 3 of my 4 half-day workshops - and each of these were full of great inspiration and tips and tools.
My richest session was on helping teams develop the skills to deal with organizational change. Fabulous! The presenters sent a PDF version of the wonderful workbook they shared with us and have granted me permission to share it you. Their workbook and slides are attached to this newsletter and referenced in the sidebar at left. - Great tools for the implementation journey.
I found the connections with participants to be rich, real, stimulating and wonderful. What a gift to be in the mix of folks from different methodologies who share common values and competencies, all focused on helping groups focus, agree, and move forward on what they are trying to achieve.
Finally, the IAFNA announced that they may not have another IAFNA conference next year. Makes me ponder the possibility of our joining forces. . .we could have a ToP focused meeting prior to or after the IAFNA conference, and allow all of us to benefit from the diversity.
Jo Nelson CPF, CTF, Certified Professional Facilitator and ICA Certified ToP™ Facilitator - ICA Associates, Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada
For me, the value of attending an IAF conference is participating in growing the field of facilitation. I learn about different approaches from the sessions -- I always try to go to ones by someone I've never met, on topics or processes that are quite different from any that I know. I make it a point to have conversations with new facilitators, and with new people. The more bridges I can build, the more the impact we can have on the field of facilitation, and therefore the more leverage we have to move society toward a culture of participation.
This year, I especially appreciated the session on designing graphic templates. I got some creative ideas on how to make a graphic template for holding the results of our strategic planning process for a client. Cheryl Kartes is going to work with me to bring it to reality, and then we will all have something useful to use with our clients. I also had a long conversation with the chair of the upcoming conference for Visual Practitioners, and I hope that that will bring two different disciplines within IAF together for collaboration.
Read about the project for which Jo won the Gold Impact award at: http://www.iaf-world.org/FacilitationImpactAwardWinners.aspx#Univ
Cheryl Kartes, Kartes & Associates, Minneapolis MN – Board Member of ICA-USA
Jo said it very well. Facilitation is a field that continues to grow and change. I feel it is essential to continue to learn from a diversity of other presenters, as well as for ToP to have a continuing presence at the IAF. The ToP Network is one of my "tTribes". The IAF and the IFVP are my other tribes. Each group affirms and expands what I know to be valuable in the world. A highlight for me were several of the brief "TED Talks" style presentations, used to start the mornings and end the lunches. One in particular was our friend and colleague Nancy Luna Jimenez, who talked about the importance of re-thinking what we really mean by neutrality as a facilitator, given recent awareness of the "shadow side" of Switzerland's neutrality in WWII. (For those newer to the ToP Network, we had a powerful 3-day diversity training session with Nancy at our ToP gathering several years ago. She often partners with Barbara MacKay in the Portland area. Nancy frequently presents sessions at IAF.)
FYI-extra:
While at the IAF Chicago conference several years ago, my colleagues in the International Forum of Visual Practitioners (IFVP) that were attending their first IAF concluded it was an opportunity to share their insights with this new audience. I was part of the team that put an entire track of "visual" sessions together and we divided up into teams to co-develop and teach them at IAF Denver. I wasn't able to go to IAF Nova Scotia, but several of them did and continued to create a presence there. Now this year's IAF Orlando had a very strong cadre of sessions related to visual practitioners, augmented by several other sessions on creativity, innovation, and the use of images. "Facilitating Innovation" was a session primarily designed by Ann Epps that I was delighted to have an opportunity to co-present some of the tools identified by our ToP and Creativity team. As the regional IAF conferences have shifted ToP Global attendees to various other continental venues, I'm concerned that ToP North America needs to continue to find new ways to actively engage in the future of facilitation. ToP methods will always be at the core of everything I do, but it is short-sighted for ToP facilitators to limit their learning to the ToP "silo". So many new ways of thinking about facilitation COULD have been developed by ToP principles, so if we have new applications of ToP out there, it would be great to see them shared more broadly! I am hoping more of our ToP colleagues will consider creating proposals for future IAF sessions.
Nadine Bell CPF, CTF and President Prismatic Solutions, Dallas TX – Nadine was an IAF Assessor for the CPF (IAF) Certification at the Orlando IAF Conference.
Congratulations to Our Twenty- Two New CPFs. A CPF Assessment was held on June 5 and 6 In Orlando, Florida prior to the IAFNA Conference. The candidates came to this assessment from four countries: Sweden, Trinidad, US and Canada, and nine states: TX, VA, CO, PA, GA, FL, CA, MD, WI. The assessors came from four countries: England, Canada, Barbados, and US and 5 states: NJ, TX, SC, NC, Utah. Both candidates and assessors enjoyed the International flavor of this assessment.
In their feedback, the candidates expressed appreciation for the friendly and supportive atmosphere of this well organized event. The candidates also noted that they learned much from each other as they engaged in great conversations throughout the day and participated in the workshops facilitated by the other candidates. The Assessors are delighted to welcome the new CPFs into our growing Certified Professional Facilitator Community.
Ann Epps, CPF, LENS International, Kuala Lumpur - Singapore - Denver
I always find something to enjoy and appreciate in the IAF conferences.
Having attended an average of two and sometimes three a year in North America, Asia, and/or Europe, I cherish the camaraderie with new and familiar facilitators in every location. Each of the IAF conferences in different geographies has a different flavor, even when following more or less a similar set of guidelines. The diversity of the locations as well as the diversity of the participants and the style and methods of facilitation are a delight and a true learning experience. One of the key highlights for me is presenting a workshop to totally different cultures and participants from the ones I usually facilitate. I learn so much from these experiences.
Lately I find I am one of the older facilitators participating as well as presenting. I was beginning to feel a bit self-conscious about my age until last year's IAF conference in Geneva, Switzerland, when a couple of ToP facilitators from Slovenia sat beside me at lunch and expressed their gratitude for John and me being there. They said it was really important for them to see some of the "original" ToP people still involved in the IAF conferences which showed a commitment to promoting not only facilitation, but the ToP philosophy and practice of facilitation. I was quite moved by their comments. While there used to be quite a number of ToP facilitators participating in the North America conferences, very few have been attending over the last 8-10 years. Seven of us from the ToP networks in the US and Canada were in Orlando. A highlight of this conference for me was the facilitation awards made to organizations who that have incorporated facilitation as a key strategy in their operations. This was the first time these awards were organized and announced with 32 client awardees along with the facilitators who helped them achieve remarkable results which are documented and viewable on the IAF website. Jo Nelson was one of those awardees along with her client, the University of Toronto. Next year I'd like to see many of the current and past ToP champions be nominated for these awards. ToP should be front and center in the IAF awards program for recognition in making a difference to the organizations which we serve.
Ester Mae Cox, CTF, Peru, IA
I always have a great time at the IAF conferences – in two special ways – I sign up for the day-long intensive classes that are pre-conference offerings and I cherish having time to visit with friends I’ve made over the years at other IAF conferences. I learn much from the informal visiting with other facilitators and love the connections and networking that the IAF conference provides.
My favorite pre-conference session in Orlando was the day long Fundamentals of Graphic Facilitation. Two master graphic facilitators taught and shared during the day and the camaraderie with the others in the class stayed with me as a highlight for the rest of conference. I know the attendee number this year was low – but it made a great experience for connecting and networking with other facilitators.
The last evening provided me with another highlight – I won the fabulous last Neuland door prize – it’s one of their fully packed facilitator kits – weighs about 25 pounds – beautifully designed German leather bag and filled with markers, cutters, tape, special shaped “stickies” – a beautiful thing! I feel compelled now that I must practice more and do the gift justice. It came home with me as a second checked bag…. And joyfully, it doesn’t have any scratches on it.
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