NODE is attending the IAF conference and offering several workshops

The International Association of Facilitators was formed by a group of professionals desiring an avenue for interchange, professional development, trend analysis and peer networking. A formal association was proposed and adopted at a networking conference in Alexandria, Virginia, in January, 1994. More than 70 people signed on as charter members. Since then the IAF has grown to over 1500 members in more than 63 countries. Each year there is a conference organized be the European IAF members.

This time the conference was held in Helsinki, Finland. Finland's Facilitators' Association (FAFA) as organiser, and Grape People as partner, they invited everyone to join the 3-day event at the self-contained conference centre on a pictoresque peninsula called Kallahti. The theme of the event was the Paradoxes in Facilitation, exploring the light and darkness.

The theme was built around the book and epic poem of Finnish and Karelian folklore – the Kalevala. The Kalevala is credited as providing some of the inspiration for the national awakening that led to Finland’s independence from Russia in 1917.

The programme was full of workshops where tools, methods and ideas were shared. The participant joined together also in the evening events and at some excursions around the capital city Helsinki.

Some workshops that we attended:

• The dark side of facilitation (Lars Borgmann,  & Michael Stif Oerbach, Center for Facilitering, Denkmark)
• Pattern making, pattern breaking (Ann Alder, RSVP Design Ltd, United Kingdom
• Playful and serious: contradiction or potential? (Jonas roth, Helen Lindhal, Move Managemetn, Sweden
• Brain Facilitation. What can we learn form modern cognitive psychology and neurology about facilitation? ( Robert Verheule LEF future center, The Netherlands)
• Understanding Change  (Dianne Watts, Watts Adair consulting, Australia)