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Category Archives: Personal Stories
ORID Thinking to Address a Facilitation Emergency: A Participant Who Tried to Take Over a Meeting
I was facilitating the first meeting of a steering committee for a proposed province-wide public consultation on a painful and difficult topic involving abuse. My colleague and I had worked hard to find a wide range of participants who all … Continue reading →
Posted in Personal Stories, ToP Tools, Uncategorized
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Tagged facilitation, ORID, ToP methods
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Facilitating Diversity
(Photo from the front cover of The Art of Focused Conversation, Second Edition) This week in February 2026 marked significant religious events in several different traditions. Lunar New Year, the beginning of Ramadan, and Ash Wednesday all happened within 2 … Continue reading →
Facilitating Your Family 2: Another story about facilitating one’s family
In 1992, Wayne and I and our 2 sons were living in a small apartment belonging to the organization we worked for, after having lived in many places around the world in our married life. We had already decided to … Continue reading →
Posted in Facilitation Stories, Personal Stories, Uncategorized
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Tagged facilitating family, facilitation, participation, stories
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Facilitating Your Family
A couple of colleagues mentioned in social media posts before the holidays that it is very challenging to facilitate family members – that chaos can erupt very quickly. I was reminded of a story of facilitating my family years ago. … Continue reading →
Posted in Facilitation Stories, Personal Stories, Uncategorized
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Tagged avoiding conflict, facilitating family, informal facilitation, participation
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Three Quotes for Hope
In turbulent times, where there is a lot of uncertainty and all the world around you feels like it is in the midst of change with unknown outcomes, it is easy to fall into despair about things you can’t control. … Continue reading →
Where I Stand
Several weeks ago I re-posted a long negative political post on Facebook that started with “This is where I stand”. One of my childhood friends had posted it, and when I read it I agreed with pretty much all of … Continue reading →
Three Stories from my Experience in Aboriginal Australia
These stories were originally published in Edges Magazine, Volume 4, #1, in 1991. The theme of the magazine issue was “The Fusion of Nature and Culture”. They are based on my experience with my family living and working with participatory … Continue reading →
Quick Update to “Contemporary Christmas Story 2021”
A healthy baby boy was born to the family on January 9, 2022. Donated baby clothes and equipment were delivered to the house before he arrived home from the hospital. Joy continues…..
A Contemporary Christmas Story 2021
In these uncertain and dark times, I think we need a story of joy and hope. Interestingly, it has resonance with the story of the Christmas season. I tell this story with deep gratitude. It is shared without names, photos … Continue reading →
Facilitation, Education, and Transformation
Stories from my Experience Script of a presentation given on Zoom to a group of teachers and facilitators in China on June 29, 2021 Preparation I grew up on a farm in Iowa. I was a teacher from childhood – … Continue reading →
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