Today my blog is two years old. I’ve learned a lot from the amazing people I have met here, and feel incredibly grateful for my online network and the friends I have made. You enhance my life!
I’m still painting. Which is not easy. Mainly because as I feel “busy with business” I find it harder to take the time. But I am doing it anyway. Starting each day with a quick painting. This image is an affirmation of my new found focus. It was interesting to realize I have been painting tree roots that expand out in all directions for years. Even my trees didn’t have focus. I walked up to a 500 year old tree in the woods and got an image of tree roots having a focal point, a foundation if you will. So I’m trying it out.
I have been working on redefining and refocusing my business, and have a lot more to say about it. Hopefully soon. I have put up a redesigned website focused on facilitation, which is step one in the refocusing process.
I’m heading out to speak at the International Assoication of Facilitators (IAF) North American conference in Vancouver, BC, Canada. This is always a great conference, where I learn a lot. I’ll be presenting two workshops.
Visual Methods Across Cultures
Christine Martell and Regina Rowland
Visual methods of facilitation provide powerful ways for reaching across all kinds of differences. In this session you will be working in groups, using a set of images as a visual tool and merge it with interactive graphic facilitation and collaborative mapping processes. This will allow you to observe and define interaction patterns that provide clues to a variety of cultural patterns that are, naturally, exposed in visual creations. As visual language evokes more intuitive information it therefore easily encourages the sharing of various undercurrents. These visual techniques accommodate various communication styles and levels language differences which invites full inclusion of all participants and all worldviews.
Exploring Multiple Perspectives on Conflict Using Photographs
Christine Martell
This session will explore the meaning of conflict, conflict resolution, and conflict management in personal, professional and global contexts. Using photographs and the stories that come from them, we will explore the similarities and difference in how individuals and groups interpret these concepts, and then move into ways to bridge differences. Visual tools are particularly helpful to move beyond cultural assumptions into fuller expressions where people claim membership in many overlapping groups.
