Compassion In Action Invitation
You are enthusiastically invited to attend a gathering of USA trainers, teachers and organizers of NVC June 30 - July 2, 2006 at Mills College in Oakland, California. The focus of this gathering is to support the spread of NVC communities throughout the United States by enhancing community-building skills and connection among diverse people and values. The gathering will be facilitated by certified trainer Gina Lawrie using Open Space Technology. We expect a variety of topics to arise from this gathering including but not limited to, using technology to enhance your community building, enhancing the connection within your NVC community, and how to use consensus efficiently.
Who should come to this gathering? Anyone who would like to enhance or expand their NVC community/network. Come if your area has well-established community(ies) or networks, is in the early stages of such development, or you're alone and just getting started. No matter what spectrum of community you are currently involved in, this gathering will help you network with others who share your values, learn how to enhance and strengthen your community ties, and provide concrete tips for helping you meet your needs for connection, understanding and trust within your NVC community.
Where possible, we suggest that you invite someone else from your community to join you as we believe this will enhance your learning at the conference and help meet your need for support when you return home.
To meet our needs for connection, contribution, learning, impact and our great hope for cross pollination, we envision people from all parts of the country and from a broad spectrum of age, class, race, and political inclinations to join us. Please help us make this vision a reality.
To register...(include registration, fee and lodging information)
About Open Space Technology - Open Space Technology is one way to enable all kinds of people to co-create inspired meetings and events. In Open Space meetings, participants create and manage their own agenda of parallel working sessions around a central theme of strategic importance, such as enhancing NVC communities in the USA. The common result is a powerful, effective connecting and strengthening of what's already happening within an organization or group; panning and action, learning and doing, passion and responsibility, participation and performance. Gina Lawrie is a certified NVC trainer who is experienced in facilitating Open Space Technology conferences.
Please join us for this exciting weekend gathering. Together we will celebrate successes, mourn setbacks and difficulties, give and receive support, and learn concrete ways to enhance our NVC communities. Together we will take action toward meeting our need for creating peaceful communities through the use of Nonviolent Communication.
With excitement, USA Project Planning Team
Jane: important to clarify that the intention/purpose of this event is to spread nvc, not on teaching nvc skills. [although of course we will connect, and learn some]
John: to spread nvc, to have an impact at the larger scales, and to connect/learn.
Rick: to lower the barriers to connection, both through creative application of NVC and through education and support of many ways to communicate (such as this wiki).
here's more info on open space and playback theater from Kit: Gina trained in Open Space Technology (OST) with Harrison Owen, its originator, and has been using it in her work for many years. For more on OST go to _http://www. www.openspaceworld.org
During this event we will also welcome a Playback Theatre troupe. This group will offer a lively, playful, and thought-provoking experiential workshop in some of the skills of PLAYBACK THEATRE, a unique form of improv theatre practiced in 50 countries to help communities share honestly from the heart. Learn how Playback is used to build community and how it relates to NVC skills. You will be given forms you can take away that may bring a fresh perspective, playfulness, and spontaneity to your work.
Performance: Learn more about other NVC leaders and share about yourself...through a performance of Playback Theatre. Members of the community volunteer personal experiences (including challenges, victories, and dreams) and five actors bring them dramatically to life in the moment. Often moving, funny, deep. Go to www.playbacknet.org (for info about the wider playback network).
Read through Naming The NVC USA Conference for more elements we'd like included in the invitation.
