I am delighted to have the opportunity to deliver a conference master class and two days of pre-conference training for the 4th annual Facilitators Conference of IAF Russia, in Moscow from April 3-5.

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See the conference website in Russian or an approximate English translation, including a video clip (above) of me conveying greetings as IAF Chair to last year’s conference. This clip was recorded by conference organiser Liudmila Dudorova during the ICA:UK Participatory Strategic Planning training that she attended with me in London last year.  I shall be joined as international VIP presenter by Bruce Rowling of UK-based Pinpoint Facilitation.

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Facilitating the creation of ideas, innovation and sharing of experience‘.  I therefore thought immediately of ICA:UK’s work with the RSA over recent years, as a source of insight and inspiration for my conference masterclass.  See the session description below, and watch this space for some of that insight and inspiration in a future blog post…

The pre-conference training will be specially adapted from ICA:UK’s Group Facilitation Methods and Action Planning courses, with Russian language materials kindly supplied by ICA Ukraine. Both the training and the conference session will be delivered in Russian by simultaneous interpretation.

Conference masterclass: Facilitating innovative practical solutions to today’s social challenges

The RSA (www.thersa.org) is an enlightenment organisation committed to finding innovative practical solutions to today’s social challenges. Through its ideas, research and 27,000-strong Fellowship it seeks to understand and enhance human capability so we can close the gap between today’s reality and people’s hopes for a better world.

ICA:UK, the participation and development charity (www.ica-uk.org.uk), is one of the Institute of Cultural Affairs’ (ICA’s) global network of non-profit, non-governmental organisations working to develop, test and demonstrate effective approaches to personal, organisational and social transformation.  ICA:UK applies this approach to developing and sustaining a culture of participation, specialising in the Technology of Participation and working with others both nationally and internationally to demonstrate effective facilitation, to train people in facilitation methods and skills, and to research the application of participatory approaches in new areas.

Since 2011 ICA:UK has partnered with the RSA to help it engage with and mobilise its Fellowship, to increase it’s social impact and achieve its ambition of being ‘the best place to have an idea’.  In this highly interactive session, Martin Gilbraith will share some examples of the approach used and its impact to date, and some of the learnings of those involved.  Participants will be introduced to some key elements of the ToP methodology, including simple but powerful tools that they can take away and try.

Martin Gilbraith is an independent facilitator, trainer and consultant based in London, UK.  He is an IAF Certified Professional Facilitator, and former IAF Chair and IAF Europe Director.  He has been facilitating and training ICA’s ToP facilitation methods since 1986.  He is an Associate and former Chief Executive of ICA:UK, and is currently serving as President of ICA International. He is a Fellow of the RSA