Facilitator and Group Process Consultant
Upcoming Events
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Workshop & Lecture Descriptions
Eris is available to bring these, and other workshop topics, to your organization or community! Any of these can be delivered in lengths from a 20 minute lecture to a full day workshop. Contact us for details.
- Meetings That Don't Suck (or Creating & Running Effective Meetings): Are your meetings poorly attended, boring, nonproductive? Learn how to create productive meetings that people actually want to come to! A modest amount of time and attention devoted to meeting planning and good facilitation pays back with increased efficiency, a decrease in conflict, better decision-making, and greater group cohesion. We will not only discuss but practice techniques for agenda planning, meeting facilitation, and dealing with "difficult" people. Bring your examples of real-life challenges and go home with real tools you can use!
- Don't Work at It, Play With It! You can't "think outside the box" if you don't recognize what box you're in! In this highly interactive workshop, we'll play with a variety of improvisational, visual, and gamestorming techniques that foster creativity, innovation, and group connection.
- I See What You Mean! 80% of our brain's sensory processing power is devoted to vision - and visual practices can be used to improve the way we communicate our ideas and spark creativity and collaboration as we solve problems and plan strategies. In this participatory workshop, review the building blocks of visual communication and then grab markers, sticky notes, and play-dough and get to it! Explore mind mapping, graphic recording, kinesthetic modeling, and gamestorming tools; all materials as well as an extensive resource list will be provided. ARTISTIC ABILITY IS NOT REQUIRED!
- Coming to Consensus: This full-day workshop serves as an introduction for those new to consensus and a refresher for those who feel their community or organization may not be using it most effectively. We'll focus on collaborative decision-making tools you can really use!
- The Art of Apology: Our personal and professional lives provide us with multiple opportunities for misunderstandings, conflicts, and hurt feelings. A well-done apology can go a long way toward healing a strained relationship, while a poor one can create even more disconnection and distress.
- Improve with Improv: Whether you are an entrepreneur promoting your business or an activist promoting a cause, success depends upon the ability to present your message with confidence and ease. Memorizing speeches or preparing PowerPoint slides can only take you so far. When you run into a potential lead or client in an unexpected place and time, you have to be able to wing it! In addition to improvisation games and exercises, this three-week workshop will include before-and-after videos and homework assignments designed to help you hone your message and deliver it clearly and effectively, anywhere, anytime!
- Quick & Dirty Strategic Planning: A good strategic plan is like a good roadmap; it helps you get where you want to go. Of course, you first have to decide on your destination in order to know whether you’ve arrived or not! A strategic plan doesn’t have to be a huge document that takes months to create – it’s better to have a one page plan that is a living document, consulted and amended regularly as a guide for daily decisions. This workshop will provide a template for quick & dirty strategic planning that will help your organization get results quickly!
- Truth or Consequences: Consensus-based groups often spend a great deal of time carefully crafting agreements to govern our enterprises, yet we rarely, if ever, build consequences or accountability into these policies. Teachers, parents, and animal trainers know the power of appropriately applied reinforcement (positive or negative), but we frequently shy away from consciously using such reinforcement in our communities. We don’t want to “play cop”; we want everyone to just follow the agreements because they want to. With no official consequences, however, unofficial consequences arise: resentment, avoidance, and a downward spiral of “well-if-he’s-not-doing-it-I-won’t-either.” Come join this interactive conversation about what does and doesn’t work!
- Fun with Flipcharts: Are you anxious when you have to get up in front of a meeting and write on a flipchart or whiteboard? Do you worry about your handwriting, or how to capture people's words accurately? Have you seen those folks who draw entire worlds on paper to capture a meeting, and wondered if you could do it too? YOU CAN! In this hands-on workshop, you will learn elements of effective visual communication; what materials and supplies work best; and have fun drawing on the walls!
- How to Talk About Hot Topics Without Getting Burned: Have you ever put off initiating a conversation with an employee, colleague, or vendor who is underperforming? Have you watched as interpersonal conflict in the office got in the way of the work getting done? We are faced with difficult conversations everyday. Sometimes we postpone them in an attempt to avoid hurt feelings, and only make the situation worse. Come learn and practice strategies for facing these conversations with more ease and effectiveness.
- Using Humor in Facilitation and Conflict Resolution: Good process doesn't have to be boring! Learn how humor can help defuse tension and increase connection.
- Let's Talk About Money: Many communities find themselves in conflict over financial and budget issues…and the current economic situation doesn’t help! Conflicts about money are really conflicts about values. In this experiential workshop we will discuss how to have useful conversations about our financial values - conversations that lead to greater understanding & connection as well as more effective financial decision-making.
Testimonials
"Because of Eris' light-hearted yet empowering improv class, I've gained a noticeable measure of confidence in my business networking. "
"Eris helps us shake things up, get out of our ruts, and expand our ways of communicating and connecting with ourselves and each other. Taking her course has helped me relax a lot more, which has led me to giving better presentations! Eris is top notch!"
"Whenever I need clear, concise direction for conflict resolution I call Eris. Her depth of knowledge, compassion and clarity guides me to the highest outcome, every time. Eris has been the key note speaker at my women’s networking organization and always receives rave reviews. She provides practical steps that can be easily implemented to enhance each person’s life and business."