Practicing to perform
22 March 2012Those of us who have seen an improv group perform are sometimes in awe of the skills and teamwork a group of players can demonstrate when performing – in front of a paying audience, and with no script. It’s no secret that they can do this because of the way they approach a performance, the…
The joy of work
9 February 2012Reader warning: self reflection In the last couple of weeks my extraversion muscle has been stretched to its limit. It’s interesting to notice our own limits. I am now revelling in complete isolation. My partner is off cycling and I’m alone, completely alone and with few demands on my time and energy. It’s rejuvenating. It…
Confidence and the Goldilocks dilemma
14 December 2011Confidence is a strange thing – it comes and goes, almost with a mind of its own, and then there’s the issue of how much? Too little, and we feel intimidated, too much and we appear arrogant. Getting confidence ‘just right’ is tricky. When Anne Pattillo and I founded Facilitating With Confidence it was based…
What do you do?
29 November 2011This has never been an easy question for me to answer. There’s been times when I’ve hankered for a recognisable ‘career’, maybe even a calling. The feeling passes soon enough and I’m back fumbling for a way to describe the work I do. I’ve realised how important this is recently as I’ve been working to…
Travelling a different road
15 November 2011For many years I’ve been waiting for the planets to align to do two things* – Robert McKee’s Story Seminar and a workshop or seminar with Dave Snowden. I’m still waiting to do the Story Seminar. There is a link, of course. Dave Snowden punctuates his often rambling and diverse ideas and opinions with stories.…
Performance
14 October 2011There’s something about performance: about being in the presence of a great performance, about acting ourselves. There’s a common refrain about creativity: ask a group of pre-school kids if they’re creative and they’ll all stick their hands in the air; ask a group of adults and most of us will say we’re not creative. Kids…
The Casuarina Project: Community Leadership 10 years on
8 September 2011It’s 10 years this month since the first group of local Surf Coast Shire residents finished the inaugural Casuarina Project. The final session was on September 15th, 2001 and I remember it vividly. We’d booked out a local restaurant for us to gather to reminisce on the journey we’d shared over the previous seven months.…
What happened to play?
29 May 2011Watch kids playing. What do you see? Watch adults playing in a workshop. What do you see? When do we lose that capacity for commitment, imagination, curiosity, play? Maybe it’s not lost – just hidden. Is this why we flock to comedy plays, love stand-up and sit-coms? Are we trying to replace or rediscover what’s…
Self awareness
18 May 2011Sometimes I read something in someone else’s blog and think – yeah, that’s like me. Like this, from Sarah Irving, author of Gaza: Beneath the Bombs I’m not a theory person or an in-depth analyst. I have an adequate but far from outstanding brain, and although I can absorb staggering quantities of useless factoids, I’m…
Fear, readiness and perseverence
18 April 2011I’m just back from 10 weeks on the road and am revelling in catching up with blogs, twitter, friends, email (not so much), book-keeping (not at all) and being surrounded by the familiar. This from Euan Semple: The pressure on us, both from ourselves and others, to take the easy route, give in to our…