Presentations

PRESENTATIONS

 Key Note Addresses really can be dynamic and interactive

Key note addresses to audiences of 500, 1000 or more can be dynamic, interactive and engaging. Imagery, video and story-telling invite involvement. Asking each individual audience member to respond to a question by a show of hands: ‘Ever been angry? Hurt? Lonely? Excited?’…invites personal connection with the topic. Asking audience members to reflect: ‘Think for a moment as to what you value most in an intimate relationship…now think of someone you are very close to…if you were to ask them…what would they say? Is this the same or different from you?’ invites involvement. Or if right, asking audience members to speak with someone next to them:  ’Would you be prepared to take a risk to save a friend? How would you decide if the risk was worth taking?’ Inviting people to become physically involved: by stepping onto the stage to strike a pose to express an emotion; or be interviewed about the conference theme, or to comment on some aspect of the conference, ensures connection and meaning with what is being presented. The possibilities are endless!

Get in touch for a chat if you would like to discuss the many ways in which conferences and forums can be devised.

Forums-finding out what people think

Do you want to bring together a large group of young people (and possibly adults? Service providers?) to find out what their thoughts and feelings are about a particular topic? Energetic and excitingly volatile! But what an opportunity! So how do we bring very different people together, people of different ages, cultures, and values for some common purpose, and make sure the process is respectful and productive?

                                      I have been lucky enough to facilitate a great number of these, from working in East Timor with the local community and with members of the international community to build strong relationships between the two groups; to co-working with an indigenous colleague in rural Australia looking at how indigenous and non-indigenous services in the area could better work together; to working in the inner west of Sydney with people in their teens to those in their nineties, looking at intergenerational relationships.

And I have facilitated many youth consultations across Sydney and throughout the state. Each process needs some blend of creative strategies like simple pieces of theatre to highlight certain points, or moments of individual reflection about important topics before launching into discussion, or careful use of ‘expert’ panels, or presenting the group with challenging and delicate questions and a process for productively exploring those questions. These Forums work; they are fun and they are productive.

A Story Unfolds -

Interactive Theatre-based Problem Solving

This very active and dynamic process of interactive story telling needs a number of key ingredients:

• An audience.
• A panel.
• Some actors.
• A presenter who can tell a story, get an audience involved, and ask interesting questions.

‘A story unfolds’ is a combination of story-telling, often with unexpected twists and turns, interactive theatre, bantering conversation, and respectful playfulness. As the story develops both the panel and audience are able to make comments and at times are able to ask questions of the ‘actors’. Also at times, audience members have a chance to join the actors on stage to explore, through spontaneous theatre, the ideas and situations which are being raised. Throughout the event, the presenter responds to what is being raised and asks further questions of all involved. Such an event needs a little planning to make sure that the story is relevant and interesting, but the actual rehearsal time may be as little as 1 hour.

You can watch a video of ‘A Story Unfolds’ on this site.

I have used this approach to look at such issues as culture and racism, family conflict, violence against women, rural unemployment, young people and debt, mentoring, problems facing teachers, young people and parents, and intergenerational relationships…to name a few! ‘A story unfolds’ can be a lot of fun, very interactive and a provocative way to explore some really serious topics.’

Forum Theatre

‘Humans are capable of seeing themselves in the act of seeing, of thinking their emotions, of being moved by their thoughts. They can see themselves here and imagine themselves there; they can see themselves today and imagine themselves tomorrow.’ (page xxvi) ‘

This is theatre – the art of looking at ourselves.”‘(page xxx)

Forum theatre as developed by Augusto Boal is an interactive form of theatre with the aim of problem-solving. A short scene (or scenes) based on some issue which affects both actors and audience is acted out. Audience members after being ‘warmed up’ to the idea of theatre through simple activities, are invited to call ‘stop’ at any point when they feel they have an idea they would like to try out. They then replace one of the actors on stage and try the intervention. If something is working out but seems unrealistic, audience members can call ‘magic’ and offer an alternative intervention. At any time the theatre is stopped it can be ‘rewound’ to any point where the audience member feels the intervention should take place. The Forum is facilitated by a ‘Director or ‘Facilitator. What Boal calls a ‘Joker’.