Connect online to the ‘AgKnowledge Innovation’ process share fair

Documenting our 2010 share fair

On 25 and 26 May 2015, the ILRI Communications and Knowledge Management (CKM) group in Addis Ababa is joining with several partners to host a ‘share fair‘ event. The focus is on the design and delivery of truly effective ‘process’ improvements that lead to applied innovation, social learning and value for money (in agriculture).

As well as the face to face, we want to use the event to pool and crystallize what we are learning about working along the continuum from f2f to hybrid to online processes and events – and how best to weave those channels together. We are looking for some online collaborators.

As background, we know we are using more and more online channels to complement or replace face to face meetings and events. And we are learning lots as facilitators – of processes and events – about how to ensure participants are able to engage, follow threads, collaborate and discuss themes throughout the chain of different formats and activities.

So we will open up four of the sessions to people outside Addis (maybe more!). We want to explore, improvise and learn, and use those experiments to help us learn together.

And to enrich it even more we’re going to be experimenting with how to enliven online or hybrid meetings with methods collected and developed by the Liberating Structures (LS) founders, led by Fisher Qua.

To help us organize we have set up Eventbrite pages for the four sessions currently open, so please register here (all times East Africa Addis Ababa/Nairobi):

  1. Mon 25 May, 10.30: (Introduction to) Liberating Structures (Fisher Qua) http://bit.ly/1S0DG4q
  2. Mon 25 May, 13:50: Social Reporting (Pier Andrea Pirani) http://bit.ly/1QWIJRM
  3. Mon 25 May, 15.50: Working with Virtual Teams (Nancy White and Ewen Le Borgne) http://bit.ly/1HmYr4b
  4. Tue 26 May, 11.00: Liberating Structures (Ewen Le Borgne and Pete Cranston) http://bit.ly/1Ftf0hi

We are experimenting with different types of online engagement, including:

  • a simple webcast of a Liberating Structures workshop session, with a chat facility for online participants to engage with those in the room, and each other, through a moderator
  • more interactive formats, with presenters both online and in the room, and participants able to interact equally with those physically and remotely in the room
  • experiments in using Liberating Structures for meetings involving remote and physically present participants

Depending on connectivity, and tech, we may play with some more options – especially if people suggest fun options we can learn from!

After each session we will invite participants to reflect on what their experience tells us about how to facilitate participative processes that intertwine online and face to face components.