You are invited to the annual International Association of Facilitators (IAF) Europe Conference, which will take place between 5th and 7th of October 2012.

This year’s Conference will be held in Geneva, Switzerland.  Geneva is the most international city in Europe with over 40% of its population coming from outside Switzerland.
As the seat of the European Headquarters of the United Nations, Geneva has and continues to exemplify cross cultural collaboration and diversity in its many forms.

This year the conference has been extended to include a full programme of workshops, seminars and sessions covering Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning.  The conference language will be English, however, there will be some workshops provided in French.




Facilitating Across Cultures:
Unleashing the Power of Diversity

The theme for this year’s conference has been designed to reflect the international diversity of the city and the organizations it hosts.

Today, more than ever, organizations are faced with the complexities of a diverse working environment and perhaps overlook the hidden potential available to them. 
Understanding the value of culture and diversity and maximizing its impact in group creativity, decision making,  and conflict management is ever more important in today’s  globalized community.   

The key to our success as facilitators, charged with the task of bringing out a group’s highest potential, is understanding the dynamics of culture and diversity in group settings, and strengthening an organization’s ability to tap into the knowledge and skills of its diverse work force in innovative ways.

This year the European Annual Conference seeks to explore these great resources, good practices and varied experiences and in doing so demonstrate how to unleash the power of diversity!



In order to build on last year’s successes and following your positive feedback we hope that most of us will again  be living and working under one roof.  This will help to nuture our sense of community.  We will also be building more ‘space’ in the programme for networking opportunities and exchanges.  We know how important it is to have time to process the things you have heard or learnt.  We also appreciate the huge benefits that we all gain from networking with our colleagues from Europe and around the world.

This conference is for you if you answer yes to at least one of the following questions:
Are you, or do you want to be, a facilitator, change agent, consultant, teacher, negotiator, coach, mentor and/or someone committed to lifelong learning?

Do you work in corporate, government, non-profit, educational, or local community environments?
Do you use facilitation in your work?
Do you value a forum to share ideas, methods and learning?

Do you want to make a real difference in Europe and beyond?


We are asking for proposals for Conference and pre-Conference sessions that will support the theme of the conference or further the art and mastery of facilitation. If you would like to express an interest in running a pre-conference event, presenting or leading a workshop session at the conference itself, please register your interest online or contact the conference office at conference@iaf-europe.eu




 






Registration is open. The first 20 Members to register for the All-Inclusive Conference Package save CHF100.