Facilitation & Process Design

Participatory Design, Co-Design, Futures

I have designed and facilitated gatherings that support groups of people to imagine possible futures for their communities or organizations, co-produce policy recommendations, or simply to have the conversations they want through an open space or “unconference” format. My interest in facilitation stems from a previous role as a sexuality & relationships educator where I facilitated sensitive conversations between kids and their carers.

Augmenting Cities, Oakland 2019

Playful ideation workshop for technologists, artists and urbanists as part of an augmented reality for urban contexts conference run by Niantic (the folks who made Pokémon Go) and the Knight Foundation. I co-designed the workshop, translated facilitator notes into user-facing instructions, and designed team kits.

Dayton in a Decade, Dayton 2019

Full day futures process for Dayton citizens hosted by Mayor Nan Whaley in the wake of multiple traumas suffered by the community. I was responsible for leading a team of student designers to rapidly produce visions of the future using outputs generated by participant teams.

Skoll World Forum, Oxford 2019

I co-facilitated a “Futures by Design” Workshop which ran twice at the Skoll World Forum – the largest social impact and entrepreneurship gathering in the world.

Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Alaska 2018

I co-facilitated a two-day professional development gathering for the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, a provider of social, educational and employment services to Alaska Natives and Native Americans living in the Cook Inlet region.

OCUFA Policy Recommendations, MASSLBP, Toronto, 2017

I was one of six facilitators running a two-day participatory policy design event to support university faculty members from across Ontario to come up with specific actionable policy recommendations to feedback to the client – Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA).

“Project in Progress”, Toronto 2017

Project in Progress (PIP) is a social event I produced and facilitated as part of my work at an educational maker space in Toronto. The goal was to attract new faces to the lab, build connections within the existing community, and position the organization as a creative hub within the city. Speakers presented for 3-5 min on anything they were working on, be it an idea, a prototype, a failure, so long as it wasn't finished. The event was designed to cut through the 'know-it-all done-it-all' tech-expert veneer, encourage a culture of vulnerability, and provide opportunities for members to connect and collaborate.

Sexuality & Relationships Educator, Melbourne & Toronto

I visited schools and community centres across Melbourne to deliver educational programs to students aged 5-18 years old, and facilitated conversational workshops with kids and their caregivers after school hours. I also facilitated healthy relationships programs for young women at the Centre Against Sexual Assault, conducted one-on-one sessions to help women navigate and select birth control options at a Planned Parenthood Toronto clinic, spoke on a panel at the People for Education conference at the Rotman School of Management, and was interviewed by the Toronto Star about the controversial sex education curriculum in Ontario.