A Philadelphia Region Organization Development Network Special Learning Event

Rob is a master teacher on many subjects. This exposure was not only to an interesting set of tools (Council and WebCouncil), but offered a view of a different paradigm for significantly different and significantly more engaging meetings. It's a mystery to me why so few OD people use these tools. Hopefully that will change as sessions like Rob's demystify the process. -- Warren Hoffman

Additional information from Rob:

"I expect emerging technologies to forever change our field. The title of July 30 might be 'Facilitating in the Experience Economy - Five Technologies That Will Change Facilitation Forever'. I am successfully using these in my practice today. I will explain my positions and collect the wisdom of those present. The result will be an article for publication. A draft of the article will be the handout for the workshop.

The Technologies are:

GroupWare and Networked Computers

Visual Dialogue Techniques and Large Graphic Formats

The Digital Video Revolution - non-linear video editing on the desktop.

Web-based Collaboration Suites - Web Council etc.

Hyper-writing - Story Space

These technologies, when combined with a good understanding of Group Dynamics, face-to-face facilitation skills and an underlying orientation toward Action Research, offer tremendous leverage to the average facilitator's repertoire (aka - you do not have to be a tech geek to benefit).

The day will give each person attending a chance to work with each of these technologies. We will explore together the implications for our work."

Most meetings are still boring, too predictable and too detached. Even with all our great technology advancements we still create boring one way meetings, jazzed up a bit with PowerPoint, ad nauseum.

Rob McNeil has a new model, "Show-up, Wake-up, Shake-up, Gitty-up" that explores how to make meetings come alive. He uses Council (a computer-supported group decision-making system) in the room for face-to-face work -- and WebCouncil for pre-meeting and post-meeting work. This is a unique opportunity to experience Rob's approach and to have hands-on experience with the tools.

From Rob: "I will show those attending that they can greatly add to their consulting income and serve their clients much better if they embrace the new meeting."

Rob McNeil is the principal of the Ronin Group. After about 25 years in the OD profession, Rob describes himself as a Business Consultant who uses OD skills and techniques to help his clients achieve business objectives. He has a successful national practice with a wide variety of clients. Rob has spoken several times at PRODN meetings and has co-taught the Drexler-Sibbet training for PRODN. His presentations are always lively and exceptionally engaging.