England-Wales
Welcome to IAF England & Wales. We are around 100 IAF members including currently 21 Certified Professional Facilitators (CPFs), spread throughout England & Wales and beyond.
We convene regular, open face-to-face facilitation meetups for "IAF facilitators & friends" through regional meetup groups around England & Wales:
- London & South East - monthly coffee meetups in London, Oxfordshire & Winchester; plus in London each month either an afternoon or an evening learning meetup, or an evening drinks meetup. We are keen to support new monthly coffee meetups in Brighton in particular.
- North of England - monthly coffee meetups in Yorkshire, Manchester & Newcastle and three afternoon regional learning meetups per year. We are keen to support a new monthly coffee meetup in Liverpool in particular.
- South West of England - monthly coffee meetups in Bristol and three afternoon regional learning meetups per year. We are keen to support a new monthly coffee meetup in Devon in particular.
- Midlands & East of England - monthly coffee meetups in Birmingham & Cambridgeshire plus two afternoon regional learning meetups per year and our England & Wales Annual Conference in Birmingham during International Faciliation Week each October. We are keen to support a new monthly coffee meetup in Nottingham or Leicester in particular.
- Wales - monthly & bi-monthly coffee meetups in Cardiff and North Wales and three afternoon learning meetups per year.
Members of all 7 groups come together online for a monthly virtual coffee meetup as well. We also work to schedule a Certified Professional Facilitator assessment in the UK each year - next March 2020 in London. Group members are encouraged to use the meetup groups to convene additional ad hoc & imprompt meetups wherever & whenever suits them, according to their own interests.
We asked some of our regulars what they have appreciated most about IAF E&W Meetups and why should others be interested - they replied:
"The sharing of ideas" - Jonathan Bannister
"Meeting diverse practitioners of facilitation - and learning together" - Michael Ambjorn
"Expanding my thinking AND facilitation practice through peers generously sharing their ideas" - Andi Roberts CPF
"A brilliant initiative - a great way to build your faciliation skills whilst networking with like-minded sorts" - Neil Fogarty
"Diversity of input, quality of input, creation of our "own space", snowball effect over time as our numbers have grown, commitment of some key players @martingilbraith @orford @penny_walker_sd to name a few" - Mike Pounsford CPF
"A wonderful opportunity to learn from each other, to share experiences and to practice new ways of facilitation in a friendly and fun environment... with fellow facilitators from different nationalities" - Pinar Akkaya
"Learning... It’s also great to feel a sense of belonging to a community... I think this feeling of being part of a profession or industry has all sorts of benefits to me as an individual (now a CPF) and my business." - Sean Blair CPF
"
Setting out as a facilitator on my own was a scary decision but I have met so many great people through the meet-ups... Its a really wonderful community to be a part of!" - Camilla Gordon
- "I feel I can relax and share openly, have fun and learn loads... There's a generosity and love of learning which makes these meet-ups special. And a surprisingly wide range of people and ways that they use their skills" - Penny Walker
Please join us at a meetup by clicking on the meetup group links above - everyone with an interest in group process facilitation is welcome, including facilitators and others who use or commission facilitation, IAF members and non-members alike.
Please connect with us online also, by joining over 1,000 IAF facilitators & friends in our Facebook and LinkedIn groups, and by following IAF England & Wales on Twitter and Instagram. Please also take a few minutes to complete our online survey, to help to make IAF England & Wales and our free facilitation meetups more valuable to you in the coming year - thank you!
Our monthly meetup schedule at a glance
Click on the image below to enlarge it, and please follow the links to our regional meetup groups above for further details and to RSVP to an #IAFMeetup near you!
Further Information and to get more involved
Contact IAF E&W Chair Martin Gilbraith, or another of our elected Board or wider Leadership Team:
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Gary Austin CPF-M, Hertfordshire - Board Secretary, Membership, London evening learning meetups
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Megan Evans, Cardiff - Board candidate, Wales region
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Neil Fogarty, Warwick - Board member, Marketing & Partnerships, LinkedIn
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Martin Gilbraith CPF, London - Board Chair, London & SE region, Twitter, virtual meetups
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Helene Jewell, Bristol - Board member, South West region, Facebook & Instagram
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Steve Lloyd, Plymouth - Board Treasurer
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Amanda Stott CPF, Harrogate - Board candidate, North region
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Hilary Topp, Birmingham - Board member, Midlands & East region, International Facilitation Week
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Penny Walker CPF, London - Board candidate, Professional Development
Join us! We are particularly keen to welcome new members to our volunteer Leadership Team in the following roles - please contact us for details:
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Coffee meetup hosts for Brighton, Devon, Liverpool & Nottingham - or wherever you are!
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Podcasters to join our brand new new podcast team
Or, please let us know how you would like to get more involved!
For further information, download our IAF England & Wales 2019 plan, the invitation to Stand for election to the IAF England & Wales Board in 2019, and the IAF England & Wales Chapter Bylaws.
