As 2024 wraps up, our facilitation team is sharing their standout moments. From mysteriously missing catering and questionable gong skills to a surprise bush trek under the stars, 2024 had its fair share of laughs, twists, and unforgettable memories.
The City of Melbourne views affordable housing as crucial infrastructure for maintaining a liveable, inclusive, and prosperous city. With a projected shortfall of 23,200 affordable homes by 2036, immediate action is needed to address this long-standing issue. While there is broad community support for affordable housing, acceptance often wanes at the neighbourhood level. To tackle this, a People’s Panel of 39 diverse community members was established to represent local perspectives.
A support facilitator studying psychology, our first team member based in NSW and a brand new participant recruitment coordinator... meet the newest additions to the MosaicLab team: Polo, Polly and Gus! Learn more about this trio of terrific team members and gain some insights into who they REALLY are through their answers to our fast five questions!
How should we plan for the new energy future while providing affordable services that meet changing customer and community needs? Two representative ‘Voice of the Customer’ panels in Queensland answered this question. Randomly selected, everyday customers deliberated and agreed on recommendations that electricity distributors Ergon Energy Network and Energex used to prepare Regulatory Proposals for the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). Delve into a tale of two deliberative customer panels, and gain ideas and insights you can draw on for your next project.
We believe in supporting emerging and underserved people and communities to have deeper conversations that lead to stronger democracies. ML Giving is the new name of the not-for-profit part of MosaicLab - a banner for the work we do that gives back. We’re focussing on furthering community inclusion and action beyond just getting input and instead moving into enabling local decision-making. Explore the principles ML Giving will operate under, and the kind of projects and conversations we’re supporting.
Events - offerings - opportunities
Did you visit our carnival stand at the recent IAP2 Conference? If so, you might feature in this post! And if not, here’s your chance to fight the FOMO and have an insight into the bean bag toss fun (and really cool dancing) that happened. We also have some super tips for you from IAP2A Chair Tony Clark around increasing accessibility and inclusion in engagement (spoiler - it’s not always easy, but progress is better than perfection). And we share our program highlights. Let’s dive in!
The financial year is closing fast. Your training budget doesn’t need to go to waste. Lock in some great learning for your team before the calendar flips to 1 July. MosaicLab Academy courses are delivered by experts in the field of engagement, deliberation, facilitation and conflict. Our training caters for all skill levels and can be delivered online or face-to-face. Our learners leave with greater skills, confidence and stacks of useful resources, templates and guides. Invest now in your team’s future learning and build your organisation’s engagement capacity.
Have a big issue that’s just right for deliberation, or a project that’s crying out for genuine engagement? Struggling to get it over the line with decision-makers? We know how hard it can be to get the buy-in you need. But it doesn’t have to be a battle. Learn how to engage your decision-makers effectively and convert them into champions for your process. Come and join us for a free one-hour webinar in April to receive insider tips on how to gain greater support from this important group of stakeholders.
Ever wondered what it’s really like to facilitate a deliberative process? Our Facilitating Deliberation Masterclass graduates experienced a citizens’ assembly and had the opportunity to co-facilitate a live deliberation as part of a special training event run in partnership with the newDemocracy Foundation. Gain insights into their experience - what surprised them, the challenges they faced, their biggest takeaways and more.
Most organisations claim to be interested in hearing from their community, but not all are engaging with them equally or effectively. Organisations that consistently excel at engagement have a built-in culture of engagement in their DNA. MosaicLab has created a new assessment program to help you understand the culture of engagement within your organisation and give you a DNA injection if you need it.
The recent MAV Councillor Leadership Conference featured a packed program of speakers discussing everything from ethical leadership, cyber safety and communication behaviours to leading with emotional intelligence, governance and motivating change through values-based messaging. MosaicLab was on board as one of the event sponsors and we value and appreciate any opportunity to connect with local government leaders.
Turns out there IS such a thing as a free lunch. Our monthly Lunch and Learn community engagement webinar series resumes in February. These free sessions run online for just one hour and are presented by MosaicLab engagement experts. Learn, upskill and connect. Open to engagement and facilitation professionals of any level.
New year, new skills, fresh insights from the experts: and it won’t cost you a cent. Get ready to be rewarded and inspired in 2023, with free monthly learning and connection opportunities for engagement and facilitation professionals. MosaicLab’s Lunch and Learn webinar series goes to the next level in 2023.
Need a break from the holiday hectics? Take some ‘me time’ and set up your 2023 for success with one of MosaicLab’s online, beginner short courses. Learn the art of facilitation, the seven steps to simple engagement planning, how to deliver a successful deliberative engagement process and how to handle high emotion and outrage in groups. Boost your toolkit and learn from specialist trainers with this easy, valuable learning.
Calling all facilitators or community engagement practitioners! Looking to level up? Watch and learn how to facilitate a citizens’ assembly by experiencing one in person. MosaicLab and the newDemocracy Foundation (nDF) are teaming up to offer this unique training opportunity to a small group in Melbourne in February 2023. Places are limited. Register now.
