Creative Contingencies

2026 begins

donna — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 22:54:53 +0000

A new year. The first, first Friday. Metaphorically standing at the summit of the old year, freshly climbed. Out of breath, pausing, using the moment to see what might be on the next horizon. I think I may need new glasses, cos it's not quite clear.

I'll be finishing a report begun before I went on leave, I'll be writing a conference talk, and I'll be preparing for an extended engagement abroad. None of those things are connected, so I'm now wondering if there might be a thread I can weave through that work to make it feel less fragmented.

Mastering hybrid workshops

donna — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 20:47:14 +0000

"I challenge you to make it the best of both worlds"
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Whether in person, or distributed across geographies, and timezones, I truly love facilitating workshops for people who want to get things done. But hybrid sessions are hard. Really hard.

"Hybrid events require three complete designs: one for the people who are sharing the room, one for those joining remotely, and one for the connection between the two." - Deborah Rim Moiso

Send online participants a workshop kit in advance. Include healthy snacks & sugar hits, and a food delivery voucher for something more substantial. Add a notebook, a pen, and some coloured pencils, and plan to use them in the workshop.

Encourage the use of mobile phone devices to capture and share photos, audio and video snippets.
Take some of the work offline, and asynchronous, pre-work, and post-work with clear timelines can increase the effectiveness, and diversity of the types of contributions people are able to make.

Lots of facilitators are experimenting, learning, perfecting approaches that meet the challenge.

Here's some resources I've found useful to learn how others are adapting, and perfecting their approaches.

3 handy hacks for eliminating meeting toil

donna — Sat, 14 Jan 2023 02:55:21 +0000

The intent of facilitation is to "make meetings easier."

It's a people process that allows participants to focus on their goals, but there are three easy hacks anyone can make to have better meetings.

The 1st hack - Agenda
Have an agenda, ask all participants to agree to, or amend the agenda at the start of the meeting.
Why? This gives everyone an opportunity to align their goals, and focus on the same desired outcome.

The 2nd hack - Outcome
Have a clear objective, or intended outcome for the meeting.
Why? When everyone is clear on the purpose, they are less likely to get distracted, or derail the meeting.

The 3rd hack - Good manners
Explicitly invite people to attend, welcome them when they arrive, and thank them at the end for participating, and paying attention.
Why? This gives everyone a sense of ceremony, and acknowledges the value of their time, and their presence as human beings.

Bonus -

Meeting by Tippawan Sookruay

Meeting by afian roc

Agenda by Aneeque Ahmed

Agenda by fahmionline

Solution by Creative Stall

Target by Danang endar

Footprints by St Musdalifah

Action plan by Massupa Kaewgahya

Tags:

facilitation

What "Plan C" do you need?

donna — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 08:16:00 +0000

The Creative Contingencies team have always worked from home. We've also collaborated with global teams distributed around the planet, and across time zones.

Last year, many people unfamiliar with open and distributed ways of working suddenly found themselves carving out space to work in their lounge rooms, at the kitchen table, sometimes even in their kids bedrooms. It was challenging. It is challenging.

The global pandemic triggered by the spread of the latest coronavirus has prompted a mass acceleration of digital transformation across many industries that may not have previously felt the need to modernise their approach.

We used to do a lot of event management, but not so much these days, given events are virtually banned.

We still do web hosting. But that has become something of a commodity service these days, and there are many platforms to choose from.

So... what next for CC?

What "Plan C" do you need?

Vale John Findlay

donna — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 04:48:04 +0000

With deep sadness we note the passing of , the computer system we used to facilitate so many sessions over the years.

Still here, simply simmering.

donna — Sat, 17 Mar 2018 04:06:34 +0000

Creative Contingencies is still here. We're just quietly simmering.

Peter has one major client taking most of his time and attention, whilst attending to the maintenance of CC's systems the rest of the time.

Donna is now working full time with Red Hat - one of the world's great Open Source solution specialists, and attending to CC admin when she can, and when she has to.

Sadly, this means Creative Contingencies is not taking on new clients for the time being.

2017 - Year of the Rooster

donna — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 02:28:05 +0000

Lunar New Year ushers in the Year of the Rooster for 2017. Australia post's gorgeous artwork suggests this represents our confident, fearless, persistent, reliable and resourceful natures. Something tells me, we all need to harness this kind of energy.

Things have been quiet for Creative Contingencies, as its key people have stepped into roles with other organisations for the time being. But the lights are still on, and the home fire still burning for those we continue to serve.

We wish you all the best for the months ahead.

Happy New Year

donna — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:49:57 +0000

Good morning 2016.

Look! There's 12 fresh shiny months stretched out before us. They are all filled with the promise of productivity, purpose and progress.

New year's day is a great day to be reflective about the year ahead. It's not so much about planning, but more about pre-planning.

It's a holiday, so the usual noise of the day to day, go go go, has been hushed.

I like the ideas in this post on mindful.org, with tips on
The “minimum effective dose” (MED) is the lowest dose of a pharmaceutical that spurs a clinically significant change in health or well-being. Look for the MED in everything: work, sleep, meditation, blogging frequency, checking email, school volunteering, homework help, date nights.

May your 2016 be great!

Our Team

donna — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 08:45:12 +0000

You can see Peter and me sitting in the bottom right in orange. And behind us? That's our team.

Drupal is built by a global community, and the 3,300 people at DrupalCon PDX are only a small sample of the power behind Drupal.

We had a blast at

For more information on BarCamps, UnConferences an Open Space Technologies, check out these links.

The Wikipedian View

Local variations on the theme