Champions of Diversity Unconvention

Event Details

Date: 9 August 2016

Times: 8am for an 8.30am start until 12 midday

Venue: Southcare Central

Community Partners: You have two complimentary tickets for your board or staff to attend. Book ASAP to avoid disappointment.

Register here.

We’ve been hosting the Unconventions for the past four years in Perth for the Engaging Young Leaders on Boards program. 

What is an unconvention? It’s a common question.  We named it so, to keep it up front and centre, what we were about.  Our unconventional forums are designed to shift, shake and reshape attendee’s mindsets through experiencing a range of various alternative approaches to learning. We want to talk about unconventional ideas in the aged care and community sector.  In our experience, the aspiring Board Directors are not the only ones that need education and training!  The key perceptions of Board Director and CEOs have to be shifted too if we were to get diversity on to boards. The Unconventions are our key strategy to educate and shift mindsets. We use unconventional event methodologies to inspire conversations, connections and understanding.  Over the years we have used the following methodologies:

• Fishbowl
• Group Map
• Role Plays
• Debates
• Vox Pops
• Ignite presentations

And the Unconvention coming up on the 9th August 2016 is no different!

The theme is Champions of Diversity.  And everyone involved is certainly a champion of diversity. 

We have a presentation by Fadzi Whande, sharing her incredible knowledge and experience to increase cultural perspectives on boards.

Fadzi is a Global Diversity and Inclusion Strategist and has extensive experience in community development and social justice as a speaker, trainer, consultant, facilitator, and activist. Her background ranges from launching telecommunication networks to addressing financial literacy, unemployment, social disadvantage, poverty, and gender inequality. Fadzi has worked with the Government, Business and Not for Profit sectors as well as various educational institutions in Africa, United Kingdom, USA and Australia.  Fadzi has a Graduate Certificate in Social Impact and an Executive Master in Business Administration from the University of Western Australia. A lifelong advocate of thoughtful dialogue as a means of understanding difference, Fadzi is a skilled facilitator in the areas of unconscious bias, gender inequality and racial socialisation and identity. As Founder and Director of Whande Group, her work focuses on capacity building, leadership development, and addressing systemic barriers held towards historically undermined groups to achieve social impact.

Then we have a powerful panel with Michelle Scott, Director of the McCusker Citizenship Centre and former Commissioner of Children and Youth in WA, Ingrid Cumming, Chief of Engagement at The Cultural Connection Code and Ross Kyrwood, CEO of YMCA.  These leaders will share their insights in how we really engage diversity on boards.

After some morning tea, the Unconvention will transform into a World Cafe.

The World Cafe aims to spark conversations, connections and practical ideas about leading diversity on Boards.  We aim to facilitate open and intimate discussions and link ideas within the larger group to access the collective intelligence in the room. 

The activity will be led by Idea Provocateurs who are alumni of the Emerging Leaders in Governance program and Community Partners of the Engaging Young Leaders on  Boards program.

We are using the Difference Makers book written by myself and Dr Nicky Howe  and two of the reports developed by the participants of the Emerging Leaders in Governance program this year as the basis of our world cafe discussions – Leading Effective and Diverse Boards and Driving Diversity.

If you haven’t experienced a world cafe – you’re in for a treat.  Check out these illustrated guidelines below.

Come join us on the morning of the 9th August at Southcare Central – register for the next Unconvention here!