Social Technology Toolbox Summer Camp July 15-24, 2011
How did we come up with the idea for a toolbox summer camp? C.T. Butler and I have been exploring how Intentional Communities and other groups succeed and how they understand (or often misunderstand) consensus. The idea of a “toolbox,” which members regularly update and use to build new culture, solve conflicts and grow as people, isn’t a new idea. What goes in it varies but adding to it seems key.
More than just a technique like Non-Violent Communication, “consensus is a cultural paradigm…a way of being in the world,” writes trainer Maikwe Schaub Ludwig. Yet few people get much more than a day or two of training in this “way of being.” Many more find themselves practicing it with no training!
A space happened to open up in Heathcote Community’s education calendar. And when C.T. and I considered it for a weekend slot, we realized we had the chance to really help people go deep and get it!
We sprang into action and put together many of the ideas we’d been collecting. Ta dah! Toolbox Camp!
Below is the text of our brochure:
Are you currently part of an organization, activist group, non-profit, Cohousing or Intentional Community that’s having trouble with governance, decisionmaking or communication?
• Does your group feel a time pressure when making decisions?
• In discussions, does everyone speak?
• Does your group accomplish its goals?
• Do some people dominate? Is there burnout?
• Is the workload uneven? Organizational structure vague?
• Does it seem members just don’t hear each other?
C.T. Butler and Wren Tuatha been going deeper into the nature of consensus, how to teach it and how to help groups succeed. We’ve gotten clear that consensus is amazing and transformative, but that it’s a major paradigm shift for most groups. It’s more than just exchanging Robert’s Rules for Butler’s. C.T. isn’t just offering new software, so to speak, but a whole new operating system.
We are offering these skill building experiences designed to help Communities, activist groups, non-profits, spiritual groups, families, etc., succeed in their goals through awareness of the structures of group dynamics—decisionmaking, conflict resolution, mediation, listening, and communication that integrates head, heart and gut.
SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY TOOLBOX SUMMER CAMP
July 15-24, 2011
A 10 day immersion, starting with a weekend workshop called Consensus, Body and Soul. Then, together, we’ll create temporary consensus-based community. The mornings will be devoted to ZEGG Forum and deeper consensus workshops. Each 
afternoon, we will add techniques and perspectives like Enneagrams, JoHari Window, Spiral Dynamics, Heart of Now, etc. The group will make decisions together at plenaries and participants can offerπ content of their own each evening through Open Space Technology.
Simply, we’re all about finding the voice of the group. After thirty years in the field of consensus, C.T. presents a clear vision of egalitarian freedom through use of structure that brings the common values to life within the group.
Some lessons are collected from other wise travelers, others are plucked from our own experiences in groups. Even as we make our offerings, the paradigm is leaderless and participant generated. We are curious about you. What do you bring?
LOGISTICS
Request a brochure with the application form at curiocoast@comcast.net. Costs include fixed fees for materials, food and lodging, and a sliding scale for tuition.
Structured programming begins Friday evening, July 15. and ends at noon on Sunday, July 24. Lodging options are camping and the Heathcote Mill bunkroom. 
Accommodations are rustic and, like most forests, the land does have poison ivy/oak and ticks that carry lyme disease. Heathcote is a vegetarian facility, and drug and alcohol free. Carpooling is encouraged. You will receive a packet with directions, a Heathcote orientation, packing lists, schedules and other logistics upon registration. The packet will include requests for food allergy and other special needs information.
Please join our Hippie Chick Diaries fan page on Facebook!
Subscribe to this blog's RSS feed
Heathcote Community Hosts Baltimore Racial Justice Action
Forwarding press release—WT:
Achieving Racial Equity in Our Communities and Beyond
Have you heard the phrase “white privilege?” Why are people talking about it? What is it? Who has it? What can we do with it? How can we be sure that what we are trying to achieve will not maintain unequal patterns and disparities in outcomes? [...]
FREDERICK, MARYLAND POW-WOW SCHEDULED FOR May 2011: Frederick Food Bank TO Benefit From Pow-Wow
Forwarding a press release.—WT:
Hollister, NC- Pow-Wow, an American Indian owned and operated company, will sponsor the Frederick, Maryland American Indian Pow-Wow and Show at the E-Eventplex at the Frederick Fairgrounds (797 E. Patrick Street Frederick, MD 21705) on May 21-22, 2011. The Pow-Wow is an opportunity for the public to interact with [...]
“The diary that ends too soon”—Goodbye, Phoebe Snow
Farewell to one of the sweet voices of my childhood.
Phoebe Snow July 17, 1952 – April 26, 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUb93TJfcQc&feature=fvsr
Oh, majesty of life, please don’t escape me.
It’s getting later and the windowshades are drawn.
I’m not the best that I could be
But I’m trying to wait and see
What can happen to a girl in her hometown
Oh, the wilderness
The [...]
Toolbox Camp: Crash Course in Community Building; 10 Day Retreat on Group Dynamics
As a trainer, consultant and long time Intentional Community member, I sometimes get asked what it takes to form a Community. This is no casual question. I believe the statistic is that about ninety percent of forming Communities will fail within their first five years.
When I cross paths with folks who have a vision for [...]
The Woods. July. Bugspray. Group Dynamics…
Your Mama Scares Me–Jamie Anderson Sampler
Finally, a singer-songwriter who tackles the ticklish issues we’ve been skirting!
Join Jamie, me and the fine folks of Heathcote for a House Concert and fundraiser on May 22, 2011 at 7pm! RSVP at 410-458-2310
Graffiti: The Subversive’s Hymnal in the Age of Earth, Inc.
Although many of us in the Intentional Communities movement know C.T. Butler as a consensus trainer/ facilitator/mediator and the author of On Conflict and Consensus and Consensus for Cities, he is also the fountainhead and co-founder of the original Food Not Bombs collective. He’s co-author of Food Not Bombs: How to Feed the Hungry and [...]
Jamie Anderson Video Biography: Singer-Songwriter, Parking Lot Attendant
Jamie Anderson, the singer-songwriter who is doing a benefit house concert at Heathcote Community on May 22, has a fun video biography on youtube. Please take some time to get to know this artist if you’re not already a fan. Her work runs a wide continuum from comedic to sensual, employing many musical styles along [...]
May 22 Fundraiser for Heathcote Land, Permaculture; Features Jamie Anderson
In my world, Permaculture education and comedic Lesbian folk music are a luscious combination, like chocolate and peanut butter. Remember those Reese’s commercials in which one person is walking down the street eating a chocolate bar and someone is walking towards them eating from a jar of peanut butter and they’re both so self absorbed [...]
