Everything's An Offer

A BOOK ABOUT THE JOYS OF UNCERTAINTY

The recipient of the 2009 OYF Pollination House Grant is the reclusive Robert Poynton, who shut himself up on a remote mountaintop in Spain and wrote a book about improvisation, uncertainty, letting go of control, and how this applies to life and work. Everything's An Offer is the accumulated thought of 11 years of experience using improv to help individuals and organizations do things better and in a more satisfying way. Rob also happens to be one of the founders of OYF, but we didn't let that influence our decision about the grant...no sir.

Read excerpts, contents and learn more about the book www.everythingsanoffer.com.

If you're in the U.S., skip the formalities and buy the damn book.

If you're in the U.K., skip the formalities and buy the bloody book.

The Deeper, Funner Facilitation Cookbook:

Keep Them on the Edge of Their Seats and Propel Real Change

By Julie Sheldon Huffaker
Illustrated by Gary Hirsch

If it sounds like this cookbook might be all sugar, sprinkles and Betty Crocker aprons, think again. This is more like a cross between Cook's Illustrated and The Anarchist's Cookbook, with a good mixture of pancake batter and acetone stuck to the pages. A compact how-to, the cookbook is based on 10+ years of experimenting with co-creative facilitation techniques - including improvisation - for getting the best out of groups. If you're a business leader, Learning + Development or HR guru, or consultant, you'll get a rich new set of tools for facilitating meetings, workshops and presentations:

Seven basic steps (or "recipes") to expand your facilitation toolkit - with clear, useable how-to's
Real-life examples from small firms to Fortune 500 clients
A bit of philosophizing every now and then - because we just can't help ourselves - about some ways that human tendencies and organizational culture affect you as a facilitator
Practical tips and pitfalls to avoid (read: things we learned the hard way so you won't have to)
Fresh, smart and unexpected ways to make facilitated sessions more engaging, collaborative, impactful and possibly even more fun

"Unlike many books taking a mechanical approach to facilitation, here you learn from years of experience On Your Feet has amassed using non-traditional sensibilities - improv, story telling, images, bent paper clips - to harness the full energies of a group of participants. Like any great cookbook in your kitchen, this will soon be heavily marked up, crumpled and ragged from use by anyone serious about improving as a facilitator."

- Scott Dawson, Dean, School of Business Administration
Portland State University

Get a downloadable excerpt, order a book, or keep an eye out for the Cookbook blog (coming soon) for more spicy ingredients for facilitators.