If this is Sunday, I must have been in Victoria state, landing in Melbourne, then being taken kindly out to the beautiful Gippsland by old online friend Brad Beach. Out to the rolling hills, the hospitality of he an Bron (who made an Australian Chocolate Ripple cake for me!!) and the thrill of hanging out with their beautiful baby boy. Brad took up the challenge of trying to help me see a roo in the wild, but I think all the marsupials in Australia are laughing their butts off at the American who never sees them.
On Monday, Brad gave me the chance to hang out with his amazing cohort of online facilitators from Gippstafe – people who totally get what it means to connect with and teach with others online. Gipps has been a center for online facilitator capacity development in Oz. We talked about our practices, what we have learned and what we aspire to learn. Plus had some great homemade cake. Do you notice a pattern here?
Then back in the car and into town to spend the afternoon with the Knowledge Management Rountable to talk about Digital Habitats and Technology Stewardship. (I will get the slides up on Slideshare eventually…can’t hog all the wifi where I am at the moment!) A special shout out to Michele Lambert, my host, who not only warmly welcomed me, but was a fantastic engaging partner in the afternoon. Oh, and we had scones. 😉
The evening brought me to the KMLF gathering where we played with the idea of individual/group/network in more playful ways. I have to say, the Melbourne KM community (or is it a network?) is intelligent, friendly, and really crazy. Afterward we went for an (over)abundant Chinese meal at Post-Mao.
After the hospitality from Keith De La Rue for my co-conspirator, Matt Moore and I, it was off on Tuesday to run two half day workshops on online community. Again, a vibrant, intelligent and engaged group in both the morning and afternoon as we explored the nuts and bolts of our online community and network practices. We gathered in an amazing place – and darn it, I can’t remember the name. So again, I’ll have to come back to that.
Then we zoomed off to the airport and I headed for the semi-tropical shores of Mooloolaba, an hour north of Brisbane, my last stop in Oz.
I want to give out link love to all these great people, but if I did that, I’d NEVER post this, so maybe I can circle back and do this later. (Hahahaha). I love ya’ll and you know who you are.
Some posts and related digital bits from the days…
Nancy –
It was an absolute pleasure! Really enjoyed the time. The venue on the Tuesday was Abbotsford Convent – web site at: http://www.abbotsfordconvent.com.au/.
Hope to catch up again some time!
– Keith.