Workshops and Offerings

We will be adding and updating descriptions as we get closer to the event – so stay tuned!

Sunday May 12th

Welcome Reception

Hosted by the IONS Team and New Dawn Enterprises

6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Eltuek Arts Center, Gallery 211 (170 George St, Sydney, NS)

Full event details can be found here.

Monday May 13th

Exchange Human Library – Click here for more information!

Hosted by the IONS Team

9:45 am – 11:45 am

Multiple rooms, Membertou Convention Centre + Membertou Heritage Park

We’re excited to open Exchange 2024 with a morning session encouraging people to meet someone new and open minds and hearts to the possibilities of a more connected and reciprocal Community Impact Sector. The Human Library is a chance to personally connect with amazing people in our community to hear and share stories that can uplift and inspire.

Participants will be given the opportunity to move around and spend time with “human books” and briefly dive into meaningful stories connected to 4 themes. There may even be a few spots to sign up as a “human book” if you feel so inclined! Stations will be spread around the Membertou Convention Center, and Wikuoms (Wigwams) will also be open outside the nearby Membertou Heritage Park to hear stories and conversations with local Mi’kmaw Elders.

Popup Bookshop

Hosted by On Paper Books

Available during daytime sessions, May 13-14

Lobby, Membertou Convention Center

Stop by a great pop up book shop in the lobby of the Membertou Convention Center, put on by local Sydney bookseller On Paper Books. Browse inspiring titles and pick up your next engaging read between workshops!

Monday May 13th – Workshop Session Block 1

Good Governance

Hosted by Tyler Colburne, IONS, Lisa Villeneuve and Sara Bateman

1:15pm-2:45pm

Kluskap Room C, Membertou Convention Center

Governance is a concept that impacts all for-impact organizations, but it is not a concept that is universally defined. How organizations are created, maintained, supported, and evaluated for accountability is often through a colonial perspective and there are many paradoxes and tensions in striving for governance that is equitable and relational. This governance session will build on current and future-thinking governance practices so that participants can leave with new understandings, promising practices, and pathways forward for Good Governance in their own context.

We will share definitions, lessons, frameworks, and practices from leaders in the governance space, while also giving time for participants to co-create and engage with the idea of governance in a creative, relational, and engaging way. This session is for anyone who is curious about Good Governance, from beginner to expert.

Participants will leave with:

Increased awareness of the concept of governance, including frameworks and practices from across the sector.
Access to tangible links and resources on governance from other organizations and for-impact leaders.
Connections with other leaders in the local for-impact space who are wrestling with challenges of governance.
A broadening of attitudes and values around governance grounded in equity and relationality.

Evaluating Systems Change

Hosted by Tania Cheng, Lumiere Consulting and Annika Voltan, IONS

1:15pm-2:45pm

Kluskap Room D, Membertou Convention Center

How do we know if our work is having the impact we intend? How does evaluation happen in the context of systems change? This is hard work! If you are new-ish to evaluation and are wanting to build a culture of learning and evaluation then this session is for you.

In this session, we will discuss the mindsets and approaches to evaluating systems change and share how IONS is building a learning and evaluation culture across its team. You will have the opportunity to reflect on your organization’s learning and evaluation capacity, connect and exchange ideas with peers, and gain practical tips and resources for building a learning and evaluation culture.

Participants will leave with:

Increased understanding of mindsets and approaches of evaluating systems change
A clearer picture of their organization’s current evaluation practice and where to begin
Connections with other leaders who are interested in strengthening evaluation
Practical tips and resources for building a learning and evaluation culture

Expectations Unplugged: Navigating Change in the Digital Age

Hosted by Tim Lockie, The Human Stack

1:15 pm – 2:45 pm

Muin Room, Membertou Convention Center

Led by Tim Lockie, founder of The Human Stack, this 90-minute workshop dives deep into the interplay between expectations, change, and digital systems. In our rapidly evolving digital landscape, things often don’t go as planned. How does this reality affect individuals, and what ripple effects do these reactions have on teams? More importantly, why is this a recurring theme with technology implementations?

“Expectations Unplugged” explores the psychological and organizational aspects of navigating through constant change. This session will provide insights into how humans can maintain emotional balance by understanding and adjusting their expectations in both personal and professional settings. Participants will gain practical knowledge and tools to better manage their response to the unexpected shifts that come with digital transformation. The workshop will cover:

The Power of Expectation: Understanding how our anticipations shape our reactions to change.
The Science of Disappointment and Delight: Exploring the emotional spectrum that expectations can produce and how to harness it positively.
Creating an Expectation and Experience Map: A hands-on approach to aligning your anticipations with reality.
Navigating Change in Organizations: Strategies to help teams adapt to technological shifts without losing sight of their core objectives.

Join us to transform your approach to change, refine your expectations, and learn to navigate the unpredictable waters of digital transformation effectively.

Best Support for Your Best Resource – Your Employees

Hosted by Paul Wheeler, Community Services Benefits Trust

1:15 pm – 2:45 pm

Mi’kmuesu Room, Membertou Convention Center

Employees are a social service agency’s most important resource. They are the key if vulnerable people are to receive quality support. Yet often employees don’t experience the quality support they need in return. Since these employees are never paid all they’re worth, we must at least guarantee they have the best possible benefits program. In this session we will learn how a group of senior managers of social service agencies created that “best possible” benefits solution within the limited funding available. Reviewing best practices, cost containment strategies, and cross Canada large group buying power will help us understand that benefits program ownership by member agencies provides first class outcomes for the people we rely on – our employees.

Workshop participants will understand a model of best practices employee benefits provision that supports the ability to:

Evaluate current practices and packages; and
Build benefit solutions that meet the needs of employees and their families within the scarce resources available.

Wikuom Teachings

Hosted by Lawrence Wells

1:15 pm – 2:45 pm AND 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Outside beside Membertou Heritage Park

Join Mi’kmaw elders Lawrence Wells and Jane Meader in wikuoms (wigwams) set up outside by the Membertou Heritage Park. Listen in and engage in deep conversation to learn more about Indigenous ways of being and knowing. Topics of teachings and conversation will include reciprocity, relationship, and what it means to be responsive and reimagine.

Wikuom spaces will be available as an option during the “Exchange Human Library” opening session, as well as during the afternoon workshop session times. We invite you to be on the land, and open up to listening and learning in a different way!

Beading Workshop

Hosted by Andrea Dennis, Membertou Heritage Park

1:15 pm – 2:45 pm AND 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Elder Room, Membertou Heritage Park

Learn to bead with well-known community beader, Andrea Dennis. Listen and learn in a different way as you use your hands to become familiar with the Indigenous cultural tradition of beading. Participants will work on a small project with all materials provided.

Monday May 13th – Workshop Session Block 2

Creating Welcoming Workplaces

Hosted by Tyler Colbourne and Alexandra Theroux, IONS

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Kluskap Room C, Membertou Convention Center

How can we create more welcoming and inviting cultures for our organizations? What are the things that need to change to support people of all identities and with any number of specific needs to thrive? Why is it important to change the way we have always done things? What kind of impact can these changes have on the organization and the people involved? What would it be like to have a workplace where people feel supported, welcomed, and celebrated for their skills, experience, and identities?

Becoming a Welcoming Workplace is not something that can happen overnight. It requires time, conversation, and intentional effort from all levels of your organization – from the board to your volunteers and everyone in between.

This workshop is for you if you work in the Community Impact Sector (non-profit sector) and are passionate about making change within workplace cultures and systems. Through generative conversation, reflection, and creativity, we hope to help participants explore and identify innovative ways of working that are more welcoming and people focused while also offering examples and resources to help implement some of the things we’ve been doing at IONS.

Participants will leave with:

Awareness about small changes to make big waves in their workplace
Tangible resources to apply in their workplace
Connections with likeminded folks interested in exploring welcoming workplaces
A clear pathway to support the development of IONS’ resources related to this work
Deeper insights and knowledge to underlying complex issues that create barriers/ opportunities around welcoming workplaces
Resources for continuing their personal learning about how to create welcoming workplaces

How to do HR When you don’t have HR

Hosted by Nadia Bello, IONS and Park People

3:00pm-4:30pm

Kluskap Room D, Membertou Convention Center

What to do when you have a human resources dilemma but no human resources human? The session will explore ideas and resources for developing human resources capacity and tools to support non-profit organizations with low operational capacity and or without dedicated human resources staff. This workshop will be applicable to volunteer-based organizations as well.

We will explore different ways to generate internal capacity, build confidence, share resources within the sector, explore existing HR tools, and look at the pros, cons and possibilities of each. Participants are invited to share current practices, challenges and successes and assess their HR needs. You do not have to be an HR practitioner to have good HR practices!

Generative Conflict

Hosted by Brook Thorndycraft, Big Waves Consulting

3:00pm-4:30pm

Muin Room, Membertou Convention Center

What if you could understand disagreement and conflict as a source of learning, creativity, and possibility rather than as something to fear and avoid? What if you could support people in your workplace to disagree in ways that build more authentic relationships, lead to better decisions, and even transform systems? This is a generative approach to conflict.

This interactive workshop will introduce you to the Big Waves Generative Conflict Framework as well as a set of principles and practices that support groups to engage in conflict in relational, trauma-informed, and equity-centred ways. There will be time for discussion and small group dialogue to help you reflect on the framework in relation to your context.

How Generative AI Can Help You and the Community Impact Sector

Hosted by Robert Newcombe, Newcombe Consulting

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Mi’kmuesu Room, Membertou Convention Center

Discover how generative artificial intelligence (AI) can transform the way impact organizations create lasting change. When used effectively, AI can enhance productivity, spur creativity, and free up time to allow for more direct engagement with communities. This presentation will cover the basics of generative AI, including how it works, its strengths, weaknesses, and risks. It will conclude with a live demonstration to show precisely how it can assist you in your daily activities.

Robert has helped organizations in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors improve processes, increase productivity, and leverage artificial intelligence. He is a thought leader in applying generative AI in the workplace and has spoken about AI at events such as the AISC WorkForward Conference, CME LeanCon, and Canada’s National Engineering Month.

An Introduction to InterPlay for Community Resiliency & Care

Hosted by Natalie Abdou, Interplay

3:00pm-4:30pm

Kluskap Plenary Room, Membertou Convention Center

InterPlay is a powerful practice rooted in play and connection. It invites us to play with our birthright – yes birthright – of word, song, storytelling, movement, dance and stillness. It is a way to invite more connection, ease, affirmation, joy and resilience into our lives – with ourselves, those we love, and the web of life as a whole.

We live in particularly demanding and turbulent times. For many of us, our body-spirits are overcome by stress, overwhelm, despair, rage and uncertainty. By engaging with the incremental and playful forms (practices) and tools (philosophies) of InterPlay, we invite the full spectrum of the stories within us to rise up and out of the body – from our glory to our grief.

Our shared improvisation and play can support us simply unwinding, expressing what is alive in us, creating space for new insights and connecting more deeply with our own inner knowing and body wisdom. In playing and witnessing ourselves and others, we can learn from our lived experience in joyous ways and build a greater sense of connection, community and solidarity, along our collective journey of equity and transformation.

During our spacious play time together we will:

Invite the whole of ourselves to come and play – our inner child, sage, grump, clown, serious one, critiquer, dreamer, community weaver
Take the time to express what is alive within us through sound, word, story, movement, dance and stillness
Share and witness one another in our playing
Gain affirmation and new insight to carry forward to support our day-to-day lives and community action
Release stress, rest, be still, breathe and resource together

Wikuom Teachings

Hosted by Lawrence Wells

1:15 pm – 2:45 pm AND 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Outside beside Membertou Heritage Park

Beading Workshop

Hosted by Andrea Dennis, Membertou Heritage Park

1:15 pm – 2:45 pm AND 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Elder Room, Membertou Heritage Park

Tuesday May 14th

Reimagining the Workplace: Experiences of a 4 Day Work Week

9:00am-10:30am

Kluskap Plenary Room, Membertou Convention Center

In 2022, IONS, New Dawn Enterprises, the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design, and the Ecology Action Centre collaborated in a pilot experiment trialling a four-day work week. Each organization developed a policy based on their context and Stephanie Gilbert, Associate Professor and Cape Breton University, conducted research about the effects on the people involved. In this session you’ll hear from people who were part of the pilot and have an opportunity to learn more about how a four-day work week can be a way to push against burnout and address retention challenges!

Dare to Share: The Stories We Don’t Tell

11:00am-12:00pm

Kluskap Plenary Room, Membertou Convention Center

“At least we can laugh about it now” and “Well, it makes a good story” – each of our successes hold so many untold stories, mistakes, and discomfort that have led us there. Hindsight is 20/20 and it’s often in the messy moments that we discover our resilience, growth, and empathy for ourselves. In honor of learning (and laughing) alongside one another and celebrating all our efforts, we’re welcoming those harder-to-tell stories into the room. The invitation? Let’s share the often-untold stories of:

Failure, the mistakes, and “oops” moments
being pushed to the edge of your comfort zone
trying something new that didn’t go as planned

In an open-mic style session co-hosted by IONS team Lydia & Kristen, storytellers can have the floor for up to 5 minutes. If you have a story to share about your experience in the sector, please come prepared to speak to: What happened? Where did it all take a turn? What did you learn? What would be your advice to your past self? How do you view the experience now?

There will be opportunities to share your stories in on the mic or submit them anonymously for our co-hosts to read aloud. If you have any questions in advance please reach out to Kristen at kristen@ions.ca

We hope this session will:

Build connection and understanding of our shared experiences (we promise, you’re not alone!)
Celebrate our whole-ness and humanity
Breakdown the pressures of perfectionism
Re-frame our mistakes as learning opportunities
Encourage joy and laughter in sharing

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