Wednesday 23 April 2014

Post card from Washington

I was recently in Washington DC, working with the World Bank, who are KIN members.
Whilst I could share a snapshot of the White House, I wanted to share a few photos taken in the World Bank's 'Forum 2014' war room.

For one hectic and action-packed week in February, a crack team of knowledge and collaboration experts facilitated a cross-organisation knowledge-fest branded as World Bank 'Forum 2014'. Masterminded and led by Monika Weber-Fahr, this was a hugely ambitious programme of varied and innovative techniques designed to:

  • Showcase practice specific knowledge to areas and people who might not normally see it 
  • Introduce knowledge-sharing and collaboration techniques to a wide audience
The photo below shows the list of 'Formats' developed and the post-event learning Post-Its. The planning and delivery was meticulous and impressive.




You will see a number of familiar techniques, for example 'Masterclasses', but what this does not show is the innovative forms in which these were delivered. For example, 'experts' delivering Masterclasses were coached in the Socratic method of drawing ideas from a carefully selected group of participants, rather than just impart their expertise or views straight off. Another novelty was the rigidly enforced 'no PowerPoint' rule; all sorts of visual aids and story telling props were encouraged.

Another event format that was really successful was the 'Genius Bar'. As a result, he Genius label seems to have acquired a real cachet for some individuals. 








The 'Wikithon' format was hugely popular and like several of the other techniques being tried, will be taken forward. The Wikithon may become the Wiki-on.

The World Bank have been invited to share their great Forum 2014 story with the other KIN Members at our Summer Workshop on 11th June. This will be our 'Member Showcase' event, where 4 organisations will share in-depth case studies and other members will be provided with other ways of 'showcasing'. 

If your organisation is not a member of KIN and you think you could both contribute to and benefit from participation, talk to us with a view to coming along to share and hear about the World Bank Forum 2014 and other member innovations. 

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