Genuine Contact Community Gathering in Virginia Beach U.S.A.

Rachel, Michelle, Donna, and I are participating in the Genuine Contact Trainers' Mentoring Circle, the 2009 International Mentoring Circle, and the annual Leadership and Management Team meeting in Virginia Beach. It is always a great privilege to meet new trainers, to greet new co-owners and to be with members of our global community. As always, Birgitt Williams and Ward Williams, co-founders of the Genuine Contact program, are welcoming all of us with open hearts.

Our Facilitation and Program Team: Marquis Bureau Bio

An internationally featured consultant, facilitator, speaker, and trainer, Marquis has a passion for improving the quality of life for those he works with. He is a Genuine Contact™ Co-Owner with extensive experience in making use of Open Space Technology ingredients for organizational transformation and a call to action.

Marquis is the founding president of Collège des Grands Lacs and a former president of the Canadian Association for Distance Education, now renamed the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education. Since the early 90's, he has overseen several international development projects. He has been involved with the World Bank as: Chief Technical Advisor for the Education Development project in Lebanon, Evaluator for the Vocational Training Reform project in Tunisia, and Advisor to the African Virtual University. As a team member on an Asian Development Bank project in the Maldives, he was responsible for providing distance education expertise to the country’s Human Capital Development Framework. He provided guidance to UNESCO’s Institute for Information Technologies in Education in Russia. He facilitated Institutes on open and distance learning and development for the Commonwealth of Learning.

Our Facilitation and Program Team: Michelle Cooper Bio

Michelle Cooper, RN, MScN is an international consultant dedicated to helping individuals and organizations to achieve health and harmony through facilitation, consultation, coaching, mentoring. Michelle’s holistic and participatory approach enables individuals, groups and organizations as a whole to connect in a meaningful way, to work with their deep essence and tap into their collective intelligence to achieve inspired results.

Our Facilitation and Program Team: Rachel de Assuncao Bio

Rachel de Assuncao completed her Diploma in Cinema, Television, Stage & Radio at SAIT, majoring in Writing, Producing and Directing for Television. The skills she developed during this educational venture, in addition to her workplace experience, have provided her with a deep understanding of the production process. This understanding, coupled with her ability to manage multiple tasks and timelines make her the ideal candidate to act as Production Director and Virtual Assistant.

In addition to her education and experience in video production, Rachel is a certified Genuine Contact Professional. The skills she developed during this training allow Rachel to work with organizational consultants using the Program on a deeper level than most assistants are able to provide, as she shares an understanding of the work they are bringing out into the world and the energy and languaging associated with that work. Her deep understanding of the Genuine Contact Program gives her the understanding to work with her clients in accordance with the underpinning values, beliefs, and strategies of the Program. Rachel draws upon these skills when working with all of her clients, operating from a healthy and balanced business foundation and assisting her clients in moving to new levels of success.

Rachel’s career began as the Executive Assistant to the management team at writeMedia Marketing & Communications. During this time, she assisted in the development of several marketing campaigns, and her devotion to Production Management was born. Upon completing her education, and full of desire to combine her inherent management skills with the new-found love of television production, Rachel joined the Regan Productions team. During her employment, she was the production manager for their television program ‘Tune Into’ and production manager and producer for a variety of corporate video and CD ROM productions.

In February 2005, Rachel launched Musango, a virtual assistant company offering production management, event planning, business writing, and basic graphic design services to small businesses. She relocated her business to Brantford, Ontario in September 2005 to better meet the needs of her client base, which developed quite quickly throughout the Eastern part of North America.

Rachel Assuncao continues to grow her business, working with organizations in a variety of industries including organizational development consulting, music production, video production, and sports.

Our Facilitation and Program Team: Donna Clark Bio

Donna Clark is a workplace innovator with 28 years of experience in the public and private sectors in advisory and senior management positions. She has worked in the areas of economic development, federal/provincial relations, and environmental conservation. In 1995, Donna entered into the partnership of Carmody, Clark & Associates, in Halifax , Nova Scotia . She continued with the organization for the next 10 years, focusing her work and honing her skills in the areas of organizational, leadership, and personal development. In 2005, Donna Clark embarked on her own business, Emergent Futures Consulting, where she continues to work with individuals and organizations seeking growth and development. She is committed to developing the capacity of individuals to connect to each other with courage and compassion to collectively create life nurturing organizations and communities. Much of Donna's work has been with public sector organizations working in the areas of science and technology, project management and procurement, accounting, public policy, economic development and health care. As Emergent Futures grows, she looks forward to continuing work in these fields in Atlantic Canada and is particularly interested in collaborative projects including innovative employer/union collaboration, client/service provider projects and whole system initiatives.

She serves as facilitator, mediator, coach and organizational advisor and has supported public and private sector clients in the areas of leadership development, conflict management, team/community building, communication and interpersonal processes, and organizational transformation. Her volunteer work has included mediating restorative justice forums for victims and youth offenders. She has degrees in science, business and education, and is a Registered Practitioner in Alternative Dispute Resolution with the Canadian International Institute of Applied Negotiation, a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute, a Certified Management Consultant, a Master Practitioner of NLP, and a WEL-Systems® facilitator. Since 1999 Donna has been facilitating Open Space Technology meetings and working regularly with Whole Person Process Facilitation. She is an Authorized Trainer and Co-Owner in the Genuine Contact™ program. Donna also serves as a facilitator and coach at the Dalhousie University Negotiation and Conflict Management Programme and facilitates several executive leadership development programs for the Canadian government's Canada School of Public Service.

Donna is married and a mother of three children. Her life is enriched by singing, and spending time in nature.

Announcement : Bursaries and more

Donna, Michelle, Rachel and I are pleased to announce that we will offer 2 bursaries for students and 2 bursaries for not-for-profit organizations for each workshop we host in Val-David.



There is special pricing for 3 or more people attending our workshops from the same organization ($100/registrant).

Please remember to take advantage of our Early Bird Registration (before October 1 2008): $1,200.

Accommodation packages for the complete workshop period are priced based on occupancy:
• Single Occupancy: $475
• Double Occupancy: $370
• Dormitory: $300
Prices are subject to taxes and gratuity. Please contact Prema Shanti: www.premashanti.ca for further details and to make your reservation. Book early for the best room selection.