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Intro to Consensus

July 20, 2023 @ 5:00 PM 7:00 PM CDT

Intro to Consensus

Thursday, July 20, 2023

  • Pacific: 3:00-5:00pm
  • Mountain: 4:00-6:00pm
  • Central: 5:00-7:00pm
  • Eastern: 6:00-8:00pm

Join intentional community educator Yana Ludwig for an Intro to Consensus to learn how to reach highly committed agreements within your group.

About the event

The core of consensus is the belief that everyone has a piece of the truth. Nice theory, right? But putting that into practice and creating a culture that supports consensus going well is not a simple thing.

The Intro to Consensus workshop focuses on the attitudes and cultural frameworks that make consensus—and really any participatory decision-making—a positive experience instead of a gauntlet. The lessons are applicable for anyone wanting to have better decision-making, regardless of your group’s official decision-making processes, and even with no group buy-in to use consensus.

This workshop is a basic training for groups using consensus, but will also aid individuals in building skills to better relate to their cooperative and social change groups, regardless of the formal decision-making process they follow. 

In this workshop, you’ll:

  • Learn what consensus is…and what it isn’t
  • Understand the importance of culture and what cooperative culture means
  • Understand the appropriate use for blocking and how to test for legitimate blocks
  • Get a framework for implementing consensus with the best chance to work well

About your presenter

Podcast Episode 4 - Yana Ludwig

Yana Ludwig

Yana served on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Intentional Community for over a decade. She has lived in community for 25 years, and all of her work is grounded in deep community experience. Her writing includes Together Resilient: Building Community in the Age of Climate Disruption (published under the name Maikwe Ludwig) which looks at the role of community, cooperation and social justice in addressing and surviving climate disruption, and was awarded the Communal Studies Association 2017 Book of the Year Award; The Cooperative Culture Handbook (co-authored with Karen Gimnig) focuses on articulating a vision and practical pathway for intentional culture building; and many articles in Communities magazine. Her new book, Building Belonging: Your Guide to Starting a Residential Intentional Community, was released in May 2023.

Yana is the former Executive Director of the Center for Sustainable and Cooperative Culture at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, Commonomics USA (an economic justice organization), and Leadership Eastside (which offers courses in adaptive leadership and racial equity). She is a dynamic, compassionate and thoughtful speaker and teacher, committed to creating a world that supports the well-being and vibrancy of all beings. Her 2013 TEDx kicked off a new era for her as public speaker and advocate for communities, and she spent 6 months on the road in 2015 in a national speaking tour.
Yana has been an eco-socialist activist for many years. She co-founded the Solidarity Collective, a socialist-anarchist commune in Laramie, WY, and worked for 2 years as a host on the community’s podcast, Solidarity House, which explores cooperative culture, policy and law. She was also a candidate for US Senate in 2020, ultimately placing 2nd in a crowded Democratic primary field. Yana currently serves as the Executive Director of North Coast Food Web in Astoria, OR.

Learn more about Yana here.

Location

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The Online Event Experience

 

Live Zoom Sessions

Nothing pre-recorded here! When you sign-up for an event with FIC, you’ll have the opportunity to join a live session on Zoom with the event presenter/facilitator and other participants.

Affordable and Accessible

All our events are run on a sliding scale basis. Generous donations cover the costs for low-income attendees. FIC is committed to making our programs accessible to people of all walks of life.

Watch the Recording

You’ll receive the recording of your event to view for 60 days. So don’t worry if you can’t attend a live session. Watch or listen whenever it is convenient for you. Transcripts available upon request.

Registration

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