Special Report on the TAINTED LOVE. Exploring the Reality of Romance Fraud. Symposium in Brisbane 31/05/2016

Delia Richard, Sharon Armstrong, Dr Cassandra Cross, Davis Hillyard and Prof Reece Walters
This report here is the written out version of my  LOVE ON THE LINE TV CONVERSATIONS, SPECIAL REPORT on the TAINTED LOVE Exploring the Reality of Romance Fraud SYMPOSIUM.

The YouTube Love on the Line TV Conversations Report

Here is the script:

I am really pleased to welcome you to the Love on the Line TV Conversations SPECIAL REPORT on a very exciting event. Namely, the ‘Tainted Love’. Exploring the reality of romance fraud. A Symposium that was held in Brisbane last week. (31/05/2016)

The Symposium was organized by Dr Cassandra Cross and hosted by the Crime and Justice Research Centre at QUT.

I was privileged to be in attendance and display my book Love on the Line at the symposium, of which I am really grateful for. Because, we need more of the stories of the victims of romance fraud to be shared amongst the public.

What I am showing you here are the highlights of the Symposium as I experienced them. It is my take on the issue of romance scams. Especially about the prevention and support of the victims to enhance their or our recovery as I myself am one of the survivors.

If later my report inspires you to listen or see some of the whole speeches given at the symposium, the link to the recordings will appear below when it comes available. But you can check the QUT Crime and Justice Research Centre’s Website through the link.

I should warn you, though,  that this report does not give you all the details of Ms Sharon Armstrong’s plight when she was scammed to becoming a drug mule through a romance scam and arrested in Argentina and imprisoned there for two and half years. You can read all about it by clicking the links provided.

What I heard and am reporting here is how I relate to her personal survival and recovery story from the incident which started several years ago and has impacted her whole life and will impact just about every decision she makes from here on. I am very pleased to have recorded a separate Love on the Line TV conversation with her. So, stay tuned and subscribe so that you will not miss is for it is in the making.

It is warming to my heart to witness such compassion in an event of this kind and willingness to practical action in order to resolve issues around romance fraud although we know how ineffective our work sometimes is as there are more and more scammers appearing. But what is the most important issue that is being touched here at the symposium and can be changed is the way the victim survival and recovery is handled.

Sharon Armstrong’s story has touched me deeply. We met the first time last year when she was invited to speak at our QLD Police Headhunters for the Fraud Prevention Support group. This group meets every second Sunday on the month. Then, I blogged about her. Just click the link to read it.

Sharon’s story has similar kind of elements to mine. She fell fast and hard, just like me. She is a person who has had previous experience about similar situations which could have applied to her scamming circumstance if she would have known to see the connections. Just like me she did not.

His first message to me had me hooked, like I never been before.
To cut a very long and sordid story short, I fell hard and fast.

I should have recognised the grooming that was accruing. I mean in a previous life, I had worked within corrections and I had had many of encounter with sex offenders and opportunities to study their technique. But no, I had my rose coloured classes on.

With the benefit of hindsight, I now believe, the scammers respond to your insecurities, your desires and your kindness. They look for those who are trusting, compassionate, and looking either consciously or subconsciously or unconsciously for someone, or something to fulfill, what you feel will enrich your life in some way.

The fraudsters are clever and can change their technique as quickly as the need occurs, because when Sharon at first was anxious about the situation and just about nearly told the scammer that the situation with him and her was ‘too good to be true’. He told her that it was not about the money.

He tells me I would be his PA. Really, his fiancée, he says. How funny is that? I think now. Me, who has never held any intention of ever marrying again was being excited by the thought of this man wanting to marry me.

Sharon’s story is very moving. To me, it is very incredible that a woman of this caliber would be able to be scammed and framed like she had been. But thinking of how I too fell and was duped although my experience was just a brief encounter compared to hers, I now understand better the depth of the betrayal, she went through. She did all the right things, checked all the right sources, including the man’s said company, although she did not know then that later it was taken off the Internet. Luckily her family was her backbone, though.

I remember promising them that I would cope and I would get through this, regardless of the consequences.

I went through feeling of huge shame. The knowledge that my family was suffering and that I should have known better was overwhelming. Most days, I kept torturing myself as to why I hadn’t seen all the signs that now seemed so obvious. Finally, I reached the point where I knew that these thoughts were not healthy. I didn’t want to feel like a victim - anymore. I came to realise that I would survive this and come out with new knowledge and understanding of how these things happened.

So, how did I achieve this?

Family, friends, strangers support and unconditional belief in me, prayer, humour, positive thoughts, remaining focused, routine, working within the prison and knowing ther is always someone else facing tougher challenges.

Listening to Sharon made me deeply grateful to know that there are people who have taken up the fight for the survivors of romance scams.

The next speaker was Dr Casandra Cross herself. I have been impressed by her research, both previous and the new one.

Dr Cassandra Cross:

Just to give you context. I’ve been researching in this area for just over eight years now. In the previous life, I actually worked for the QLD Police service and that was where I was introduced to the problem of fraud. And that is when I started to talking to people like Sharon, who were brave enough to share their stories.

When we think about romance fraud; what exactly is it? I know I’ve had lots of questions, I guess from a lot of media, I’ve done. How is romance fraud different to just a bad relationship? And, I think they are both bad relationships. I think many people would agree with that.

So, the victim is defraud through the guise of a legitimate relationship and I think this is what’s problematic, because as we heard Sharon say. She was in that relationship and while she was questioning, she was blinded. I guess, had the blinkers on about the person and how she felt about him and how she thought he felt about her.

So, there is research on this that the Internet facilitates a more intense relationship. That people ate more open on the Internet. And can develop what is perceived to be a more intimate and intense relationship online than face to face. And the main finding to come out of this is the double headed victimisation. 

I can certainly say from the victims that I have spoken in this current research that it’s the loss of the relationship that is actually , I think harder to take, sometimes, than the loss of the money. Because that is what has the significant impact on them.

Dr Cassandra Cross stressed again and again that the impact of romance fraud is far greater than just the money. The feeling of shame and the blaming the victim looks to be one of the main problems of the victims not coming forwards and sharing their stories. The new research Cassandra is taking on will be explaining romance fraud from the framework of domestic violence. That is certainly my understanding and experience that there is a direct link there to be found. So, I am especially excited about the coming research and am looking forwards to having a Love on the Line TV conversation as well.

The two Government Officials who were in attendance and speaking at the symposium were very compassionate people and I was so happy to meet them.

Delia Richard spoke of all the interesting action the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is taking. She said that the romance fraud is a number one priority with the Scamwatch.

She also addressed the misconception about who and which gender was more targeted by the scammers. According to her the ACCC statistics show that it is about 50/50 but that men lose a bit more money. Delia praised Cassandra’s new research as very important because it will connect the romance fraud with the domestic violence and many victims ‘not so uncommon’ past relationship experience with violence in the family they grew up with. It can easily predispose the victims accommodating behavior as the keepers of peace in their relationships.

Lastly, David Hillyard who talked about the very successful Project Sunbird in Western Australia. I had previously heard a lot about this project and was very excited to hear what he said.

Part of this was touched by Sharon. It’s about that perfect business model and that perfect business model about low inputs but big outtakes. One of the other essential elements of this criminal behavior is that you can confuse the authorities both in one country or one state, or across the world. And this sort of scam is that perfect model. It falls between the cracks everywhere.

I said before, the earlier we intervene, the less losses people sustain but we are not stopping it. Programs that are out there that the scammers are operating, the criminal groups that are operating out there are recruiting as fast as we stop it.

So, I guess our last message is: They are still coming. And they don’t stop coming.

David finished with: “It’s a strange old world we are working with.” And I am certain he knows and has great experience in working with those people who need convincing about the fraudsters being what they are. Luckily he also said that by sending letters to people that have been sending money offshore, progress is being made. So we ended up with a hopeful note on all accounts.

I certainly learned a huge amount about romance fraud and I am able to go forwards to work on my own small way to raise the awareness about romance scams around the place.

I very much thank the speakers and you all for watching and listening. This will all be in my blog and on YouTube so keep subscribing. There is more to come with the Love on the Live TV Conversations. Next it will be that conversation with Sharon Armstrong I promised before, so stay tuned.

Have a very good day for now and keep fighting and #standup2scams as Sharon has put it.

USEFUL TWITTER HANDLES:

@ejuusola @standup2scams @CrimeJusticeQUT @DrCassCross @Scamwatch_gov @ConsumerWA

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How to Become a Key Person of Influence (KPI): Revisited and Revised Conference

I think that every person who is interested in entrepreneurship should know about the book called Key Person of Influence and about KPI Business Brand Accelerator seminars. Personally, I got to know about them 18 months ago, when I first attended a seminar in Brisbane. I was completely mesmerised by what I learned that day. I even attended the strategy session that was held the day after. It was there that I decided to write a book. 

At the time, I was still thinking about what my book would be about but the day solidified my thoughts and gave me clear purpose. I decided that my experience as a survivor of a Romance Scam was important enough to share with others. However, we honestly looked at it with Glen Carlson and decided that I did not quite fit the program. However, on that day I did meet a person who would became an important partner for me. Chris Henderson ended up becoming my coach and helping me to break some very solid barriers that I had imagined I had. The moment I knew that there would be another KPI seminar, I bought a ticket straight away. I was curious to know how the people who had started with the program were doing and was not disappointed in any way. They were doing fantastic, thank you very much. How wonderful is that!

One and half years ago these guys were good. Now they absolutely blew my mind by their presentations and by their wit. It is extremely well done when you can happily laugh with the other attendees and comfortably share little silliness alongside of an important futuristic message. In my mind I always rate the success of a venture by the ease, showmanship and the confidence I see the MC displaying. Glen has certainly been a wonderful leader. The results speak for themselves. Before it was a good day, now I think I should be on the program.

We heard the same speakers as last time, speaking about the same topics as last time. Then, they were inspirational. Now, they all were much sharper and more refined. This time, I never looked at the clock and wonder when the next break would be. I did not sense a moment of hesitancy from any of them. Saying this in a blog seems like a trivial thing to notice but I feel it is not. See, last time, I also found them incredibly inspirational. Now, they were even better. This time you knew that they had been successful beyond their own expectations and that confidence showed like a beam of light sighting through. You can even read it from the new and revised version of the book.

What Daniel Priestley before called a Five-Step Sequence has now become a Method. The Internet that he, just a few years ago pinpointed as the most influential 'game changer' has been further sharpened in the term 'digital' and that in its turn is explained as 'revolutionary stuff'. He now gets his own point and tells it through a story of a microphone. I love his explanation about the concept 'micro-niche' applied to his method. His explanations fits the theory of my favorite economist Thorsten Veblen's 1901 model of how the consumption process runs, from the elite to the masses and from the bulk to the specified, macro to micro and so on. Here, he is explaining the communication system enhanced with the development of technology. I have explained just about anything from scamming to dolls through the same theory. It fits. How clever is that. And new trends just keep on emerging.

So, the story of the KPI Business Brand Accelerator has clearly matured in the few years that I have followed their progress. It is an interesting thing to witness. I am really happy that I went. I definitely got a lot of new inspiration from the day. I thank all the speakers: Glen Carlson, Matthew Michalewicz, Andrew Griffiths, Tim Dwyed, Valerie Khoo and Jo Burston for the new focus.

And since it just has been the International Women's Day when I am writing this blog post, I leave you with a picture. It is of Jo Burston, Founder of Inspiring Rare Birds, an international network of women entrepreneurs. She is talking about the importance of the positive mindset. This half of a sentence:  "And by the way, you are waterproof", stuck with me. For women, it certainly means a lot. Here it is, enjoy and please, check the links. They might save your business, if not your life.

What PornHarmsKids Symposium Thought Me about Pornography and Harm in the New Millennium

It has been 21-years since I attended a conference on Human Trafficking, Prostitution or Pornography. I quit for a while because after 15-years of researching these topics, traveling the world and talking about it, I had become disillusioned about the world. I actually related to just about anything through my research on pornography. I saw the patterns of power-over and subjugation everywhere.

Now, I realise that it is because our memory is built through patterns and anything outside these patterns we notice and remember. For me, there was nothing outside the patterns of violence I detected around me. My brain had been collecting material since a very young age and at that time I could relate everything, including children's play and dolls through the dichotomy of power over and subjugation that can be found at the heart of the idea of the pornographic message. I felt I had to get out and save myself from too much harm. Luckily, moving to Australia was the solution and a new career in age care and community building was the salvation. But how long can it last before the universe provides new impetus for thought for someone who is trying to ignore it the best she could? Not long. Somewhere in my subconsiousness, I did keep up with the issues and the connections kept adding up. Then I found myself a target of a romance scam and wham, the world made sense again. 

My book Love on the Line. How to Recover from Romance Scams Gracefully and without Victimisation is a result of that shock of becoming a victim of a scam. Through it I explain the bigger picture that I see through the patterns built in my brain about power over and subjugation through pornography, romance book reading and scamming. Now I am detecting scams in everything, especially in how we relate to each other as human beings. I am already in the process of writing a sequel. But before it my mission was to update my knowledge about pornography and harm it brings to us in the new Millenium.

Luckily, I saw the online add for the PornHarmsKids Symposium. It was held at the University of NSW on the 9th of February. I got my plane ticket and donated in my fee as advised and all and all, I was a little late but got there anyway. And this is what I learned on one day listening to very professional speakers and discussing the topics with other concerned attendees:

Unfortunately, I learned that nothing much has changed in 20-years I have not been active in this field. Or maybe everything has changed, depending on your view of things. I now, hold a personal 35-year historian view based on my own research about how the message of pornography harms human beings; women, men and children; those that are vulnerable and being used as pawns to earn money for those others with callous minds or otherwise disruptive behavior thought patterns about the matter of power-over and subjugation. I'll be frank. 

The most profound change is visibility. Or maybe not! Remember the billboards? We drive past them with the family everywhere. Well, during the 1980's porn was plastered directly on them. It's message was interfering with our lives most anywhere, I remember those sexualised women sitting on some fancy cars on billboard and I remember having to explain all of it to my son and my daughter. Even porn magazines were advertised along with alcohol and tobacco. We fought them down in Europe, USA and Scandinavia and the world followed through. The argument was: porn is everywhere. And it was. Unfortunately, just as the solutions for those times were put in place, Internet appeared and the visibility shifted to homes and anywhere with access to it. The message remained unchanged. Though, now we could view it from the comfort of our own space and more of us could find and watch porn without interruptions.

The other profound difference has come through brain research, actually. For now we KNOW, what we only had an inkling about during the 1980's. Our brain is affected by what we see. It builds patterns and our actions follow through, if we let them. And, now we also know that it take around 25-years to grow a fully functioning frontal cortex with the ability to rationalise. So, we know that young brains are affected and harmed the most by what they pick up along the growing process. PornHarmsKids Symposium was all about how to tackle that huge problem we are faced with by free access to online pornography. There are some alarming sign detected about our behaviour as human adults and kids in relation to how we see the world and act on impulses of the ideas that are presented to us. This can be really bad news for women and girls as our lives are heavily affected through vulnerability and conditioning. I am not saying that the men and boys are not affected. They are but the power-over and subjucation clause of pornography clearly points to the victim as female. It is hard to detect, I know. 

In fact, one of the speakers at PornHarmsKids Symposium, Dr Tucci, actually theorised that the different way the boys and the girls react to pornography points to inequality. He said that he could not understand what it was in that in boys, porn trickers their arousal response, while this does not happen in girls. Conditioning perhaps, he suggested. Well, I know! After all we live in a patriarchy and the messages in porn are molded to mirror the power-over and subjugation clauses inbuilt in the very structures of our society. Not a very hard thing to draw a conclusion from there. 

For me the rest of the symposium was about finding what practical advice, each and every speaker could give in order to best tackle the problems at hand. Three big ones come to mind:

Melinda Thankard Reist forwarded the messages that young girls want to say to boys about relationships:

And the @Cypercop1 Susan McLean gave advice to parents who are struggling to cope with the ever expanding world of pornography and how to explain and guide their children to avoid abuse and hate.

And lastly, Collett Smart gave us the 10 Body Safety Rules that can help a child to recognise where the boundaries lie:

There is an excellent PornHarmsKids website to go to for more information. From there you can get the videos and the articles that keep coming about the symposium and about the issue. I am really pleased that I went. Meeting all these brave and courageous people has given me hope. Also look up the Twitter handles @PornHarmsKids and @CollectiveShout. I know that young people themselves are very concerned and they will come up with some solutions of their own, once they are educated about this issue in an open and nonjudgmental atmosphere. 

Until that time, it is our responsibility to keep working at it. It is our responsibility to insert hope, recovery and happy endings positivity to the world. Hopefully you'll follow along and take action for the betterment of the situation and the world. Every era needs their own solutions. Let's find the ones that work now in the new Millennium. 

About Becoming a 'Key Person Of Influence' (KPI): A review of the seminar held in Brisbane, Australia, on the 5th of September, 2014

Have you ever wondered how to quickstart your new entrepreneurial venture? Is it sometimes hard to try to structure your thoughts and get a clear picture of something you know so well, but just cannot quite get right? Well no worries, join in the KPI phenomenon.

It is extraordinary what happens to you when you are inspired. It is a great feeling to experience how the synchronicity starts forming itself and how your thoughts change, new ideas just keep popping up and the momentum starts building for your projects, your company or whatever you are focused on. On Friday the 5th of September, I truly felt like being in the right place at the right time is a key to experience something great.

Namely, I was privileged to attend the Key Person of Influence seminar at the Brisbane Convention Centre, hosted by Glen Karlson and featuring partners like Matthew Michaelewicz, Andrew Griffiths and Valerie Khoo, all bestselling authors and creators of lucrative business models, in software, marketing and writing.


A seminar really can help you to take that one step you need to push yourself from indecisive and shy attempts of forming a plan to a clear focus on what you need to do in order to reach your goals. The KPI event did just that.

It was all about delivering value to the audience who was hanging on every world. My brain was really feeling like busting it barriers. I literally felt it expanding. Who knew that it could do that.

Honestly, I was prepared to encounter someone who would really easily and clearly explain to me what was going on in the world right now and how I could navigate the pitfalls of the new technology and skyper age without blowing my brain up with the effort to do so.

Turns out the answer is in structuring your thought patterns, creating a functional model around your ideas and focusing on the micro-niche of your own passion. WoW! I was really with the like minded people in that seminar. What could I do with this new realization?

Well, according to Daniel Priestley's book Become a Key Person of Influence (which I immediately read afterwards) it is to use your vitality to enhance your changes of getting things done. It is a well thought 'five-step sequence', including the perfect pitch, publishing a book, creating a product, profiling yourself and finding those great partners to enhance your power.

A great, great seminar. And it is not the end as I keep getting emails with more information, more videos, more suggestions and what is even more; I am joining the next step in their 'Discovery Sessions' to explore my hidden possibilities to participate in this new way of looking into the world we live in right now. So, stay tuned. There is more .....

Go to http://keypersonofinfluence.com.au to find out more or buy tickets to their future events around the world.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The 10th Communities in Control Conference in Melbourne, May, 2012

It was really exciting to be attending the 10th Communities in Control Conference in Melbourne. In our invitation it says that it will be the last one and many of the attendees have certainly wondered about that purely because this conference is one of the most useful and beneficial conferences for the nonprofit sector in Australia that I can think of.

I was completely taken by the conference last year and this year is no difference. I think that attending is one of the best decisions I've made this year. The atmosphere of the conference just blows you away with it's excitement.

To me this year's Communities in Control Conference was a heartfelt reminder of the things I hold dear, which is working for the social justice and equality in the world.

It is really a noteworthy thing that while we are working in our daily tasks in the community and thinking that we are doing it for the good of the community and especially benefit those who are vulnerable in our society, we can easily loose the tread on what it means to be working for a good cause. Our struggles for funding and other opportunities often shift the focus to things that lead us to pettiness and fragmentation, away from the real issue, which is to maintain social justice in our community and nation.




The Communities in Control Conference works to restore the balance helping us to hold on to that big picture. It gives us some worthy suggestions on who to follow in order to get to the right information, that 'right stuff' in maintaining our knowledge base on where the world is at this particular moment in the human rights and social justice area of things.

I was literally blown away with the discussions in this year's conference on many subjects. Last year, I was really impressed but this year's conference managed to catch my attention at every turn. My mind was captured at every moment, with every speech and every speaker.

The Hon Peter Ryan, the Deputy Premier of Victoria rightfully questioned the invitation to this conference as the last communities in control conference. It is really right and proper that the format of the conference should follow the times and maybe change to something reflecting more of the so called modern times in media, but at the end of the day, it is the human beings in the conference and where else would we get such a wonderful possibility to meet new people whose concerns are similar to us or to listen to an oration on social justice with teary eyes. Not online, as the atmosphere is very hard to transfer through broadcasts. It is the human interaction that inspires and lifts us up to such new hights that ensure that we feel like we need to 'do something' about mobilising for building and maintaining social justice in our communities and the nation.




From the first speech at the conference delivered by Dr James Whelan from the Centre for Policy Development about the 'Big Society' movement and it's possible effect on Australian society, I was holding my seat in awe of how much information I had been missing while concentrating on my own organisation's struggles in gaining a threshold in service delivery in our area.

I had not noticed how the global impact of the Big Society ideal has been creeping to my world without me giving it any deep thought. Luckily, I can now read the report that is published by the Centre for Policy Development online. I am looking forward to reading James Whelan's analysis and research and by doing so acquiring some tools to encounter the signs of the Big Society taking over my consciousness.




Associate Professor Natasha Cica, the Director of Inglis Clark Centre for Civil Society in Tasmania had recently published a fascinating book, called Penner Dreaming about the stories and the pictures taken around the disappearance of the lake Penner in Tasmania during the 1950's. She also told us some touching stories that will be part of her next book on the Polish refuges from the WW II to Australia.

She raised a question on where do we need to take our stand in being responsible for our own actions despite the systematic possibility for compromises in human dignity some dictatorial nations (like the nazi Germany) provided or provide for performing heinous acts in the name of the ordered society. Her speech left me with wonder and a desire to buy her book for further reference.




Renowned health sociologist Dr Samantha Thomas from the Monash University spoke about the scare campaigns that are rampant concerning obesity and gambling.

She held the view, backed by her research that the individuals and the communities involved should be part in finding solutions to the problems. That is the only way to gain insight and really make a difference in removing some obstacles from finding dignified ways to solve the problems. The results of the scare campaigns only lead to more harm done to the society at large than ensuring that there is real outcomes for the people and communities involved. A very inspiring speech, indeed.




My favorite speech for the first day was delivered by George Magalogenis, an Author, Journalist, Political Commentator and a Blogger. It was a very intellectual speech and covered a lot of ground in Australian politics and the history of politics. I now look forward to reading his book, the Australian Moment and making sure that I read some of his blogs to keep up with the political atmosphere in Australia in relation to the global issues.

The first day ended with Judith Lucy's hilarious comedy performance that left me giggling and a little embarrassed, long after exiting the conference room, which I am sure was just her intention from the beginning.

THE SECOND DAY

If the first day of the conference, in my opinion, was excellent, the second day easily topped it and ensured that the participants left with renewed spirits and an eager mindfulness about social justice issues that we need 'to do something about'.




The day began with Margaret Simons, a well known journalist, author, academic and the founder of YouCommNews talking about the end of journalism as we know it. "There might not be journalists as we know in 20 years but the will always be acts of journalism." We do live in an age where everyone can publish, anything and everything online.

She held a positive view to the worldwide fragmentation of information and news and said that even though it might be fragmented, with a little bit of effort, it is possible to find 'the good stuff'. An audience needs to choose carefully who to follow to get to the unbiased, well researched news and act of journalism. It is all in the skills of how to navigate through the maze of unnecessary information flow.

Her speech left me thinking that a community organisation such as in which I work at or indeed any kind of modern business that is working to help the vulnerable people in the community needs someone who can keep up with the big picture that will help us to guide the organisation to informed decision making.




Scott Riddle, the Strategic Syndication Partnership Manager for Google then followed the lead of Margaret Simons and informed us of all the new technology, help and systems that Google.org, the nonprofit part of the Google business has actually already put in place to help the nonprofits of the world online. He talked about cloud computing and raised concerns in the audience about privacy issues. He acknowledged all the concerns and said that they were really good points and that Google was certainly putting a lot of effort into dealing with such issues as privacy etc.

I was quite fascinated by The OurSay Panel that followed. On the first day, the participants had been invited to log on to the OurSay.com, write down the question that we would have liked to be answered by the politicians and vote on the questions that others had raised. The three top questions were then presented to a panel consisting of former and current, local, state and federal politicians.

What was interesting was to hear their point of view to the questions raised. It left me with a definite aim to actually look more deeply into this kind of online mobilising of the public behind important questions that need our attention.




Next Damian Ogden, the founder and Executive Director of Campaign Action and an Obama Campaign Advisor give us his insights to how to organize meaningful campaigns for a good cause.

I was really impressed by his high ethics in planning and mobilising people behind worthy causes. I am sure that the program his company runs would benefit anyone who is in a process of thinking about what to do about concerns and how to go about doing whatever it is that needs to be done. I certainly will take this up anywhere I go and talk about the social justice as an issue to be raised in relation to building equality in our nation.




After that, it was time to announce the the winner of the Joan Kirner Social Justice Award winner and to listen to the Joan Kirner's fantastic Social Justice Oration. It truly made my day by reminding me and everyone else why we are working in the community. It is to help others and the world to reach the goal of Social Justice all around the world.

I do not think that there was a dry eye in the audience while listening to the Joan Kirner's speech. It was a heartfelt reminder to us all about the huge work that is there in the community and society for those who set the goal of helping nations to equality, peace and freedom as a main purpose of their life's work.

A really worthy cause to follow and I am looking forward to seeing where the new forms of the Communities in Control Conferences will lead us.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Notes from the 'Innovate Symposium', Brisbane, August 2011

It has taken me a while to absorb everything that was going on at the recent 'Innovate Symposium' organised through Volunteering QLD and held at the Griffith University EcoCentre in Brisbane last month (18-19/08/2011) However, finally I have had time to reflect and can present my thoughts on the Symposium.

My First Impressions

Coming in to the Innovate Symposium, I was not quite sure what to expect. I had been looking forward to attending for months, ever since my friend Ehon (http://ehonchan.com/) who was one of the presenters, had invited me to participate.

Walking through the rainy bush to the EcoCentre at the Griffith University, Nathan Campus was like walking to another space entirely.

It is a lovely building, set in the bush near the main university covered by trees and vegetation. I felt that it was a really nice touch to arrange the symposium there. It somehow illuminated to all the participants, what the organisers wanted us to experience, an un-conference, where all would be possible.





On our arrival, we had to choose two pegs from the tree besides the registration desk that would represent us. During the day we would use these pegs to get to know the fellow participants better. It was a fun way of enhancing networking amongst the symposium attendants.





What stroke me most of the symposium was it's attempt to reintroduce to the minds of the participants the different ways of artistic expression and creativity that can enhance the innovation process.

That in it's turn reminded me that the original word technology derives from Greek and Latin 'techne' meaning the 'art' in a much broader sense as 'skill' or the art that derives from the knowledge of how to do things. It also reminded me that it is only in the last 200 years that we have separated the knowledge as science from the technology, it's practical art (McQuire, 2006).

It was a really welcome effort from the organisers to make us feel, in a practical way, the possibilities the artistic expression can and should be allowed to freely contribute in the innovation process. The artistic expression is a vital part of human creativity and can be applied anywhere, even in business.




The First Day

The first day of the symposium combined listening and learning through Panel talks, World Cafe type discussions and workshops.

We were introduced to several interesting projects, including the Community Gardens in Newcastle, Stratbroke Island Men's Shed project and North Queensland (Ingham) Rainforest Rangers by enthusiastic project leaders. All the experiences mentioned were products of the creative and innovative processes that in a wonderful ways respond to the needs of the members in different communities around Australia.

I could relate to each and everyone of the presented projects and immediately apply the knowledge of their experiences in my own organisation which is currently in the process of developing similar projects. It is really important to build new relationships based on inventive mindset.

I was very intrigued by the talk on the Creative Engagement in Action by Tal Fitzpatrick and also by our house artist Tashka Urban. They had a very practical approach to creativity and showed some very inspiring pictures that demonstrated creative inventiveness in action.

Suddenly, a poem, that was recited woke the historian in me. It was read as a demonstration of a new kind of approach to life as such, namely that 'life is not fair'. As a historian I, immediately, placed the poem solidly in the tradition of the Lutheran work ethics and was struck by the fact that, here, once again, the human memory shows it's shortcomings in failing to remember.

I discussed this with the participant sitting next to me. The question arose, should we forget or remember our history? Is in fact remembering, a way to stop us from innovating as we are naming the known and placing new potentiality in an old framework?

I have recently sat in a seminar on aging where the presenter reminded the listeners that it is only due to the progressive aging of humanity since the last 10000 years, that our technological inventions have come about in the first place. It is only due to the accumulated human knowledge that innovation is possible. Is it only the historian in me that grows frustrated when we blatantly miss a cue or is it something we should carefully think about in the process of innovation?




I chose to participate in Ehon Chan's workshop about the New Media. It was a really fun experience. Especially I enjoyed observing Ehon's wonderful enthusiasm and his thoroughly idealistic way of approaching subjects and issues. We should not be limited by our possible reluctance to learn about the new media. We should just embrace it as human potential.

The Rest of It

The second day of the symposium was spent in workshops on barriers to innovation, personal practice in transforming the barriers and applying design principals to practice.

What I took away from the symposium was the great stories that were shared by both the presenters and the fellow participants. There is a lot of experience that can be shared to aid the innovative process. There also was talk about the concept of 'living on the edge'.

Many of the participants I talked with felt that this has been our lot. Being there, on the edge, just about to fall to the precipice of the new and the unknown. The Symposium really brought forward the fact that 'living on the edge' is a happy place to be instead of the frightening place that we think it is.

Now, after a month, I still think about the Symposium. Suddenly, during a busy day, I stop and visualise the picture that was shown there of a huge war tank artistically covered with a pink knitted quilt. I smile and go about my day ready to continue my 'life on the edge' of it.

Reference:

McQuire (2006) Technology. Theory, Culture & Society, 23 (2-3)


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Notes from the ‘Communities in Control Conference' in Melbourne, Part 2

The Main Conference, May 29-30


In hindsight, the first thing I can say about the ‘Communities is Control’ Conference, 2011 is that I am really happy about being able to have taken part in it. ‘My Community’ has done a lot of work in providing the Australian Not-for-Profit (NFP) Sector and particularly the community organisations with a conference that as closely as possibly strives to meet our current needs for networking and updates us about the changing climate on where we work today. Without this conference I would have had to go to great lengths in trying to find out about the burning issues that many organisations are facing today while reviewing the sector or our changing relationship with the different layers of Government.

Sitting two days in a conference with about 1000 other people from all over Australia, often engaged in conversations was not such a hardship at all and I am considered a conference pro.

The second thing I noticed when coming to register was the people who had come to partake in the conference. They seemed to be from all walks of life. So many different kinds of communities were represented. It was easy to start a conversation with anybody and everybody. In fact, one didn’t need to know anybody beforehand to make friends.

For a Queenslander and a student at the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Not-for-Profit Studies at QUT, it is quite interesting that I had to come to Melbourne to listen to Linda Lavarch talking about the Government’s aims in straightening up the tangle of regulations and laws in relation to the Australian Not-for-Profit Sector. She currently is a research fellow at QUT and also is the Chair of the Australian Government Not-for-Profit Sector Reform Council.

According to Linda, this Government, instead of just talking is ready for action in harmonising regulations, striving to cut the red tape and straightening out the prevalent problems of the NFP Sector.

The good news is that the Government has already installed the Office for NFP Sector. It will engage with the Sector as a whole with four working groups and look into:

• National Compact
• Harmonising legislation
• Reducing red tape
• National regulations

There will also be an overview of the definition of charitable organisation.

The other highlights for me on the first day were the Joan Kirner Social Justice Speech delivered to us from Brussels by Sharon Burrow, who is there as the General Secretary of International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). She strongly advocated the international work the unions are doing in highlighting the blight of many nations in their treatment of the workforce, particularly women. The role of ITUC was also highlighted in its role of advancing social justice and equality to the world’s workforce. As a Finn, I was delighted to hear that President Halonen from Finland might have a future leadership role to play in this after she completes her time as President next year.

As a Queenslander it was also interesting to observe the role The Hon. Joan Kirner, the former Victorian Premier and the current Community Sector Ambassador to Australia, plays in the whole conference, not only through the social justice oration but through the warm atmosphere surrounding her and her ease in striking conversations with different members of My Community leading people as well as all the invited speakers.

As a newcomer to the community sector conferencing in Australia, it is interesting to observe that we have here a person who is highly respected and has a huge impact on the way the sector is conducting its business. As a historian, I can only remember similar kinds of conferences that I have participated in where one particular person has had such an impact in the women’s liberation movement during the 1980’s where the huge ‘feminist legends’ were still taking part in the conferences. It is clear from the conference that Joan Kirner is one of the big runner-ups for women’s advocacy in the Australian context.

I also enjoyed Hugh Mackay’s speech on his just published book What Makes Us Tick? It presented 10 social desires that we as human beings are subject to and that affect our community. It caused huge lines afterwards at the stand where his books were sold. It can be said to his credit that he signed every one of them, even though mine was the second last and he was already standing up as the next session was starting.

Miriam Lyons was a little bit fast in her speech pattern for me to catch everything she was saying about the book called More Than Luck but she was very witty and I was absolutely delighted to observe her smile and the first thing for me, when I get home is to download the book as a free eBook on the Website.

The last delight on the first day was the Choir of Hope and Inspiration [previously the Choir of Hard Knocks]. We heard the first ever performance of their first musical which will be performed in September.





The second day went from strength to strength.

Phil Ruthven presented us with a lot of statistics and forecasts for the future. Basically he said that we are now at the height of our lives in what comes to health, life longitude, wealth and wellbeing and it is only getting better. There will be more wealth, longer life expectancy and more health. That is the upside; the downside is that there will be a lot of change.

But we do thrive on change as human beings anyway, so the forecast is good, if we take it as such and apply a healthy ‘grain of salt’ to our expectations.

His speech very much made me to want to live longer in order to see for myself if he is right in his predictions. Living to 100 just might not do it. To succeed, that means that I now have to make sure to apply all the possible new inventions in health and wellbeing which he forecasts to be many.

The absolute highlight of the second day was the launching of Advancing Women: Women and the Order of Australia and the speech made thereafter by Elizabeth Broderick, Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner Responsible for Age Discrimination.

What has been the best part in the conference was meeting new friends. Even though we know that all the speeches will be online afterwards and that books can and will be bought the personal dimension of actually being there, participating in the discussions, meeting others, networking and starting to build those important relationships. There is nothing that can take away that.

It proves the point Hugh Mackay said about the desire to be connected. Through participating in this conference, we have strengthened our belief in grass roots communities and our conviction that people have power to influence change.

The conference organisers are very proud of the fact that with the help of Victorian Government funding and other sponsors, this conference has the lowest entrance fee of them all. That actually was reinforced time after time with conversations across the room as many told me that their boards did prefer to send them to Melbourne than pay an entrance fee in the nearer city, as counting together flights, accommodation and food with the entrance fee, the Communities in Control Conference still costs less than other competing conferences available during this month. Interestingly enough I was unable to find it on LinkedIn. Hopefully that will be amended next year.

Our new ties with the original ‘early bird’ group on Sunday held to the second day. It was nice to be able to say ‘good morning’ to people you know already and exchange experiences with them from time to time during the conference.

I also ran into friends from Queensland. There were many as a matter of fact. Observably, judging from the question times and counting the numbers, the Queensland participants to the conference were close to Victorian numbers.

All and all this was a very delightful conference experience, worthy of replay and recommending to others.

Notes from the Communities in Control Conference in Melbourne, May 29-30, 2011

Women Achieving and Flourishing

A Pre-Conference Seminar with Christine Nixon (Our Community & Women’s Leadership Institute Australia)

I am keeping my promise to report on my experiences at the ‘Communities in Control Conference’ in Melbourne. ‘Our Community’ has so far organised this conference for nine years but this year is my first time as a participant. It is really exciting.

My partaking was made possible with the kind support of Qld Health and Caddies Independent Minds, Drug and Alcohol prevention program for Youth-at-Risk which is funded with Qld Health CHIC funding. Already at the pre-conference seminar I was able to meet people who work with youth in other parts of the country.

From the start, it was a crash course in networking. As I was early to the seminar and did not know anybody, I needed to make friends and fast. Luckily for me all the other ‘early birds’ in our table were chatty and willing to share. Quickly we found that we all were keen users of the social media as a vehicle for networking. It gave a lively start to introductions all around.

By the time the official seminar started our table had found that we represented different States: Queensland, Victoria, Canberra, South and Western Australia and worked in a wide variety of services from fundraising and education to aged care and youth support services.

We established that we had all come to the seminar because we had been inspired by Christine Nixon’s work as a former Victorian Police Commissioner and as the Chief for the Victorian Bush Fire Recovery.

Previously, I had also been told by another participant that this particular seminar opened up a new area, namely leadership skills as a pre-conference seminar for ‘Our Community’. “Usually”, I was told, “the seminars have been about fundraising or grant writing.”

This one was particularly aimed for women and 120 of them turned up as duly invited to the seminar. It shows that there is a great call for this kind of seminar and that it was a good move on the part of the organisers. Each table had approximately eight places. They made a working group each.

At first we were introduced to ‘Chatham House Rules’ by our facilitator, Christine Nixon. They mean: ‘What is said in the room, stays in the room’. In her outline, she was adamant that the seminar would be a safe place for personal discussions and that respect would be shown to all participants.

First discussion:

Known achievers in female leadership.

We were asked who the female leaders we admired the most are and what qualities we think they could give us. Obviously Christine Nixon was high up there as an admired female leader.

I found it interesting that many people mentioned their local female council members and Mayors as most admirable. Obviously many also admired Joan Kirner. Not so many world leaders were mentioned apart from the Queen and Oprah Winfrey. Mostly, it is those near us like our own teachers and managers that make the deepest impact on us and so influence our future. Observably, I was the only one who counted in legendary feminist world leaders apart from Indira Gandhi, who was mentioned. No other historical leaders were mentioned.

Here is a summary of how an admired female leader looks like according to the seminar.

She:

• Has lived the work and the family balance
• Has a belief system and a conviction
• Is authentic
• Is collaborative
• Is very respectful of others
• Uses a gentle form of influence
• Advocates
• Is compassionate
• Is resilient and determined but does not have to take on male traits to achieve it
• Translates ‘mothering’ as a leadership quality

Second discussion:

How to grow to become a good leader?

Christine outlined a woman’s possible pathway to a leadership role. In many cases she used herself as an example. It is why we went there, to learn from her experience as a for-runner for female leadership with heart in the tough male world of the Australian Police Force. In my observation she exhibited a quality of inspiring positivity which was recognised by the audience. We were hanging on her every word.

According to Christine, the early stages of leadership growth are shaped by the personal environment. The people around us influence us and show us the way. Often we just ‘go along'.

Very soon, though, an aspiring leader shows itself in the form of the development of direction and the show of resilience with the blending of values. ”A leader learns to lead” and soon has her own voice.

An ever growing leader blends her experience with reflection on her own and other’s behaviour. It is a tough thing to do, but the learning curve is worth the trouble. There is always a way to work through the tough parts. For Christine Nixon it is: “Layering the experience, having a go at it and learning from it.”

In the handout, we are recommended to read R. Kegan and L. Laslow’s (2009) book Immunity to Change (Harvard Business Press) as a practical source for good leadership strategy.

They say that a good leader:

• Reflects on their own and other’s behaviour
• Is able to handle contradictions
• Is flexible and can see both sides of the argument
• Leads to learn
• Makes sense of the situation at the time
• Selects, focuses and drives forward
• Is able to sort the ‘wheat from the chaff’
• Is openly ready to take on information and different points of view

Third discussion:

Managing people means ‘unlocking potential’

In this part we discussed the kind of managers we have encountered. On average it is found that each person has experienced two inspiring managers in her life. They are the ones we can ‘walk over hot coals’ for.

They:

• Have strong rapport with us
• Have presented us with a safe environment
• Are worthy of our trust and respect
• Are empowered
• Care about our professional development
• Did what they say they do
• Show patience and humour
• Are inclusive

Mentoring is a way to enhance women’s leadership traits. It was highly recommended as a positive action. It ensures the continuity for female leadership. Emotional support is also recognised as important.

Christine highlights a survival strategy: “Don’t take yourself too seriously and focus on financial, physical and emotional wellbeing. Have a plan.”

Fourth discussion:

Focus on ourselves

We think about what barriers we face in achieving a leadership role. We find there are many:

• Being afraid
• Imagination
• Circumstances
• A limiting self-belief system
• Fear of success
• Lack of self-discipline

Christine asks us: “Has anyone ever told you that you are never going to amount to anything?” Many participants have experienced this. Many find it a constant struggle to overcome the barriers.

Christine tells us her favourite line on how to endure: “This is not a sprint, it is a marathon!” She has heard it from some wise person in her past as a comment. It pretty well reflects everyone’s idea about overcoming the huge barriers women in general still face in leadership roles is many work environments. I certainly see that as a long-time advocate for women’s and human rights.

Luckily this seminar has demonstrated that most of us can name an admired female leader more close to home. One we can learn from and mirror, if we are so inspired.

Concluding remarks

When Christine was asked about her management style, she said that she uses ‘the shared leadership model’. She also translates the ‘good parenting model’ of “I do not like that behaviour but I love you” in her leadership practice. She tells us she used ‘support and pressure’ model in order to get results as a Police Commissioner. As an example she tells us about working towards lowering the number of stolen cars in Victoria, or lowering the number of domestic violence cases. She tells us to think about “what is real” and to have ‘a sense of yourself.” It is really beneficial to think about who you are. It is also important to admit to mistakes.

About criticisms and those who want to put us down Christine advices: “Have a look at who your critics are.” There is a need to make a decision about the people criticising you, to decide if listening to them is beneficial for the direction of your future.

Lastly Christine quotes Oscar Wilde: “Be yourself because everybody else is taken.” This is good advice to us all.

To say the least, I enjoyed this seminar very much. It was a really inspiring experience and gave me a chance for reflection. Many fellow participants along with me liked the fact that we got the Certificate of Recognition at registration, right at the start. Only showing up was enough to be recognised.

I am really looking forward to reading Christine’s book. It is called Fair Cop and comes out in August.

Since this report is put on my blog a few days after the seminar, due to the Internet failure in my hotel, I can also report that I had many follow up conversations on this seminar. I had these conversations not only with the participants on my table but also with others, including men who the participants have talked enthusiastically to about the seminar. What did strike me the most was the accuracy of the proceedings that was recounted back to me.

It is very positive to know that the seminar had an effect beyond the day it was held.