Free Webinar: What do you do when the group goes off track?
You’ve done the training. You know how to design a session and hold a group. But what about that moment when the conversation drifts, energy drops, or a side topic hijacks the room?
Do you redirect? Let it run? Hope it resolves itself?
As an AFN community member, you already know that real facilitation happens beyond the agenda. This free webinar goes deeper into exactly that territory.
Join us for Facilitation Optimiser — a free 60-minute online webinar on May 13 at 7:30 pm AEST.
You’ll walk away with:
→ Practical approaches to refocusing a group without losing trust or momentum
→ Confidence to make in-the-moment decisions about when to redirect and when to let the conversation breathe
→ A diagnostic lens for identifying what’s missing in a group’s interaction
→ A framework you can apply in your very next meeting or workshop
This will be a workshop with audience interaction; please come prepared.
You’ll also get to meet Simone Maus and Stephen Thorpe, who will be co-leading The Essence of Facilitation — Zenergy’s advanced Stage 2 program — in Sydney from 29 June to 3 July 2026. This webinar is a perfect taste of the kind of thinking that underpins that course.
Save your spot → https://webinars.collectiveinsight.com.au/facilitation-optimiser-may-2026
Learn more about The Essence of Facilitation → https://zenergyglobal.com.au/the-essence-of-facilitation-sydney-australia/
Open Lecture on Open Space
You are invited to join Zenergy’s Stephen Thorpe at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) City Campus from 12-2pm on Tuesday 26 May in WG702 for an Open Lecture on Open Space that will explore the environmental impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and climate change in the pacific.
Open Space is a large group facilitation methodology for running large group meetings or events around a central topic where participants engage and create the agenda themselves. It is participant-driven and has a self-organised agenda: Unlike traditional meetings with a pre-set agenda, participants in Open Space contribute their own topics and act as facilitators for those topics.
The open lecture will introduce the concepts in Open Space Technology (OST) and then delve experientially into our topic of addressing climate change in the pacific.
Contact Stephen to let him know if you are interested in coming.
Emotional Competence: The deep and resilient muscle every facilitator needs.
Here is a link to Dr Stephen Thorpe’s latest blog posts:
https://zenergyglobal.com/emotional-competence-the-deep-and-resilient-muscle-every-facilitator-needs/
Distinguising the Dynamics of Power With
https://zenergyglobal.com/distinguishing-the-dynamics-of-power-in-groups/
Upcoming courses
Stage 2: The Essence of Facilitation
Monday 29 June – Friday 3 July 2026 – Sydney
Details on the Stage 2 Programme.
Stage 1: The Art of Facilitation
Saturday 29 August – Wednesday 3 September 2026 – Auckland
Details on the Stage 1 Programme.
We have now added our Philosophy to the site – link here
The Amazon link to Dale’s books is https://www.amazon.com/Dale-Hunter/e/…
Organisations mentioned in this video include The Australasian Facilitators Network ( AFN ) http://afn.net.au/ and The International Association of Facilitators. https://www.iaf-world.org/
Zenergy Global Director Dr. Dale Hunter is the author of several internationally acclaimed books including The Art of Facilitation. Our Facilitation training programmes and services are based on these books.
Download The Gift of Presence in Groups: An Unfolding Story of Transformative Learning
A chapter by Dale Hunter and Stephen J. Thorpe published in Wright, D., & Hill, S.B. (Eds.), Social Ecology and Education: Transforming Worldviews and Practices (pp. 89-100). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003033462.
Download Full Text PDF 324kb
In this chapter, The Gift of Presence in Groups, we describe our journey of discovery into the transformative nature of presence in groups. The authors’ recognition of the power of presence occurred while working with a variety of groups both as facilitators and leaders of facilitator training programmes.
We have recently digitised our out of print book Co-operacy. A new way of being at work.
Free Download here.
We gift you our Co-operacy book, first published in 1997. While the world has advanced in so many ways, the foundational principles outlined in this book still hold true. Enjoy.
Please share any insights, tools, and principles you find valuable. Contact us to let us know and please pass the book link on to others.
We also offer
- Facilitation
- Facilitation training programmes
- Books
- Free resources for download or viewing online
- Tools and Processes
- Workshops at Transformational Festivals
- Coaching
- Supervision
We are a team of experienced facilitators who can come to you, or work with you online, and help your group achieve its purpose.
Find out about our Team of Facilitators and Programme Leaders.
Zenergy Global are part of a network with members based all over the world, please get in touch if you would like to consult us about facilitating your group.
All of our services are intended to offer you alternatives and assistance as you continue to working with the groups that you are a part of.
We are continually adding new programmes to our schedule, please add yourself to our mailing list so we can keep you up to date.
Join us on the path to enrich our planet because we are all able to work together.
Tihei Mauri Ora!
What People Say
“I liked that it was not a ‘sit down and listen to me’ training programme, it was totally interactive and not a lecturer-student relationship.”
Graham van Gilst
“What was the most value to me was the self-discovery that gave me the opportunity to learn about myself and see that I can improve on.”
Filipe R. Naivaukula
“Having the opportunity to explore the concepts around what good facilitation is. Really made me think. Gave me lots to ponder and provided me with a sense of ongoing benefits long after the week’s end.”
Graham Miller, TMS Consulting, Brisbane, Australia