Surfing the Waves

Dear Colleagues,

After we decided to cancel this year's conference in Berlin and return from the stormy sea to the land, we needed a bit of time to warm up, get dry again and then sit down together with a cup of tea and recharge our batteries. Especially for our announced Un-Conference, which we would like to inform you about today.

We are looking forward to seeing you at the Un-Conference and hereby cordially invite you to

“Surfing the Waves”

September 25^th, 2021

@10-13 and 15-18 CET

Fee: 15,00€ +

Registration here

Hosts: Irina Stefanescu and Jacomien Ilbrink

€15+ means a minimum of €15 plus a donation, if you want. This donation will be reinvested in our projects. Please find possibilities to transfer the fee below.

Psychodrama requires to be fully in the moment, attuned to whatever happens and act agile to what is, just like surfing the waves. As psychodramatists we often come with a plan, prepare a warm-up and then let the magic happen!

Therefore we thought it a fun and appropriate challenge to organize an online Un-Conference, which requires to be fully present and spontaneous to what is in the moment and take it from there.

The theme also invites us to explore how we can develop even more resilience as psychodramatists, how we can make psychodrama even more visible within the challenges of stormy pandemics.

While ‘normal’ conferences come with an agenda, Un-Conferences come without one. The program is shaped by the participants on the day of the event. So, you never really know what to expect. Only one thing is for sure: prepare to be surprised! The Unconference relies on spontaneity, good will, cooperation and responsible freedom to learn and contribute. Out of many possibilities to facilitate such an event, we chose mainly the Open Space Technology and some other additional formats.

After an initiating warm-up by your hosts, in the marketplace, everybody who feels called to initiate a session can claim time and virtual space to host a workshop or a conversation on topics that matter to them. However, you might also already come with a plan, maybe about something about psychodrama that is dear to you and that you would like to find out or experiment with. You might also want to conduct a psychodrama online and get participants for your offer.

This is your opportunity!

We all indicate our interest sociometrically for the emerging proposed workshops and the discussions, organised in two time slots.

Attendees can host and participate in as many sessions as they like and can even freely move between sessions that are hosted at the same time, when the workshop leaders accept this.

When the second round ends, we gather again all together for conclusions regarding the discussions and for the final sharing about the event.

We guide ourselves by the 4 principles of the Unconferences:

· Whoever comes are the right people.

· Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened.

· Whenever it starts is the right time.

· When it is over it is over.

And we encourage you all to embrace the Law of Mobility:

“Anyone finds her or himself in a situation where they are neither learning nor contributing, they can move themselves to a more productive place.”

We may experience some or all of these 4 roles:

Participants can either become the host of a session or be an active participant in a session. Participants can also function as a bumble bee and jump back and forth to ongoing sessions and cross-pollinate other conversations with new ideas and insights from other groups – in case they join discussions, not workshops. Indeed, especially to safeguard ongoing psychodrama's there is the possibility of gathering in a closed group.

Especially in larger settings like ours in which an Un-Conference lasts one day, the role of the butterfly emerges. Butterflies take a break from the ongoing sessions and find themselves often at the buffet or chill-out area. When two butterflies meet, they might end up having the deepest conversation of the whole Un-Conference. The hosts will create space for this.

The time structure is:

10.00 – 11.00 Opening, warm-up and marketplace
11.10 – 13.00 1st slot of Parallel sessions of workshops and discussions
15.00 – 16.50 2nd slot of Parallel sessions of workshops and discussions
17.00 – 18.00 Conclusions of the discussions, final sharing and closing.

We will be sending the zoom link 1 day before the event.

We hope this offer inspires you and that you all will register for this unique event and opportunity to join from wherever you are!

Looking forward to meeting you all next month at the Unconference, September 25th, 2021.

Meanwhile we wish you a wonderful end of the summer and plenty of inspiration!

Warmly,

The Board of the Psychodrama Association for Europe e.V.

ATTENTION!

Dear colleagues, members and participants,

the waves are too high, the storm too unpredictable - we are retreating back to the land and waiting out the stormy times!

Due to the new increases in the incidence of corona in many countries in Europe and beyond and the associated uncertainty about new entry and exit regulations and the associated testing and/or quarantine requirements, it is with a heavy heart that we have decided not to hold our international psychodrama conference in Presence this year.

Your personal costs, which could arise from possibly short-term testing or quarantine requirements, cannot be calculated with certainty and at the same time our conference would take place under distance and masking rules, as this is still the requirement for Germany and - by now - would also exclude dancing and singing.

We are going back to the land, but that certainly doesn't mean we won't go back to the waves. In order to keep our biennial rhythm, which is tied to our biennial general assembly, we have already set a new date.

The next International Psychodrama Conference will take place in two years from 22 to 24 of September 2023!

Instead of the three-day conference, a one-day online "un-conference" will take place on Saturday, 25th of September from 10:00 am to 01:00 pm and 03:00 pm to 06:00 pm (CET).

Your Conference-Team

Organising Committee