Leveling Up – The ACTO 2021 Conference: Are You Joining Us?

At ACTO, one of our main events is the annual conference. And based on the success of our conference last June 2020, we will host this year’s conference also virtually. At this year’s conference – Leveling up – Integrating Equity and Inclusion with Excellence in Coach Training – we hope to bring to our collective learning:

  1. Different aspects of excellence in coach training.
  2. The lens of equity and inclusion and how it transforms the way coach training and coaching is done.

There is an excellent and stimulating line up of speakers and keynote that will allow for thought provoking reflection and engagement at the conference.

One of the primary responsibilities and asks for us as coach educators is to ensure that the coach training world has the representation and the cultural context of the world we serve. The way forward demands of us of not imposing a dominant worldview, albeit wrapped in the expansive ideas of coaching and co-evolving the coach training curriculum, but to truly represent the societies and communities we serve.

We at ACTO have consistently challenged the notion that social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion work is different from excellence in coach training work – and see both of them as integrated and essential towards evolving the field of coach training.

The past year has been a challenging year and we will never see our world the same way again. This is a massive opportunity for change and transformation and the field of coach training and education is no exception.

Digital and online platforms are much needed and as we adapt to new delivery platforms,  we are also learning how to deliver and design our curriculum and stay contextually relevant.

Starting next month, we will be running a feature every month on excellence in coach training and also providing a preview to the conference experience. We want to welcome your presence at the conference. It is online, recorded and accessible across multiple time zones. If you haven’t already registered, please do. It is a great opportunity to meet coaches and coach educators across the world and share ideas, reflect on best practices, and stimulate thought on possible innovations.

Here are some questions that are guiding our work at ACTO within our board and for our members:

  1. How do we bring and differentiate coach training for in-groups and out-groups in any community or within any cultural context?
  2. What is transforming within our psyche and our brains as we spend more and more time learning, interacting and surviving online?
  3. How do we expand the bubble within which coach training occurs? How does this bubble impact our world, our communities and shape our culture?

We would love to hear from you, listen to your thoughts and be in a shared dialogue space with you.

Here’s a little innovative tip around online coach training:

To reduce online fatigue/ zoom fatigue – here are some tips you could introduce:

  1. Ask the participants to hide their own video. Self-referencing our own images leads to increased fatigue.
  2. Create conscious time for storytelling. Allow space for deep listening and release through sharing of everyday stories.
  3. Switch off video and create music and sound based exercises and experiences. Alone self-reflection and journaling time before group shares supports the learning experience.
  4. Use somatic release techniques as regular rituals within the training time.

On behalf of: Conference committee co-chairs Jason Veliquette & Virginia Gonzalez-Velez