I last wrote in August, just prior to a wonderful 4 week visit to London, Paris and KL, for both business and pleasure.

As all travellers know…there is so much that can be said about such trips. My aim is to share with you, just some of the excitement, interest and enthusiasm I gained from a range of wonderful experiences, people and places.

I will do this via a series of excerpts over this and forthcoming editions of IDEATION.

As the trip had 3 main components – Knowledge Management, Cooking and Sightseeing, I will be covering highlights from each over successive Paige Group E-zines. In this edition the focus is on World Knowledge Cafes. The delicious FOOD component of the trip comes next, followed by details of our wonderful walking tour through the Massif Central in France.

The major ‘takeaway’ for me is the continuing theme ‘the world is indeed small’. As ‘a globalist’ I always return home enlivened and enlightened, feeling it is my duty to share what I have learnt, with my clients, colleagues and friends through Fun.Food.Focus and Advance Knowledge Networks.

On that note, it was very pleasing to see our clients and colleagues recently acknowledged –

• Julian Burton OAM CEO and founder, Julian Burton Burns Trust, as South Australian National Finalist, Australian of the Year 2010
• Ann-Marie Chamberlain, State General Manager, Retail Banking SA and NT, NAB, as Hudson Private and Corporate Sector Award, SA Telstra Business Women’s Awards, 2009
• Jordon Theodoros and Steph Vasileff of the award winning Aquacaf at Goolwa, SA Food awards.

CONGRATULATIONS, ALL

And personally, I was very pleased to accept recently the role of Deputy Chair, Academic Board, of Acelin Institute of Business. Acelin is a registered and accredited higher education institute specialising in business and management education between Australia and the Greater China Region. For more information please see www.acelin.edu.au

We have some exciting new offerings planned for 2010, and we look forward to working with all of you.

As outlined in a recent e-mail, the FUN.FOOD.FOCUS website www.funfoodfocus.com.au is enjoying a mini-makeover with work continuing throughout January. Be sure to visit regularly for the latest foodie news, classes and special offers. And while there – don’t forget to visit our CORPORATE CONSULTING website at www.thepaigegroup.com.au

Lastly, I would like to thank all of our wonderful clients and colleagues, for their continued support and enthusiasm during 2009. We wish all readers, a peaceful and joyful Christmas and New Year from all at THE PAIGE GROUP.

Until our next edition,

Helen Paige
Founder and Director
The Paige Group

We certainly have been ‘on the go’ lately. The remarkable impact of TV food shows such as Network 10’s Masterchef, continues to stir and stimulate the ‘inner chef’ in many people. We are now well and truly into summer and Fun.Food.Focus has been at full stretch catering for creative cooks and events.

One of the joys of summer is welcoming the raspberry and cherry seasons. We have been enjoying some beautiful Adelaide Hills raspberries and hunting down the websites of local cherry growers. I thoroughly enjoy visiting the cherry orchards, enjoying scones, cherry jam and cream and of course buying fresh cherries to savour at home. Wonderful….

Continuing with the sweet theme, there are only 2 places available for our first Chocolate Indulgence Class for 2010 to be held on Wednesday January 20th.

Our last Chocolate Indulgence class was a great success with our gourmet chocolate maker guiding our guests through a superb chocolaty 2 hours. The hands-on menu featured:

• Chocolates with dried fruit filling
• Chocolate custard tarts
• Choux puffs – with a chocolate cream filling
• Chocolate ravioli
• Chocolate cases with lemon cream

We made the choux puffs into a bunch of grapes and made chocolate leaf decorations. Guests were greeted with Dutch hot chocolate and home-made chocolate biscotti and some sweet wine to have with the chocolates…lovely! 

Interested in a class? Click here to find out our 2010 dates!

FUN.FOOD.FOCUS-----
CORPORATE - TEAMBUILDING
AND ‘HANDS ON’ COOKING
We mean business!

Fun.Food.Focus has also been at work providing team building and ‘hands on’ cooking for the corporate sector. We have been privileged to work with some great South Australia companies and their people recently.

A wonderful team from SANTOS joined us to ‘cook their way’ through an Exotic Thai menu. The enthusiastic group was soon mastering the intricacies of Thai cuisine with stunning examples of fragrant curries, colourful salads and perfect rice on display as the class concluded. Sharing the fruits of their culinary labours with a glass of wine was certainly a highlight for all involved.

We also held a FAMIL with a well known and respected Conference and Event Management company to familiarize their staff with the creative CONFERENCE and INCENTIVE options available through Fun.Food.Focus. This proved very successful with the group all getting their hands into some serious Japanese sushi rolling.

We all enjoyed the afternoon very much, it has inspired a couple of us to purchase the sushi making ingredients and tools – fantastic!!

Fun.Food.Focus is an experienced provider for the conference and events sector. For those seeking a memorable experience for delegates, partners or clients please contact us for more information and specific marketing collateral for this sector. E-mail us at ask@funfoodfocus.com.au

Recognising the connection between learning, training and ‘teambuilding’, PinG, a recent client, (Partners in Grain - a project funded by GRDC to facilitate professional development opportunities for all members of the farming business), undertook a World Knowledge Café, facilitated by Helen (refer below) followed by Japanese Sushi Making, for all of their State Reference Group members and colleagues.

Corporate Events with Fun Food Focus
Fun Food Focus is also an experienced provider for the corporate market. Our ‘hands-on’ cooking classes can be expertly tailored to meet strategic business objectives such as team building and motivation, change management or purely as a staff reward. We offer a range of culinary experiences matched with a variety of venue options for a unique and unforgettable corporate event suited to your individual requirements. Hear more from our satisfied clients and view our video now at www.funfoodfocus.com.au

London – September 2009

As mentioned in my last e-zine, David Gurteen, (Helen is his Regional Director, Australia), invited me for a catch up and to attend one of his Master Classes on Implementing a Knowledge Café, when in London in September. It was great to catch up with David again, of course. It also afforded me the opportunity to present my perspective about experiences, in facilitating Knowledge Cafes in Australia, to his group of corporate attendees from a diverse range of backgrounds including local government, legal, administration and defence. This was an informal session – but very useful in hearing and sharing the KNOWLEDGE message – across the world.

Whilst in London I also had the pleasure of meeting a range of fascinating Knowledge Management experts and practitioners – such as:

• Enjoying a warm beer with Dave Snowden from the Cognitive Edge www.cognitiveedge.com;
  
  
• Ron Donaldson who ‘encounters with complexity, stories and community – an ecological perspective on knowledge sharing’ http://www.rondon.wordpress.com who visited me on the way to a Centre for Narrative Leadership meeting – great discussion!
  
  
• Wendy Towner, the Head, Business Intelligence, of ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) – who was very interested in the concept of Knowledge Cafes, their use and application.

While some other meetings were attempted, not all came to fruition due to conflicting timetables, traffic and the inevitable other difficulties when trying to meet in a big city!

PARIS

I was very pleased to meet up with Francoise Lin who is the International Network Department Area Manager of a large Insurance company. Happily Francoise’s office was on the Boulevard Haussmann, the same street as one of my favourite Parisian galleries – so a very nice coincidence!

Francoise and her organisation were just commencing their Knowledge Management journey – so she was very interested to hear my perspective on KM in Australia, as well as the use of Knowledge Cafes as a means of assisting Knowledge Management integration. We are keeping in touch as their journey continues.

KM FOR THE ENERGY, ENGINEERING AND RESOURCES SECTORS

Very soon after my arrival home from overseas, I facilitated a World Knowledge Café at the above Conference for the Ark Group. It was interesting to return to Perth again – my second visit – and to meet and liaise with those attending. With a focus on mining and resources – the conference attracted people from Rio Tinto; Fluor Australia; Alcoa; Arup and many others. Picking up a theme for the Café from the Conference Proceedings worked well, and was therefore very apt and topical.

The topic ‘How do you make sharing knowledge second nature within your workplace’ proved of interest to the group and the very pleasing aspect/outcome from this World Knowledge Café was the data gathered, was immediately available and taken up by a recently formed
Perth Community of Practice….great work, and great outcome!

Feedback included:

• Excellent discussion/sharing of info
• Great way to end this event
• Helen is obviously very passionate about the concept – it shows!