Tirian’s programs involve the deliberate use of action events and facilitated reflection to bring about lasting change and learning. Tirian doesn’t provide ‘training’, but rather designs educational interventions.

The sum of the parts is the core of our success. The value of a Tirian program is the whole crafted design that contains an integration of: a brand with a memorable theme, solid content, validated research, engaging connected activities, business & personal outcomes implications with applications, relevant metaphors, diagnostics /assessments, humor and interactive narratives, stories, case studies, and gamified simulations. These are all combined and carefully designed to reach an outcome. They have the agilely to cover and flex to a wide range of audience personas including: conferences, team building, workshops, C-level strategic planning, with both short & long-term interventions. Added to this mix is blended learning options: online / F2F with self-paced pre and post-learning.

Our programs are unique and exclusively designed by us. The material contained in our published books, PhD research & white papers, is testimony to the originality of ideas and content.

Conference/Keynote Speaking /Keynote Talk / Keynote Speaker.

A keynote is like a light – designed to inspire, engage and motivate. Conference/Keynote speakers are expected to have originated the material they are talking about, AND/OR done the sporting/adventuring/political achievements they recount. They have achieved global recognition, & are for this reason engaged internationally. ’They can present their material in an interesting, engaging, and stimulating way, reaching cynics and interested people alike. For this reason, keynote speakers’ fees are the highest in these categories. Numbers are generally unlimited, time is short (30-90 mins). Keynotes can combine interactive simulations. See our keynote speakers https://tirian.com/delivery-methods/keynote-speaker     Linkedin Article: Why use, and how to choose a professional keynote speaker? https://bit.ly/3PPEfRg  

Workshop

A workshop is more of a window to the world – to look outward, to see best practices and new ideas. Numbers are limited & based on outcomes, to ensure results. Time is longer than a keynote so more can be unpacked (1/2-few days). Workshops can combine interactive gamified simulations.  see our workshops

Facilitated Online Experiences

A session like this should not just be a transferred talking head, nor just a transplant from the face-to-face workshop. It should be carefully re-designed to be a full engagement using all the available tools such as: planned chats, breakout rooms, gamification, surveys, polling, simulations, collaboration canvases, and action-reflection. It can also blend with the option of ‘pre’ and ‘post’ self-paced online learning through a learning platform (pre-reading, videos, reflection and post-action planning follow up and summary of key points + assignments and coaching as relevant).

Webinars

Introduction to core key points, with learning, focussed more through listening. A webinar can handle a large group, however, the trade-off is that there is a need for more straight-talking to the camera. Can cover informative, inspirational, research motivational, stories, & case studies. Interaction is possible, but personal interaction & dialogue will be limited.

Online Zoom Meetings V Zoom webinars. What’s the difference between the platforms?
With Meetings, (Facilitated Online Experiences), you get a collaborative environment where everyone can screen share, interact with video and audio, and “engage” in a virtual discussion. You can interact through chat and screen sharing alongside video, answer polling questions, and apply virtual backgrounds. Webinars,  are similar to virtual events. Webinars give you a digital environment where you can present ideas and content to a larger audience. Where Zoom Meetings are designed to support multiple people interacting at once, Zoom Webinars are more about “presenting” content to a specific audience.

Business facilitation & coaching

This is like a mirror – allowing the group (or individual) to reflect back, strategically plan & set goals.

Blended online learning

This is like an ecosystem combining all of the above – allowing a flipped classroom & self-paced learning. This can be stand-alone, or complement any core sessions. It can include pre and post self-paced online learning through a learning platform (pre-reading, videos, reflection and post-action planning follow-up and summary of key points + assignments and coaching as relevant).

Facilitation

Facilitators provide stimulus to encourage the group to discover the answers. Since reflection is the key to deeper learning that leads to more lasting change, anything that a “facilitator” does to enhance reflection before, during, or after an experience is called “facilitation.”

The central purposes of facilitation are to:

  • enhance the quality of the learning experience,
  • to assist clients in finding directions and sources for functional change, and
  • to create changes that are lasting and transferable.

Facilitators need to be very skilled in working with group dynamics as what they work with is “live” and “fluid”. They need to be able to deal with difficult people and win them over to positive participation.

Facilitators can present formally from out the front, but where possible would prefer to keep the environment conducive for self-discovery – such as using experiential learning methods. Good facilitators can still bring audiences to self-discovery from out the front formal presentations, by the way they construct their presentation and the methods they use. Good Facilitators educate.

“Education” implies that the learner has developed an understanding of the issues or principles and acts deliberately on the basis of these because they have become committed to them. For this reason, facilitators fees and experiential learning programs are higher than trainers fees.

Training

Trainers refer to existing material or tell you stories about other people. Thus trainers must be good communicators and perhaps technical experts but are not originators or the source of their own knowledge. Training is about developing a specific skill set, imparting knowledge. (Education is about developing skills for ongoing learning and inquiry). Training teaches people what or how to do something with little understanding as to why it is the case. Teaching and instructing is a skilful practice, learning ‘happens’ as a consequence of well practised skill

Activities (Instructors)

Instructors can run basic team activities and games, with no focus on outcomes or group dynamics.

For this reason, Trainers’ & Instructors’ fees are the lowest of the categories, and not the focus of what Tirian offers.

What is authentic learning?

Learning is a change in the way we feel, think, or behave. When we are aware of the change, when we intend to make the change, and when the change is maintained over time, then our learning has been conscious, deliberate, and lasting. Unfortunately, and all too often, attempts to learn or change are prevented by a lack of reflection (defeating awareness), the presence of resistance (defeating intent), and many barriers to supporting transfer (defeating maintenance).

What is Experiential Learning?

Experiential learning is founded more on the active doing rather than the passive being done to. In this way, people practice the very skills they are learning and are more likely to maintain their change back at work. Experience-based learning becomes “experiential” when elements of reflection, support, and transfer are added to the base experience.

What is Debriefing?

In Debriefing, facilitators ask clients for their opinions and refrain from making statements to clients. In this way, clients learn to think for themselves and begin to take ownership over confronting issues (educational programs). If they “own” their issues, they are more likely to commit to changing the situation and to follow through on their commitments. In a debrief discussion, clients are asked (under the guidance of a questioning facilitator) to reflect on their experiences and to discuss points of learning that they believe took place.

What is the real value of Simulations and Gamification? (team building)

Simulation is the process of abstracting reality for a purpose and includes all interactive representations of perceived reality.  Simulations challenge assumptions and expectations. Simulations engage the whole person of the learner – creating opportunities for experiencing learning as an integrated unity. Using Simulations and Gamification, unique methods of input “practice fields” or “virtual worlds” can be created that enable participants to see:

  • Issues that arise in the workplace over a long period of time can be isolated and focused on to see more clearly the consequences of particular actions.
  • Incidents that occur very rapidly can be examined in detail to study more carefully.
  • Actions and attitudes that cannot be reversed or taken back in the real world can be re-tried countless times in a protected environment.
  • The complexities of the everyday working environment can be simplified and analysed.

What is the outcome of the different levels?

Good: Explore

Designed to change the way people feel (to entertain, re-energize, relax, re-create, socialize, teach and learn new skills) & the introduction of ideas.

Better: Examine

Designed to change the way people feel and think (to gain awareness of needs, to add knowledge of new concepts, to understand new ways to look at old or familiar concepts).

Best: Extend –deep dive options

Designed to change the way people feel, think, and behave (by increasing positive functional behavior, by improving interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships). Business facilitation / consulting / strategic problem solving.

Can you show me an example? (and why should we pay more for this?)

A company uses group problem-solving tasks at a conference to make attendees happy and to get them mingling (recreation). The company uses similar tasks to demonstrate the value of teamwork and to introduce their new team strategies (education). Once the benefit of teaming is evident, the company uses problem-solving tasks to actually build new teams (development). Lastly, one group is not getting along very well–they withhold information, sabotage change efforts, and distrust one another–so the company uses similar tasks to help them become more effective in their work (redirection).

NOTE: In these examples, the skill of the facilitator and the facilitation methods used to introduce and reflect on the experiences (not the action events) are the instruments of change.

Basic team activities / team building  (… not offered by Tirian)

This is mainly just fun recreational team-building “activities” where the experience of being together & doing an activity, provides a fun team bonding experience. This type of program is designed to let the experience speak for itself, where clients are left to sort out their own personal insights. This approach is fine, provided that identified or prescriptive intrapersonal and interpersonal goals are not sought. Participants may well have a good time and possibly become proficient at new skills, but they are less likely to have learned anything about themselves, how they relate with others, or how to resolve confronting issues in their lives. In letting the experience speak for itself, a facilitator would not look to add any insights (or won’t be skilled enough to add insights) regarding the experience when it was completed. If any comments were made, they might pertain to how much fun the experience was and encourage the group to move on and try the next event: “That was great! Good job! Now let’s try something new and different.”
For this reason, basic team activities (even if sold as ‘team-building”) are cheaper than outcomes-based team building.

Intelligent team building (outcomes-based team building) … Offered by Tirian. 

Designed to bring about an outcome (Engagement, Communication, and Leadership, etc. ) that will change the way people feel, think, and behave– to entertain, re-energize, relax, re-create, socialize, teach AND learn new skills. With outcomes-based team building, there is not necessarily any drop-off in the “fun” or engagement aspect of the activity.

Intelligent team building makes use of careful design & framing, leading to genuine debriefing.  Skilled and experienced facilitators will ask the participants for their opinions and refrain from making statements back. In this way, participants learn to think for themselves and begin to take ownership over confronting issues (educational programs). If they “own” their issues, they are more likely to commit to changing the situation and to follow through on their commitments. In a debrief discussion, participants are asked (under the guidance of a questioning facilitator) to reflect on their experiences and to discuss points of learning that they believe took place. The discussion can take a free form and shift from topic to topic as the group needs or can be prescribed or “funneled” in a direction that the facilitator determines is best. This latter type of debriefing is called funneling, where questions are carefully sequenced toward an outcome.”

We are not fans of traditional win /lose competitive team building games, as if not executed well can have a negative effect on the overall team. The times where we have engineered in a level of competition is deliberate to give an Ah Ha moment, that then contains an unforgettable twist and self-discovered learning outcome!

See the article we wrote/published in HRM Magazine: Why you need to be careful about competition

 

Example Tirian Programs: 

CSI1 ‘Who Killed Creativity?‘ board exercise may have a similar theme to a CSI, whodunit, murder mystery or a game, like Clue (Cluedo), ours is not designed as a competitive game / contest with winners and losers. The focus is on using a gameboard layout with some gamification elements connected to an integrated memorable theme, which enables productive discussions in a safe space. This approach helps individuals and teams to explore, diagnose and discuss fictional ‘creativity killer’ characters to help identify what can block creative thinking and how it can be possible to get it back. The aim of the exercise is to use this metaphor to explore psychological, cultural and environmental blocks to creative thinking, and to devise personal action plans to deal with these.

The Chocolate Factory: has designed into it a level of competition to improve each time (against themselves- process improvement). The focus is on the challenge for each of the teams by becoming more self-empowered and engaged, and this demonstrates how this leads to better results – both for the customer and the employees.

The Innovation Race: tackles the subject head-on. Sustainable innovation can only happen when we collaborate. Our book tackles this question: “The Innovation Race– Who Wins loses and gets eliminated?” We don’t like to give away our endings, but If you think The Innovation Race is all about ruthless winning at the expense of others, the title has a deliberate ambiguity built into it that challenges this contemporary metaphor and brings to the forefront of the innovation race- the need for ethical, purposeful & sustainable innovation. Innovation is about pushing the boundaries, and to do this we need to challenge and question, our common metaphors and even our deepest beliefs and assumptions.

The Collaboration Deception: Is an interactive in-depth simulation social experiment that specifically addresses head-on how to build a collaborative culture in a competitive environment. This program is based on “Game Theory” and ‘Cooperation Theory’. It explores the paradoxes between: Individualism & Group Engagement, and Collaboration & Competition resulting in Collaborative Engagement. It is highly competitive, with a powerful twist at the end!

On Thin ICE: is competitive against the environment.

Why do we struggle with “team building” requests that are competitive?
We sometimes get asked “Can we do a team building program like Survivor? (Reality TV show) and its theme of Outwit — Outplay — Outlast?
However we believe that “Survivor” isn’t team building at all, nor is it really about enduring life on a deserted beach, (“The Bachelor” isn’t about marriage, & ”The Amazing Race” leaves little time to appreciate any amazing cultures.) These ruthless racing, singing & cooking shows are this generation’s “Stanford Prison Experiment”. They are not team building nor do they build any sustainable collaboration. The fake reality of ‘Team Building’ disguised in the concept of a “competitive race” and often trumpeted through the genre of contemporary Reality TV needs to be challenged. Corporate teams need to look at the alternatives and unpack the real concept of collaboration, so it becomes a constructive, more meaningful, and actionable metaphor that enables sustainable innovation.

What are the difference between CREATIVITY (creative thinking) CRITICAL THINKING, TTCT, DESIGN THINKING and INNOVATION? and other buzz words “Agile” “Scrum” etc. What do Tirian programs cover?  See full article

WHAT IS CREATIVITY? Most people miss and overuse these new buzz words following the trends. (Was “creativity” now “innovation”.)  Most people want to jump straight to the solution (Innovation) but if they miss the creativity section it’s unlikely they’ll get a great result. Creativity can best be measured by the 7 TTCT attributes including the bigger picture of the ability to think both divergently and convergently.
> Tirian Programs that covers this include: CSI1, and CSI2 

CREATIVE THINKING: The thinking we do when we generate ideas. Can challenge dogma and construct unusual elements / Divergent Thinking
> Tirian Programs that covers this include: CSI2 

CRITICAL THINKING: The thinking we do when we judge ideas. Can apply meaning and relevance.  / Convergent Thinking
> Tirian Programs that covers this include: CSI2 

TTCTTorrance Tests of Creative Thinking is built on J.P. Guilford’s work and created by Ellis Paul Torrance, the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, a test of creativity, originally involved simple tests of divergent thinking and other problem-solving skills, which were scored on four scales:  (Tirian has converted these to 7 attributes) adapting the non-verbal visual test.  Torrance measures your CQ: how creative you are in your thinking. Usually a  series of discrete tasks administered by a psychologist, the Torrance Test is not a perfect measure of creativity. But it has proven remarkably accurate in predicting creative accomplishments.
> Tirian Programs that covers this include: CSI1,

‘WICKED PROBLEMS:‘ are wicked in the sense that they are ill-defined or tricky, not wicked in the sense of malicious. For ill-defined problems, both the problem and the solution are unknown at the outset of the problem-solving exercise. This is as opposed to “tame” or “well-defined” problems where the problem is clear, and the solution is available through some technical knowledge. This methodology is a solution-based ‘abductive’ approach.
> Tirian Programs that covers this include: CSI2 and CSI2+

DESIGN THINKING: is a non-linear, iterative process that teams use to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative.  Design Thinking is a tool /Process, method used to solve ‘Wicked Problems”. Also referred to as CPS (Creative Problem Solving). Tirians model covering Design Thinking is called Strategies for Innovative Development (SID) and is used primarily in their CSI2 courses. 
Tirian Programs that covers this include: CSI2 and
CSI2+

  • Agile, Scrum, Design Sprints, Ideation, Empathy Mapping, Prototyping, Minimum Viable Product,  ETC: are all tools to help design thinking, creativity and innovation happen.
  • It is worth noting that these days the words “Design Thinking” is thrown around like the word “religion”. They both can mean so many things to different people. Companies can invest millions (engaging long-term expert consultants and academic models through places like Stanford or Ideo) right down a local trainer that’s jumped onto the latest trend calling themselves a ‘design thinking’ expert (invalidated!)

INNOVATION: Innovation is typically described as the application of ideas that are both original and practical.
> Tirian Programs that covers this include: CSI2 and CSI2+

INNOVATION LEADERSHIP: is a philosophy and technique that combines different leadership styles to influence employees to produce creative ideas, products
> Tirian Programs that covers this include: Innovation Future Ready Leadership 

AMBIDEXTROUS INNOVATION LEADERSHIP: Ambidextrous leadership refers to leaders who can deal with the complex competing demands of our current rapid fast change world.
> Tirian Programs that covers this include: Innovation Future Ready Leadership 
For more about INNOVATION click to a separate page

We can offer a range of programs, outcome and team to suite your needs

Explore: Regular Facilitator: Introduction & Exploration to the learning content & topic. + Designed to change the way people feel (to entertain, re-energize, relax, re-create, socialize, teach and learn new skills)

Examine: Senior/Master Facilitator

Examining the topic. + Designed to change the way people feel and think (to gain awareness of needs, to add knowledge of new concepts, to understand new ways to look at old or familiar concepts.

Extend: Executive Facilitator:

Deep dive. + Designed to change the way people feel, think, and behave (by increasing positive functional behaviour, by improving interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships). Business facilitation / consulting / strategic problem solving.

Extensive: Director level

All the above + specific business facilitation, assessment with coaching options, behavior modification tools, action planning, full immersion dives, strategic business applications, and more academic validation. A director or executive level facilitator can help people maintain ownership of the process and outcomes and promote dialogue, allowing people become observers of their own thinking. Integrated blended learning focus.

———————————— ———————————

To compare apple to apples this handy chart below will help with skill levels and expectations.

DIRECTOR / CEO / MD

  • Best suited to run C-level and EXECUTIVE level programs
  • Owners of the company &/0r
  • Authors of international books from a recognised publisher &/0r
  • Relevant Post Graduate degrees. &/0r
  • Held a director level role in a large company &/0r
  • Presents on the International Keynote speaking circuit
  • Significantly contributed to designing the content of Tirian programs and shaping the company
  • Mastery has come from exceeding the 10,000-hour principle of ‘achievement = talent + preparation’
  • Has a share in the training firm and/or a management role.

Executive Facilitation focusses on the DEVELOPMENTAL & REDIRECTIONAL aspects of facilitation: It helps the group solve a substantive program and learns to improve its process at the same time. It includes a teaching element, to allow the group to eventually become self-facilitated. This level of facilitation is designed to change the way people feel, think, behave and resist (by decreasing negative dysfunctional behavior, and by reducing opposition and denial.)   Diagnose, Design, Development, Customisation. Understand client business strategies, Determine desired outcomes, Link learning to needs and desired outcomes, Develop content & delivery methods to reach outcomes. (+ levels below)

EXECUTIVE FACILITATOR

  • Best suited to run EXECUTIVE level programs
  • Able to hold the attention of and command respect from senior executives
  • Min 10 years facilitation experience including senior executives
  • Educated to relevant Degree level
  • Strong charisma and gravitas
  • Broad business operations experience
  • Able to respond in real time, reframing content in response to audience feedback, whether expressed or implied and go ‘off piste’ in regard to subject matter should the need arise Is capable of steering and managing major, complex training programs or multiple smaller training projects
  • Certified in one or more fields: NLP, Emotional Intelligence, Executive Coaching or have experience in psychology, neuroscience &/or anthropology.

Executive Facilitation focusses on the DEVELOPMENTAL aspect of facilitation: It helps the group solve a substantive program and learns to improve its process at the same time. It includes a teaching element, to allow the group to eventually become self-facilitated. Developmental facilitation is designed to change the way people feel, think, and behave.   (+ levels below)

SENIOR FACILITATOR

  • Best suited to run STANDARD level programs
  • Charismatic facilitator
  • Able to hold attention of and command respect from senior executives
  • Experience and knowledge of key business initiatives and issues in different industries
  • Able to sense and respond to variances in audience and in subject matter
  • Able to lead facilitation interventions and manage other facilitators
  • 5 years of facilitation including Senior Executives
  • Capable of steering and managing large training projects/programs or multiple smaller projects.

Standard Facilitation helps a group solve a problem by facilitating an effective process. The focus is on the EDUCATIONAL aspect of facilitation: Intended to change the way people feel and think (to gain awareness).

REGULAR FACILITATOR  / MODERATOR

  • Best suited to run LITE / ELEMENTS level programs (recommended parameters: small groups up to a full day, or larger groups: half day)
  • Able to Facilitate an introductory program AND OR support delivery to senior audiences with guidance from a senior facilitator
  • Strong presentation skills on topics that they have prepared in advance
  • Basic awareness of industry issues.
  • Good understanding and knowledge of relevant areas of behavioural psychology and models
  • Able to handle audience objections
  • Understand their own limitations and when to hand over to others
  • Likely to have more than 5 years’ facilitation experience Educated to degree level
  • More than 3 years’ experience in operational environment

Regular Facilitation Focusses on the Recreational aspect. It is designed to change the way people feel (to entertain, re-energize, relax, re-create, socialize, teach and learn new skills).

INSTRUCTOR

  • Suited to run a BASIC program with just the core activity. OR support to a more senior facilitator / second team.
  • Guides the group through the activity without facilitation or providing ‘ah ha’ moments of insights (team to self-discover)
  • Junior person with focus on tech skills & instruction giving. Assists with technical instructions and basic group dynamics.

 

Why Experience Matters: A professional speaker /presenter / facilitator should have the following experience:

  • Strong communication skills with the ability to fully engage an audience. Broad business operations experience that is both globally minded
    and culturally fluent.
    > Check out any video presentations – YouTube)
  • An authority on their topic (Author of a book published by a recognisable publisher), Educated to Degree level in their topic of expertise,
    Academic Validation.
    > Check out their qualifications to talk on this topic.
  • Able to design participant centric sessions that contain the latest academically research (preferably theirs), made relevant through delivery methods that ensure full engagement with actionable takeaways. (These can be further tweaked to meet the conference theme and outcomes.)
    > Check out their educational understanding to be effective.
  • Able to respond in real time, reframing content in response to audience feedback, whether expressed or implied and go ‘off piste’ in regard to subject matter should the need arise.
    > Have they reached the 10000-hour rule of stage time and experience?
  • The ability to talk with key stakeholders and: Diagnose, Design, Development, Customisation. Understand client business strategies, determine desired outcomes, Link learning to needs and desired outcomes, Develop content & delivery methods to reach outcomes.
    > Will they take the time to do meetings, interact with participants, or just offer their generic story, arriving just before and leaving straight after their session?

Please read the above FAQs before landing on this one. 

To walk you through considering what you need, please fill in our extensive questionnaire, and this will help us target the best solutions to offer.

  • Fees range greatly from $300  for a self-lead Collaborator Canvas (Miroboard) to $1M (Integrated long-term intervention) and everything in between.
  • A typical 1 day F2F workshop 10-20 pax > $5500-$25000. Online digital virtual session 5-20 pax > $3000-$10000.
  • Team building, simulations and gamifications are relativity more expensive due to the extra facilitators and resources needed.
  • Keynote talks are also more expensive (see FAQS above)
  • We don’t offer: generic programs, straight skills-based training programs with instructors, or basic team games (team bonding) without outcomes. (Be careful when comparing prices as to what you get.)

Areas to consider that will affect the pricing:

KEY QUESTION:

  • What is the biggest driver: Outcomes or Budget?
  • To build you a proper quote/proposal and give you the added value of some packaging, we’d prefer to learn about your outcomes, the group profile, the preferred platform & method, how success will be measured + parameters (budget, time, place, dates, decision-making timeline etc). Without knowing all these variables, we would need to quote published rates, based on high-quality outcomes.

THE TYPE OF INTERVENTION REQUIRED

  • Short-term (one-off) interventions: Keynotes, Seminars, Workshops, & Team building / Conferences & Events.
  • Medium-term interventions: Several programs with the same group OR same programs repeated to different groups
  • Integrated long-term solutions: Tailored Solutions including, Strategy Deployment, Facilitation & Train-the-Trainer Licensing. + Blended Learning

THE CUSTOMIZATION, DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT NEEDED

  • Do you need: Diagnose, design, development, customization. Understand business strategies, determine desired outcomes, link learning to needs and desired outcomes, develop content & delivery methods to reach outcomes, create agenda, brief stakeholders, focus groups, prepare best teams & resources.
  • Assessments, Surveys, Interviews, Profiling, + Final evaluation/reports. Coaching

PARTICIPANTS

  • Group size and makeup, expectations, prior experience, team (functional or dysfunctional), leaders (not a team), diversity (cultures and language)

OUTCOMES MATCHED TO FACILITATORS

  • See above FAQ “What’s the difference between facilitation skill & experience levels?”
  • Consider the number of facilitators we may need to deliver the outcomes (ratio)
  • Do you want to book the program* (not the facilitator) OR prebook a specific expert?  (*This allows us to yield manage and pass on any savings.)

PLATFORM, PLACE & METHOD

  • Digital, face-to-face or hybrid
  • Onsite OR Offsite: conference – where?
  • Workshop, keynote talk, team building, facilitation, self-learning, coaching

COLLATERALS EXPECTED

  • Workbooks, flipcharts personalised /customized, memorable theming etc (OR the digital equivalent),

Venue:

  • To save on costs, there is no point having multiple layers of management fees and mark up’s. We recommend that the client organizes and pays directly to the venue. We can advise on venue suitability.
  • We can also engage an event manager, but this is not included in a quote for a program, and it is recommended that you use your own professional event manager to manage the full conference.

Audio Visual (more applicable the larger the group)

  • This is due to the difference in venues and what they offer.
  • Some venues have it all built-in with adequate size, purpose-built rooms, large screens, proper sound systems, built-in smart lighting, and a professional tech person present during the whole session to drive everything.
  • Other hotels / venues it’s all outsourced, OR what is built in is minimal, the hotel tech person just sets it up, and has to cover many rooms by themselves, (they often are not professionally trained) (something to be mindful of for your whole event).
  • Part of the higher level offering (show like or large team-building events) is that we will work with the venue, AV company, and the client to find what will work best. We will try to get the right price for the right AV requirement but will always be guided by what you think is reasonable. This can range from the simplest setup – possibly even assessing and using what the hotel offers to its best ability, to a fully themed event, customized, designed, and priced. (see photos attached to show how we use each venue to the best we can, given the budget and available resources.)
  • The large the group the more important this becomes.

Accommodation & travel: (T&E)

  • It’s best we don’t do a fixed quote on T&E. This is because sometimes when we are asked to quote, the venue is not known, and even if it is, we can’t get the same economy of scale or the special conference price the client gets. We also don’t know our exact team until the program & dates are confirmed. We recommend that extra rooms are added in your package. Airfare prices change daily, so we can estimate but only lock in after confirmation. If we had to quote in advance, we’d need to charge published rates. (We need to be onsite with the client and have control over our travel booking.)

For large events:

  • When to choose the more basic level package: Smaller numbers. If you have evidence that there is an efficient, highly experienced hotel, with a well-equipped room and proactive staff, that are very used to running conferences so they are realistic and can advise of any peculiarities of their venue (who can pre-empt, minimise risk and iron out any surprises). Comfortable set up times and break times, low maintenance, intrinsically motivated group that will enjoy the activities and to some degree won’t need hand holding, activities, and experience to some degree speak for themselves.
    The event and coordination of the venue and AV can be organized by a client-appointed event management team.
  • When to choose the higher-level package: Larger numbers. If you are not sure about the hotel, staff, and room, the group needs external motivation and guidance. If you are wanting more of a WOW factor / more kinaesthetic visual experience. Needing a more senior facilitator team that can draw more from the experiences. The  room and AV needs to be coordinated by Tirian’s team. The client is time pressured, &/or not experienced in running events of this nature. When there are lots of gaps or unknowns. Challenging timing (although this still needs to be realistic / we can’t ask our team to do late/overnight setups and be expected to give 110% on the day).

Choose the lower program if budget is the driver, and the higher if outcomes and/or a wow factor is the driver.

We love to use our corporate & educational experience for Corporate Social Responsibility & support NGOs and the NFP sectors.

In 1986 we founded what became Tirian. It all started in the NGO/NFP/Education sectors, developing resources and teaching them across a range of sectors including students at risk, drug education to tribal groups, and a full K-12 health education curriculum. Our work in these areas inspired many of the programs we design today.

For over 3 decades now, we have researched, designed and delivered long-term innovation culture solutions for a number of not-for-profit organizations, including directing a one-year project working on innovative solutions for a government project that supports impoverished farmers with improving agriculture techniques in Indonesia, coordinating strategies for refugee organizations to overcome challenges internationally, and producing a health curriculum for more than 25 million teachers and students in India.

We have left some legacy with our adult daughter now taking up the calling – who has tirelessly worked in the NFP sector, including getting children out of detention centers (Chil-Out), re-settling refugees (Settlement Services International),  Community Education Officer to tackle homelessness & refugee support groups (Vinnies & Jesuit Refugee Services)