New way to submit questions for events

We have launched a new way to submit questions before an event, check out the page by clicking here.

This is part of our Facebook page and it will allow you to submit your own question, see everyone else's and vote for your favourite to make sure that we ask the question that everyone is thinking about.

Jaqueline Simon Gunn, who we are interviewing on Sunday this week, is excited to be receiving questions in this way, feels exciting to get access to Jaqueline before the event and to continue the conversation after the chat room is finished.

To show our appreciation we will offer the person who leaves the question that gets the most votes one free DVD of their choice from our library.

If you are not on Facebook please send your question to Sandra using sandra@onlinevents.co.uk and we will post your question for you.

Looking forward to receiving your questions and getting the conversation started!

You can submit your question by clicking here.

First Facebook Advert!

We have received some feedback from the last few events about the need to get ourselves out there and seen, that people didn't know about us and are now glad that they have.

One of the challenges of this is the 'how', we are still spending more than we are making on events and that means that there is a limited budget for advertising. The holy grail of advertising in the professional magazines still feels like a distant dream.

So I thought we could try a different strategy and use a Facebook advert, I have been reading that there are now over 700 million people on Facebook and surely some of the people who would enjoy our events are on Facebook and would be interested in connecting with us there.

We have been running a Facebook campaign for the last few months exchanging a 'like' on our Facebook page for one months free access to our library and have been excited to have just over 100 people come along and join us in this way.

So I thought that offering a Facebook advert to let more people know about this campaign might be helpful, I selected the advert to display only to people who had stated on their profile that they are interested in either counselling or psychotherapy or both, and to only be shown to people located here in the UK and chose a modest amount of money to be paid to Facebook for everyone who clicked through to our page.

The results of this have been amazing! From late Friday night when the advert went live till Sunday late afternoon 65 people have come along and 'liked' our page. This feels like a fantastic increase and hopefully will mean that many more people will get exposure to our work.

Our passion at onlinevents is around feeling connected whether we are physically or digitally present and in that environment opening ourselves to learning and developing as professionals. Looks like Facebook has afforded us an opportunity to have that experience with a lot more people!

I would love to hear your experience of being on our page this weekend, have you been with us a while and noticed the increase in traffic, did you respond to the advert and exchange your 'like' for time in our library? I am wondering what you think of this way to connect, does it feel like we could build an expanding community in this way, will you be coming to one of our events?

The potential to connect like this also feels significant in terms of building a private practice and I am wondering whether anyone has used a Facebook page to create awareness of their counselling / Supervision work? Understanding social networking as a therapist feels tricky and important. All comments welcome!

Feel free to leave your comments below, and please join us at one of our upcoming events and spend some time with us in the chat room.

Oh ... I nearly forgot to say ... if you have 'liked' our page remember to send Sandra an email and we will get your free months membership sorted out asap!

John

Our first Facebook campaign

You may have noticed from my tweets and Facebook posts that we are attempting our first Facebook campaign.

We are hoping that the Facebook page can become a centre for the onlinevents community to keep the conversations going once events are finished and to get excited about upcoming events, but of course we need to let everyone know that the page is there!

The first obstacle is the address, currently it is this long and ugly URL http://www.facebook.com/pages/onlineventscouk/194002730635825?sk=wall&filter=1¬if_t=wall

To get a short and snappy address we need to have more than 25 people click the like button on our page, so we are offering everyone who "likes" our page one free months access to the onlinevents video library.

So, if you come along to our Facebook page, by clicking that long link above, and click the "like" button we will set you up with a months access to our library free of charge.


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Relational Depth Week - 20th & 25th June, 2011

We have been working tonight on tickets to "Relational Depth" week, I will be interviewing Mick Cooper co-author of the book Working at Relational Depth in Counselling and Psychotherapy

 on Monday the 20th of June.

And then on Sunday the 26th of June I will be interviewing Sue Wilders who has critiqued the aim of offering relational depth.

We hope that the interviews will be a way of further opening up debate and discussion and hoping this fuels our own exploration of what we offer as listeners and therapists.

For more details and a free ticket to view each of the events online please click the event title below.

Relational Depth: an authors perspective - Interview with Mick Cooper

Relational Depth: a critics perspective - Interview with Sue Wilders

OCTIA 2011

Just read Mieke Havenan's blog about the OCTIA conference and thought that I would attempt to write something, I am much better at the doing than I am at the writing :)

OCTIA is a conference about online counselling and it's the first event that onlinevents worked with to stream live to the Internet.


As a team we were really pleased with the event, felt for us like the technical expertise we have been developing over the last 2 years since the first OCTIA conference has finally come together into a rounded out and stable provision of live streaming, I was very proud of this and the hard work my team put into such an achievement!

The presentations were of course fantastic! Gill Jones helping us with website design, Tim Bond with ethical and legal dilemma's, Steph Palin talked to us about sex addiction and Kate Anthony introduced us to the future of online counselling. And it was very exciting to be delivering these presentations into our library just minutes after the presenters had finished!


The chat room remains at the heart of what we do, bridging the delegates in the room with those spread around the world online. To see the presenters and the delegates in the room engage with the online delegates never seems to lose it's 'in the moment' excitement for me, the ability to connect consciousness despite physical remoteness and share ideas, commitment and passion, just never seems to get 'old' for me!




Preparations have begun in earnest for next year and we are hoping to return to the Watershed in Bristol where we we very well looked after, excellent Internet access and all nestled in the lovely water front environment in Bristol. How could we resist to return again!


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Anger events

As Sandra and I were working away a couple of weeks ago we realised we had a series on anger, the first event "Not your average anger management programme", our event a week today with Buck Black, and then on the 20th March "Anger, Rage & Relationship" with Sue Parker Hall.

So, we thought we needed a theme for this emerging series on anger and we put out a request on twitter and facebook for suggestions, with our favourite suggestion being used as the series title and a years free subscription to our video library offered to the person making the suggestion.

Here are some of the great ideas that came our way:

Transforming Anger Into Power

I'm Outta Here!

In Your FACE - Working With Angry Clients Offline

Look Back In Anger: Working With Anger Therapeutically

You Talkin' To ME?? Anger and the Therapeutic Relationship

When the bark bites. Anger can hurt.

Taming the beast

Beauty and the Beast

Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness

Anger: The Royal Road To Congruence

And our favourite ... Transforming the beast 


Thanks to Annie Fallaize for such a great suggestion!

This is a great suggestion as it communicates to me something about the natural place of anger within us a humans and its potential to transform into something healthful and useful to us, congratulations to Annie who now has a years free subscription to our video library at onlinevents.co.uk

We currently have two events in our emerging series "Transforming the Beast", so if you would like to present your way of working with anger, a theoretical perspective or perhaps suggest an author for us to interview on the subject we would love to hear from you!

Hoping to see you at one of our upcoming events!

Couples Counselling

Couples Counselling

We released tickets for the person centred couples counselling presentation with Allan Turner & Kate Stubbings early Friday morning and in a little over 2 days 72 people have signed up to watch this event online.

This feels like an exciting development in the provision of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) events, offering free online access to learning experiences which also offer a taste of more extensive trainings. Allan and Kate describe their couples counselling training as unashamedly person centred, which sounds tantalising, yet how would i know if this is the training i should invest in?

Hopefully getting a sense of Allan & Kate as trainers through their presentation, demonstration and if you can come to Sheffield, over a coffee, can offer a real feel for their in depth training.

Person Centred Couples Counselling - Presentation and demonstration by Allan Turner & Kate Stubbings

onlinevents.co.uk is pleased to offer this event in partnership with Temenos and Counselling Works Ltd.

If you have a training that you would like to offer a taste of via a presentation or an online interview, please contact onlinevents.co.uk by emailing sandra@onlinevents.co.uk

CESL - half way there!

2 days and 23 presentations into the 2nd Virtual Conference on Counselling we are now over half way!

Has been a tiring 2 days, including the last minute preparations, and I feel so excited to be working with colleagues, meeting new friends and outing the boundaries of what is possible with relationships and technology.

Although this conference is being delivered in an online virtual world, viewable from our website for those who aren't able or don't have the time to log in, the topics covered extend far beyond working online.

We had the most amazing interview from the Online Therapy Institute with the director of the documentary Life 2.0, thinking about the ethical dilemmas and the teaching possibilities when working in Second Life.

And we have had a very thought provoking presentation on why we need to talk to our clients about their view of the therapeutic alliance and it's impact on them, the possibilities of Counselling Training programmes being validated by an international body and an insight into the world of Christian Counselling, tacking some misconceptions and thinking about how in many ways it is not an expert led experience and how it holds to many of the ethics and principles that other colleagues would also identify as central to their work.

It is truly exciting and nourishing to be able to attend a full Counselling conference, and to work at this event, all in the comfort of my own home.

If you fancy joining us for the last 2 days, why not sign up here, free of charge!

http://2vcc.eventbrite.com/




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Been asked to write a 100 word blurb, any thoughts?

Been asked to write a 100 word blurb, any thoughts?

“OnlinEvents broadcast live to the internet and record to view later on our website, on DVD and as a download. Nothing can ever replace being in the room with other people, but there isn’t always the time or money to attend in person, so we make events available live online. It’s not enough to just view the event from a distance so we utilise chatroom technology allowing communication with the facilitator and other delegates. And if you are not available on the day of the event? We record so that you can view on our website, on a DVD and if you prefer, download to your computer.”

Online Counselling in a Niche Market

We had a great interview tonight with Buck Black!Buck of truckertherapy.com his professional but friendly presence oozed over the online connection and out to an online audience spead around the globe.

Buck talks passionately about his determination to meet the people he works with "where they are". Buck's ability to utilise technology to support the therapeutic relationship is thought provoking and inspiring!

You can catch up with the recording herehttp://onlinevents.co.uk/OnlineCounsellinginaNicheMarket

Coolest counselling Conference this Year

I am getting excited about the CESL Counselling conference that will be held in Second Life in September!

Last year there was a rich and varied programme of presentations from a discussion of suicide in Second Life, supporting students who are victims of bullying how Carl Rogers fits into virtual worlds psychotherapy and of course the rock stars of online counselling Kate Anthony and DeeAnna Merz Nagel from the onlinetherapyinstitute.com!

Calls are currently going out for presentations, and I feel confident that the range and quality of content will equal any other counselling conference this year.

But this conference can be accessed without charge!

Turn up at the venue in Second Life or watch the live stream at our website and get participate in great discussion, hear thought provoking presentations and connect with colleagues from across the world.

And if you want to use this time as part if your personal development www.onlinetherapyinstitute.com is providing CE's for an incredible range of professions in the US for a minimal charge.

If you want to deliver a presentation or just fancy attending the coolest counselling conference this year check out http://ow.ly/1qzQgS







-- Post From My iPhone

Online Counselling in a Niche Market

We released tickets for an online interview with Buck Black early this morning and already 13 people have signed up to participate!

We use a chat room facility to compliment our online events as we feel audience participation is key to the experience. It's much more fun if you can turn up and ask your own questions!

Buck Black is going to be an interesting person to listen to, question and stir some good debate. Buck is working with truckers accross America and realized that here is a group of people that by the very nature of their job can struggle to access psychological, emotional and relationship support.

A community that can very much benifit from the advantage of contact with a therapist online.

Whats your reaction to online counselling? Do you wonder about how safe it is to work in this way? Can we as therapists really be helpful to someone when we are seperated by hundreds or maybe even thousands of miles?

All great questions to think about with Buck!

Tickets are free and available from http://truckertherapy.eventbrite.com/

Hope to see you there!



-- Post From My iPhone

OCTIA 2010 Online Counselling Conference - Next Week!

Is hard to believe that this time next week OCTIA 2010 will be well under way and we will be listening to Elaine Bousfield and Sally Evans delivering the presentation "Working with Self Harm and Suicide online".

This is a real hot issue for therapists working online, is it ethical to work online with someone who is harming themselves? What about someone who is thinking seriously about killing themselves? If it is ethical then how can we work with these clients in safe way?

These are tough questions and I am really looking forward to this presentation!

I am hoping that I will get a chance to absorb this fully as my team and I will be streaming the live video feed, via the internet, to delegates all over the world. As well as making sure there is a good video and audio signal we will also be facilitating the chat room so there is opportunity for everyone attending the conference to participate in discussion whether you are in Manchester or tucked up in bed with your laptop!

I am probably going to miss at least some of the presentations so I am glad that we will also be recording the presentations and they will be accessible for 30 days following the conference to everyone who buys a ticket.

All the online counselling authors in the UK will be in Manchester, their will be top experts from around the world in the chat room, if you have any interest at all in online communication this is definitely an event not to be missed!

Maybe I will get a chance to meet you in the chat room, or perhaps even Manchester ...

Why not find out some more by watching video interviews with presenters and organisers here http://www.onlinevents.co.uk/octia2010

Day 11 365 Project #DigitalChalk

Saturday 27th February and I am snowed in! It's been a long winter but I can just about manage as I have my mac and full access to digitalchalk.com!

Spent the afternoon working on the excellent Distance Credentialed Counselor course from ReadyMinds that will be soon appearing on the DigitalChalk platform.

Tyding up PDF's tweaking the sound on some audio and uploading some streamlined PPT slides, just feels great getting it just right.

Really enjoying being part of such a great project, a big thank you to readyminds.com for having me onboard and to DeeAnna Merz Nagel for bringing us together!







-- Post From My iPhone

Day 10 365Project

Took today's pic on the way back from Sheffield, my first class ticket was cheaper than a regular which made it even more enjoyable!

Attended a meeting of the core staff team of Temenos in my new
role as a member of the management group. This feels like a huge privilidge to have joined this fantastic organisation to support it's ongoing growth and development.

Can't wait to tell you all the plans we are making!







-- Post From My iPhone

Day 9 365Project Tools of the trade

Really enjoying my new tools of the trade today, laptop & headset!

Had a fab interview with Jane Evans from OCTIA, her workshop sounds so exciting!

And an online peer supervision group, it's great to be in contact with such supportive and experienced colleagues despite the distance between us!











-- Post From My iPhone

Day 8 365Project Dentist!

Fear of the day today? Dentist!

It's only been about 20 years since I have been to the dentist, I didn't like it then and I didn't expect I would like it today, although it was more than that!

I kept seeing visions of myself strapped to the chair with instruments in my mouth causing me extreme pain ... no wonder I was anxious!

The reality? The receptionists were lovely, the dentist was lovely and although having my teeth prodded with instruments isn't my first choice of activity it wasn't painful and I left feeling that I could just about manage to tolerate the 2 fillings I need, result!

Left me wondering what it's like for people coming to see me for counselling for the first time, are they experiencing the same fears and fantasies of intolerable pain?!?

It is always my endeavor to make someone who comes into my office as comfortable as possible whether they need some quiet space or to chat about the weather till they relax.

After today, and the anxiety I experienced, I am continuing with this strategy!






-- Post From My iPhone

Day 7 365Project Observations

You might have guessed I didn't take this pic of the Dean Galleries in Edinburgh, I was there yesterday for peer supervision, I did intend to take my own picture but got totally distracted.

Yesterday evening I was observed teaching on the counselling skills course and by the time I got to lunch time my anxiety was very high!

The group of tutors that I work with are excellent, full of wonderful practical experience and a knowing of just how anxiety provoking this work can be, especially when being observed attempting to do it! And the students were so generous in allowing this process of mine into their learning experience. Thanks everyone for your amazing support!

So it's done now, with some lovely feedback and some suggestions for the next observation in a fortnight ...







-- Post From My iPhone

Day 6 365Project

I thought that I hadnt taken any pics today when I forgot that I had, but just in one of my other lives!

I also run a cleaning business and the day started with the rubbish in this photo below, we photograph it, communicate with the management company and then clear it, who would have thought the iPhone would be such an important part of a cleaners life!

I have also been on 2 conference calls, one including colleagues in New Zealand, ongoing work with the OTI, 2 counselling sessions and a lovely dinner with a great friend in the city ...

But it all started with some black bags ... and I kinda like it that way :D

Day 5 36Project

It's only an introductory course but I am stressing about getting my head into it, mostly because I am behind, no surprise there then :)

I am being observed teaching on Teusday evening, should be interesting!


-- Post From My iPhone