Iris House 14th Annual Women as the Face of AIDS Summit

Iris House has produced thirteen Women as the Face of AIDS Summits over the last decade. Thousands of consumers, health care professionals, non-profit staff members, academics, and policy workers have joined us to present, to listen, to learn, and to share ideas on how to improve the lives of women and men living with HIV.

TCC Group is proud to present two sessions at the 2019 Summit.

Collective Storytelling for Greater Impact

Stories are a part of our bones. They are rooted deeply in our human history and have recently resurged in the mainstream media as one of the most powerful tools for connecting with people on an emotional level and motivating a change of hearts, minds, and actions. How do we tell great stories? What are the elements of a great story? How can we move our voices into a collective of stories for advancing social change? How can we use a trauma informed approach in how we tell our story? How can we understand the impact of storytelling on the people who tell them, communities, and movements? The purpose of this session is to break down the elements of a story, deconstruct powerful stories, and connect participants with their own natural sense of their personal story as a part of collective action and change.

The session will be designed to achieve the following outcomes with participants:

• Increased knowledge of the arc of a story
• Greater confidence in telling one’s own story
• Increase ability to demonstrate impact of storytelling and raising our collective voices, on the individual, community, and society

Presenters

• Thana-Ashley Charles, Consultant, TCC Group
• Sophia Kass, Positively Trans Program Coordinator, Transgender Law Center
• Emily Klukas, Network Affiliate Consultant, TCC Group
• Kate Locke, Associate Director, Evaluation & Learning
• Tiffany Smith, Senior Consultant, TCC Group

Facilitation Skills: Building Ourselves as Women Leaders in Shared Spaces

The impetus for this session was sparked by ongoing conversations with women living with HIV (WLHW), and those serving women living with HIV, who have described a convergence of experiences: 1) challenges engaging WLHW in online groups, 2) a baseline need and interest in the topic considering the evolving landscape and the infusion of new co-conspirators in the work, 3) the acknowledgement that effective facilitation is key to amplifying voices for meaningful engagement and sustained participation, and 4) the power of facilitation to build women’s opportunities, leadership and confidence in a variety of settings.

Effective facilitation is an important skill that can be developed over time, with training, practice, mentorship and feedback.

The session will be designed to achieve the following outcomes with participants:

• Increased knowledge of facilitation and meeting design best practices grounded in the values of democracy, elevating voices, and making meaningful decisions to improve the lives of people living with HIV.
• Greater understanding of how strong facilitation skills can lead to increased capacity to serve as an effective leader
• Stronger skills in leading discussions and meetings with a diversity of personalities

Presenters

• Thana-Ashley Charles, Consultant, TCC Group
• Vanessa Johnson, Co-Owner, Red Ribbon Consulting
• Emily Klukas, Network Affiliate Consultant, TCC Group
• Debika Shome, Associate Director, Nonprofit Strategy & Capacity Building, TCC Group
• Tiffany Smith, Senior Consultant, TCC Group

Host