Tim Merry with his daughter, Emma. Merry, who is the director of a community leadership and social entrepreneurship training centre in Carleton called the Shire, is the first speaker in a line up of free community talks taking place Wednesday nights at the NSCC Burridge campus.
The first presentation in the series is Wednesday, May 7. Tim Merry will be speaking about ‘Hosting Conversations that matter – at Home, at Work and in your community’.
Merry is director of a community leadership and social entrepreneurship training centre in Carleton called the Shire.
Merry says he chose the topic because he believes that issues society is facing now in families, communities and organizations can only be solved by entering into meaningful and productive relationships together.
He says that this can be achieved through no more meetings for the sake of meetings, conversations for the sake of conversation, or looking outside ourselves for solutions.
“We have the wisdom we already need - we just need to connect to each other,” said Merry.
He sees the challenge as being the creation of conditions for people to solve their problems.
Merry will touch on: Why is conversation important at this time? What are the conditions for good conversation? What are conversations that could create new possibilities for the future?
His presentation will be based on an event he has been holding at the Shire for the last three years, called the Art of Hosting
www.artofhosting.org).
Community Talks is the result of a partnership between South West Health, Nakile Home for Special Care and the NSCC.
Upcoming talks include:
May 14: Work Life Balance, Tracey Gerber, May 21: The Positive Parenting Challenge, Pernell Muise
May 28: Dream Interpretation – What do your dreams mean? Mary Grandy
June 4: Ancient Healing Techniques of Reiki and Reflexology, Joanne MacFarlane
June 18: Menopause, Doris Landry
by Carla Allen/The Vanguard 
