Kismet Forward (Jen Lilburn) was engaged by EPA to facilitate community consultation with companies in the Brooklyn Industrial Precinct, as well as State and Local government representatives in late 2008 for over 10 years. The community very much appreciates the very professional and independent manner in which Kismet Forward has conducted community engagement meetings. Jen’s calm and professional approach to our meetings, which have sometimes been difficult, and her work outside the meetings, has been welcomed by all
The team at Kismet Forward are fantastic to work with and respond pro-actively to client needs. Jen and her team were able to provide facilitation expertise that helped us to deliver an extremely successful facilitation event. Such success is measured by the quality of discussion, accurate recording of information and the use of innovative facilitation techniques that enable all participants to become empowered throughout the process. Great work, Kismet Forward.
We have sought the services provided by Kismet Forward on a wide range of projects ranging from facilitation to strategic planning and analysis. Kismet Forward has been able to respond to all levels of our needs from the higher-level strategic thinking to the necessary detail to make things work. The breadth of skills and experience available has been a real advantage, and has ensured that the work undertaken is accessible and meaningful to all our stakeholders. I use Kismet Forward whenever the need arises and have no hesitation recommending them.
After the 2009 Black Saturday fires I needed someone to work on a project that could pick up the issues extremely quickly, work sensitively with staff and community who were in a traumatised and emotional state, assist us to define exactly what we wanted and work autonomously with minimal direction yet deliver a useful product. Jen exceeded my expectations in every way. The final report was exactly what we needed but equally important, how she got the work done was exactly how it needed it to be done given the circumstances. I received great feedback from the staff and community she interacted with. She was flexible and sensitive in her approach and she achieved the perfect balance of communication and autonomy between the client and the consultant. I would happily use and recommend Kismet Forward again in many different capacities.
Kismet identified improvements to the way our project was set up and helped to implement the change (on a very short time frame). This was over and above the project brief. Kismet looked for opportunities to value add to the project brief. For example, a report of suggested improvements to the project’s procedures and tools for future years was submitted alongside the required information. Kismet was ahead of the game, often getting tasks completed that I had on ‘the list’ to discuss in the next week. Kismet delivers outcomes with the minimum of fuss, with a proactive friendly can-do approach.
What a wonderful job, Jen. You exceeded my expectations and have written a great report that I hope will give us good standing both with council here and at the state level. Great job, well done.
Thanks for doing an awesome job facilitating last week. We had a pretty ambitious agenda, so thank you for handling it so well.
During my association with this group, I have been impressed with the way you have steered things along in a fair and constructive way despite the many competing agendas in the room.
A huge thanks for your hard work before, during, and after the xxxx meeting. Your contributions to the development of the agenda were so valuable, and you handled the discussions brilliantly to get the best out of everyone. Good luck with your next thousand facilitation sessions, and I hope we can work together again before too long.
Wow thank you Jen! You were such a great mediator today! A appreciate your adaptive style and the swift collation of the output! I am really excited for the next stages.