It was fabulous to gather in person at Rydges Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, for the 2023 AusAPT Conference. After a few years of online conferences, it was refreshing and energising to connect in person again. It was especially exciting to have type friends join us from overseas (US, UK, Japan, New Zealand) and across Australia. In particular, meeting AusAPT Committee Member, Harumi Gondo from Tokyo in person for the first time was a special highlight.
Pre-conference workshop
We kicked off on Thursday evening with a joint pre-conference networking and workshop on Type and Change with our long-time partners, the Asia Pacific Institute for Learning and Performance (ILP). Andrew Mountford and Adam Le Good led us through an excellent session that engaged experienced type users and those new to type all at the one time. It was fascinating to look at the different perspectives and strategies different types took in leading and managing change. The robust discussions and co-created visual representations of our change approaches generated learning and laughter as we connected across our partner organisations and type preferences. Our connection with ILP was woven through-out the conference in different ways and we look forward to growing our partnership in new ways into the future.
Day one of the conference
Friday 1 September was day one of our two day conference and began with an Acknowledgement of Country and welcome to participants by Terri Connellan, AusAPT President. Angelina Bennet from the UK then kicked off the conference with her keynote address, From Shadows to Showtime: Moving into the light. In an engaging wide-ranging presentation, Angelina took us straight into the heart of the conference theme. We looked at insights gained from a life review collage project and Assagioli’s concepts of light shadow and sub-personalities. We explored times when we are truest to ourselves, might stretch into other ways of being, lose touch with our essence and where the untapped potential might lie for growth. Plus we played with aspects of archetypes that our type might need for strength and balance. There was much to reflect on from this tour of the shadows to light landscape that set the scene for the two days.
Adam Le Good presented on Behaviour equals Personality plus Context: Which instrument works best where? This was an opportunity to view a variety of instruments side by side including their strengths and weaknesses and best applications. Adam briefed us on a video being created on this topic in partnership with Rod Winning and we viewed excerpts of the work in progress. This featured a number of AusAPT members sharing their knowledge in support of wider understanding of where and how type intruments may play a useful role.
Longtime researcher, Liz Hallows, then shared insights on connections between hand features and cognition preferences. After looking at some key descriptors for different preferences, Liz reported on Hallows HANDscapes 2023 Research Results illustrating the one permanent, major hand feature consistently predicting a person’s orientation preference for their dominant mental Judging function as sorted by the MBTI® questionnaire. Liz generously shared her work and findings in a booklet that people could take away to read in further detail.
Jenny Gleeson then joined us from Western Australia by videolink with the support of Louise Kelly in the room. Jenny was unable to join us at the last minute but it was great she could present remotely. Via her presentation, Personality Dimensions: Self Exploration and Collaboration, Jenny shared an overview of a funded project to support Aboriginal youth at risk better understand themselves and others through type theory. Personality Dimensions® was shown to be an effective tool in helping young people accept themselves and others, particularly because it used simple and clear concepts in language.
Following that, Kelly Magowan presented on Connections between Type, PQ mental fitness and better relationships. Kelly first heard about the theory of Positive Intelligences and our Saboteurs via sessions from Jane Kise and Ann Holm at an AusAPT conference in Brisbane in 2018. It was fabulous to hear how Kelly had taken that learning forward and applied it with clients, especially the complementary aspects of type and saboteur profiles. Kelly shared the fundamentals and applications of this work and those in the room shared experiences and insights for a rich collaborative session.
In the final session of day one, Andrew Mountford explored the emergence of the ‘inferior 4th’ in Lurking in the Shadows: Who’s in control of Showtime? Drawing on the resources of the AusAPT Type Research and Practice Collection as well as storytelling from personal experience, Andrew provided a thought-provoking and fun presentation, shining a light on the shadowy fourth function and how it plays out in practice in our lives. Again, it was an engaging discussion with rich personal reflection shared from the group present.
The AusAPT Conference Dinner
The AusAPT Conference Dinner is always a convivial and entertaining event and the 2023 conference dinner was no exception! After such a long time since we had gathered in this way, there was much to celebrate and enjoy. Along with fantastic company and a delicious meal, there was a fun musical interlude. Andrew Mountford shared an excellent series of type-based versions of popular songs he had crafted, supported by Phil Kerr and Angelina Bennet on guitar. There was a song on our shadow theme, a joint singalong and several acknowledgements of type luminaries in the room. Musical tributes to Angelina Bennet (in a reprisal of a much loved 2019 Bowie song adaptation, (‘…Ground control to Angelina..’), to Mary McGuiness and Jane Kise were enjoyed. Angelina responded via an INXS song adaptation to the delight of all in the room. And Jane Kise led us in a round of singing. It was a mostly informal affair. In brief formalities, Terri Connellan was awarded a Life Membership for her work for AusAPT. Our partnerships with ILP and global type partners were also acknowledged and celebrated.
Day two of the conference
Day two featured four longer sessions for a deeper dive and started with Clare Ayers sharing important insights on Type and Grief in ‘Moving through the Shadow of grief to the Showtime of living again’. We explored responses to loss and how type and temperament preferences and different interaction styles might influence these responses. People shared their grief responses. We looked at how type can help us grieve well and also to better understand the different expressions of grief of others.
Meredith Fuller then took us through ‘ A trauma-based exploration of Type and family violence’ in her presentation based on insights from a film, Home Truths, which Meredith was Associate Producer on, along with research, other film clips created, an ebook and personal stories. Type insights are just one angle to help in understanding and addressing this scourge in our society. We looked at clusters of Type preferences of perpetrators more likely to commit murder in family contexts and how type insights might help with identifying patterns of behaviour and prevention of family violence.
Jane Kise from the US took us through a practical workshop in Mindfulness for all types. Jane took us through the research-based importance of mindfulness in our always-on world where our bandwidth is challenged. We engaged in a variety of activities designed to capture mindfulness from the perspective of the eight cognitive functions. Reflecting on which was easy and more natural for us and which was more difficult, the type connections to mindfulness and spiritual experience were explored. Participants were given a suite of options and strategies for moving more mindfully through each day.
Our conference ended with a keynote by AusAPT co-founder, Mary McGuiness focused on Elvis Presley: Exploring the 8 Jungian functions and type development. Mary is a huge fan of Elvis Presley with an extensive knowledge of his life story. Conference participants reflected on Elvis’s life and personality, guided by Mary’s deep understanding of both in an engaging, music-filled presentation. we looked at evidence of Elvis’s life, music and own words to identify how he used each function and how this changed over time. A mix of theory, storytelling, interaction, reflection and music came together to help us all reflect on Elvis’s and our own use of each function.
Evaluation feedback
All in all, it was an intimate, exciting and successful conference with an overwhelming sense of joy at being able to meet in person again. Comments in evaluation of the conference included:
‘Self development is crucial part of growing and maturing and this event is excellent opportunity to do just that. Highly beneficial and I highly recommend it to all!‘
‘I continue to enjoy and appreciate the depth, breadth and variety of input offered at these conferences. It is always so interesting and valuable. Thank you.‘
‘AusAPT events are always so well organised with a lot of attention to making sure everyone has a good time and all their creature comforts. They are always so open to a range of topics connected to personality; in the past I’ve attended sessions on Tarot, Art and Elvis! And such a lovely bunch of people 🙂“
‘Great opportunity to make and maintain friendships, get together and share our knowledge and experiences with TYPE.‘
Thank you and next events
Our sincere thanks to Conference Convenor, Phil Kerr, who did a stellar job organising the conference. The AusAPT Management Committee also doubled as the Conference Committee and provided valuable advice along the way for which we are grateful. We are grateful to all who attended and especially to those who presented and travelled far.
Special thanks to:
- Andrew Mountford and Adam Le Good for organising the pre-conference workshop in partnership with ILP and to our ILP partner members who joined us for this conference.
- Meredith Fuller for the fabulous photography through-out.
- Andrew Mountford, Phil Kerr and Angelina Bennet for the musical interlude and performances which made our dinner so enjoyable.
In person events will feature into the future alongside the online programs we have offered in recent times. We hope you will join us for both types of events and connect with the AusAPT community.
Head to our Events page for further details of what is coming up next!
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