Lisa Heft is an independent consultant, facilitator and Master Level interactive learning specialist known internationally for her resources, tools and workshops exploring Open Space Technology -- and for her use of Open Space and other methods to engage deeper reflection, learning and dialogue. Whether facilitating conferences, consulting on conflict resolution in Northern Iraq and East Timor, engaging interdisciplinary thinking between housekeepers, hospitality managers and CEOs for the post-merger future of a luxury resort facility, teaching interactive learning methods to health monitoring specialists from developing nations, or facilitating dialogue with prison inmates, Ms. Heft is known for her thoughtful design, clarity of communication and ability to bring diverse people together in dialogue and co-creation.

Clients on 5 continents include the International AIDS Conferences, United States Departments of Labor and Transportation, One Ocean Marine Forum, National Forum for Geosciences Information Technology, Chevron Corporation, Heifer International, U.S. Scholar-Athlete Games, Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, Bernardus Lodge and Winery, International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies, GlaxoSmithKline, San Quentin state prison, Catholic Diocese of San Jose, Foundation Consortium, Grupo Pela Vidda (Brazil), FioCruz (Brazil), Partnership for the Public's Health, Columbia University's Center for International Conflict Resolution and President Clinton's Commission on National and Community Service.

Ms. Heft has presented and consulted in Brazil, South Africa, Switzerland, Canada, Spain, Zambia, Italy, Denmark, Thailand, the USA and other countries -- with business leaders, university students, faith communities, peacemakers, young people, violence survivors, information technology specialists, educators, scientists, prisoners, union and management representatives, conference organizers, immigrant and refugee farmers, researchers, activists and government representatives. She facilitates Open Space meetings, retreats, events and conferences, consults on how to make conferences and forums more interactive and participant-driven, evaluates curriculum and trains trainers in interactive learning methods, and presents workshops in Open Space, skills building for NGOs, health and wellness and interactive learning methodology.

Ms. Heft has been involved in HIV/AIDS education since 1985 -- she coordinated and trained health educators for the California HIV/AIDS hotline and is the co-author of both the San Francisco AIDS Foundation's HIV/AIDS Encyclopedia and the Reach One, Teach One: A Prison Peer Health Education Training Program used by corrections facilities with inmate peer educator programs. She has trained actor-educators for AIDS awareness theatre-in-education programs for youth, conducted original research on parent-adolescent communication about AIDS, trained monitoring and evaluation specialists from HIV/AIDS organizations in developing countries how to teach each other interactively, and currently works with several prisons training inmates as peer health educators, helping prison clinicians improve pain management for their inmate patients, and facilitating inmate talking circles. She was the lead facilitator for the Community Forum event at the 13th International AIDS Conference, overseeing a team of 30 internation l facilitators working with 1500 participants. Additionally, she was the only American chosen to be a Community Rapporteur for both the 11th and 12th International AIDS Conferences.

Ms. Heft is the Vice President of the Board of the Open Space Institute of the United States, past Poet Laureate of the world Open Space community, and author of the Open Space Idea Book and many papers on facilitation, interactive learning and community health. She is also the founder of the Fabulous Facilitators learning and practice network and a member of the International Association of Facilitators, Ethics Practitioners Association of Canada, Global Facilitator Service Corps and the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation.