Rosie Melarkey and Howard Castle run a smooth team. It may be the first day of the Elko 2010 Employment Summit, but it’s the sixth for Melarkey and Castle.

Together, the two facilitate a group of 5 to 12 Summit-goers as they brainstorm solutions and focus areas for the Summit’s recommendation to the 2011 Nevada State Legislature.

Melarkey and Castle dance around each other as they grab Post-it notes from seated brainstormers, post the stickies on a whiteboard, reinterpret ambiguous writing and group and regroup all the stickies.

Melarkey, who works in mental health and developmental services in Reno, and Castle, who works in vocational rehabilitation in Las Vegas never met before working together at the Employment Summits. Together, the two helmed mini-sessions that are part of the larger, two-day brainstorming event in Las Vegas and Reno before coming to Elko.

The data that all the mini-sessions generate on their first days are aggregated and then further developed on day two.

Like on the other first days in Reno and Las Vegas, Melarkey and Castle will lead six groups today. With humorous hand puppets (a monkey for Melarkey, a lion for Castle), jockeying for better candy on their table (Dove chocolate is in high demand) and gently needling their group to use more specific language (a poster-sized page appears with the words “Write ACTION WORDS: develop, engage, need, coordinate, collaborate”), the two make sure the ideas generated make it to the end of the process intact.

Even though the scenery remained the same all day, Melarkey and Castle could never predict exactly what would happen.

“I don’t think the groups change so much as the dynamic of the groups change,” Melarkey said. Melarkey said the representation of the groups—whether they were comprised of employers, service providers or service recipients—and whether they were quiet or loud made more difference than the location.

And, for all their planning and smoothing of bumps, when a boisterous crowed walked into their room, neither Melarkey nor Castle could get a word in.

Read more about the Reno Employment Summit on NCED’s blog at:
Out of the gate running: Employment Summit’s First Day
Hashing out action plans: Employment Summit’s Second Day