Fire side
Five days of work, five evenings of something else.
Mini Gathering is small by design. Fifty women, five days, one quiet patch of Queensland. The daytime program is the work. Fireside is what makes the week unforgettable.
It is curated, comped, and cowgirls-led. Every evening is hand-picked, the arc is built night by night, and each one earns the next. By Friday the week is the kind that gets talked about, recommended, and rebooked.
Built around the cowgirls, not the program.
Three things shape every Fireside, and they are worth knowing before you decide whether the room is for you.
Fifty women, never more, in rooms that feel like living rooms. Small enough that the room can hold a real conversation, and the educator can see every face.
Every Fireside element is hand-picked. Every educator goes through the same three filters. Every night is set with intent. Nothing in the room is there by accident, including the invitation extended to you.
The week builds night by night. Arrival, bond, depth, depth, release. Tuesday and Wednesday are the depth nights, and that is where Fireside Conversations sit. The cohort is bonded by then, and ready.
Arrival, bond, depth, depth, release.
Daytime programming runs eight to five, Monday to Friday. Fireside runs the evenings. Each night has a job, and the order is deliberate.
Arrivals night. The room finds itself. Light, warm, no agenda beyond meeting each other, soft acoustic guitar playing in the background.
Hands-on, low-pressure, friendships form sideways while the cowgirls make something together. By Tuesday the room has bonded.
First intimate educator session. The cowgirls already know each other, which means they are ready to go deeper with the educator they have been meeting online in the lead-up.
Different educator, same format. Fireside is now a known ritual, and the second night carries even more depth than the first.
Bodies up, energy out. After two nights of conversation, the room needs to release. Thursday is the right night for it.
Open or gentle, the soft landing before departure on Saturday, soft acoustic guitar playing in the background.
Sit with the cowgirls, not speak at them.
Three educators, three online sessions in the lead-up, two evenings of Fireside Conversations during the week. The arc starts six weeks before the event and finishes around the fire on Wednesday night.
Educators are invited in person where travel allows, and we cover the cost of local travel, accommodation on-site, meals, and any other expenses for the duration of their stay. Where in-person travel is not possible due to time commitments or being interstate, the educator joins the Tuesday or Wednesday Fireside live on screen from their home base.
The room is the same either way. The cowgirls are gathered, the fire is lit, the host is there. The educator is either sitting in the circle or projected into it. Both formats work, and we have built the night so neither feels like a compromise.
The cadence
Online session with the Tuesday educator. Earliest, so the relationship has time to deepen before they meet the room.
Online session with the Wednesday educator.
Online session with the online-only educator. Final touchpoint, sets the tone and sends the cowgirls into the week.
Fireside Conversations one, with the educator the cowgirls have already spent six weeks with. In person or live on screen.
Fireside Conversations two, with the second educator. The format is now a ritual. In person or live on screen.
How educators are chosen
Three filters. Every educator gets all three, or they are not the right educator. Profile is not the point. Fit is.
Their work or expertise speaks to where the cohort is heading. The cowgirls leave with something they could not have got anywhere else.
They show up to give, not to pitch. Fireside is the wrong room for self-promotion, and the right educators know that going in.
Their values, voice, and energy belong in the room. The Mini Gathering tone is warm, considered, direct. Educators have to share that register.
What educators receive
Educators are not paid and do not pay. The value goes back to them in forms other than money, however costs are covered.
For educators joining us in person, we cover local travel, accommodation on-site, meals, and any other expenses for the duration of the stay. Educators arrive ready, and leave having only given their time and their thinking.
Rare access to fifty highly engaged women in the educator's target community. The room is curated, the cowgirls are already warm.
A quality-signalled credential the educator can name in their own marketing. Fireside is an invitation, not an open call, and that distinction matters.
Photo and quote rights with agreed boundaries that protect the cowgirls' privacy. Educators get usable assets, the cohort keeps its trust.
An early seat at the 2027 Cowgirls Gathering conversation, the larger annual event. Fireside is also where 2027 educator relationships are seeded.
Which for many educators is rarer than they admit. Five days in a quiet patch of Queensland with fifty women who actually want to listen.
The pitch language is, come and sit with these women. Not, speak at our event. That language matters, both to the educators it attracts and to the cowgirls it serves.
Hosting
Amanda hosts every Fireside Conversation. Introduces the educator with context, asks the first question to set the tone, steers when needed, protects the room. The educator does not have to MC, hold the agenda, or warm the room. The host's job is to make it easy for the educator to do what they came to do, which is sit and talk.
A circle, not a stage.
Fireside is not a stage. No microphones, no lecterns, no formal Q&A structure. Circle seating, soft lighting, fire if the venue allows, rugs, blankets, the visual cues of around-something-warm. The production budget goes into atmosphere, not equipment.
Every Fireside night feels like the same brand even when the format changes. Dinner, craft, conversation, dance, music. That visual consistency is what makes Fireside a thing rather than five different evenings in a row.
Want to join the circle?
Fireside is offered by personal invitation. We share how the week is built openly with the educators we have reached out to, because a conversation about fit has to start somewhere honest.
If you are an educator wondering whether Fireside is for you, write to us. We will tell you more, you will tell us more, and we will both decide together whether the fit is there.
Get in touch