Do you Believe in Infinite Potential?

As we (get older) gain more experience in the world there is often the tendency to default to what we know will work rather than experimenting with what might work. The word "might" always leaves the door open to possible failure, and the vulnerability associated with the potential to fail is an uncomfortable place we prefer to avoid. Potential-limiting.

Yesterday we had some friends for dinner and as the evening wound down we ended up with a small group discussing Einstein's theory of relativity, which suggests time and space are not as linear as we presume.  The interesting thing about this is the discussion was that it was a high level look at the possibilities, taking place mainly between a 12 year old and a 17 year old, the latter who had just written an essay on the subject for a scholarship application. The application is to Cambridge, who award four full scholarships to Canadians each  year. She definitely sees herself earning one of these spots. Infinite potential.

What if we approached our opportunities open to the possibilities, knowing we may be wildly successful... or we may fall flat and have to pick ourselves up and try again? Who was the first person to look at a stalk of grain in a field and wonder how they could turn that into something else? Who made the first mills that turned wheat into flour, or bakers that turned flour into bread?  We can imagine the first loaves were not spectacular, but the potential was there, and now we have literally thousands of varieties of loaves made from a seemingly unending variety of ingredients. Infinite potential.

When it comes to meetings and events there seems to be a default to the safe zone - open rounds or theatre style seating, presenters who talk at us, food and beverages that are easy to provide but often nutritionally light (think danishes/pastries, sandwiches with processed meat and white bread, etc.), and little room for feedback. Safe.

What if instead we considered the infinite potential of choice and gave the responsibility for the potential learning and connections to our participants? If we provided events that considered content, program design and meeting flow at every step? This might include nutritional, brain-friendly food choices, presenters who welcome feedback and questions using comfortable-for-the-participant methods (ARS, text etc.) during the sessions, attendees able to share content with each other both during the session and in white space, and ultimately where we collaborate and create a space where connections that allow  you to apply your new learning to your current situations can be made, enhancing your overall experience.  

Anytime you doubt the potential of thinking differently, consider how the people within corporations such as Apple and Oracle are considering the potential impact of each decision and making choices that ripple; or watch an episode of Extreme Home Makeover, where they not only change a home, they change lives, week by week, one thoughtful decision at a time. There is infinite potential if we choose to embrace potential.

What if we all looked at an old tree stump and saw instead a great place to spend time and contemplate?

Latte Minded Events

Latte Tulip by Mike White

Could I please have my event with half the fat, a shot of hazelnut, served long?

Today I would like my event large, with soy milk, extra foam and a shot of vanilla.

One event artfully designed, honey on the bottom, half-caff please, extra hot.

Of course that doesn't make any sense, but I believe we are seeing this expectation on many levels. When we can go into any number of fantastic coffee shops around the world and order our coffee exactly the way we like it, naturally we want to be able to translate this sense of satisfaction in the immediate experience to the rest of our lives. We can go online and order custom almost anything, but when we attend an event or conference we are stepping into a group experience, and our individual tastes must all be blended, ideally into a brew we can all enjoy.

Imagine as the meeting planner if you could create an event that perfectly satisfied. Where every session exceeds expectations, the rooms are always the perfect temperature, the company inspired, the food plentiful, healthy and delicious, the transportation not onerous, the technology awe-inspiring, the staging and sightlines ideal, the take-away learnings easily applied. For every single attendee.

Imagine attending your own "ideal" event. (please add a comment with what you would like to have included and share your own ideas) Where would it be? Who would join you and who might you meet? What topics would you want to learn about / share your own knowledge on? When would it be - time of year, weekend or weekday? What would you want to take away?

I sometimes imagine myself in the position of barista. All day, every few minutes, you are pleasing someone, managing their need, delivering to or exceeding expectations, in a pleasant and relaxed environment and that must be satisfying.

We look forward to seeing how the blending works for EventCamp Vancouver 
In the meantime, it is back to roast up some new event ideas!

Why I love Camp

When I was 12 we moved to a much larger city. While the move was good and I have many friends from that era of my life, what I looked forward to eagerly every year was going back north to summer camp. The anticipation of seeing my old friends and meeting new ones, the discovery of new skills such as archery and new ideas was exciting. Imagine for example we could build and then sleep in our own lean-to, or make our own banock over a campfire! At camp you get to do things that you would not otherwise experience.

As we plan for Event Camp Vancouver, I am finding myself with that same sense of nervous anticipation and true excitement.  When we first sat with our amazing host committee and decided we were going to do this, we had no idea it would grow so organically into the program we currently have, or that there would be so much support from our community, as so many people stepped up to think about how they could contribute to making it all it could be. You will find many delightful surprises, all thoughtfully designed to add to the overall experience.

We are excited to share our venues with you, to share the harbour and mountain views on the five minute walk from the Westin Bayshore to the Convention Centre  and to learn from each other in unique and inspiring settings. Historically Event Camps (the previous six) have left participants feeling a sense of collaboration and a desire to continue to build and nurture the business relationships within this supportive community, and to find ways to work better together as our industry rapidly evolves.

True to camp, we know that when you arrive with a sense of adventure and a desire to learn and grow already in place that the possibilities are limitless. We look forward to sharing this journey with you!

You can check out more details at http://www.eventcampvancouver.com

Success - Whatever that Means

 

Ultimately there can be no success or happiness if the things we believe in are different than the things we do. Freya Madeline Stark

People who know me see me as being very busy. I am. Most of this is my own fault as I am unable to do anything halfway, and once I commit to something I don't back out. (I am not alone in this, I am instead surrounded by like minded friends and colleagues) Would I like to be less busy? Really what I want is longer days and more time!

To me success is in the people that we get to share our lives with. My family that is the fabric woven together that surrounds me, strong and warm, resilient and forgiving. The many women in this picture above have all impacted me in many ways, and they all remain five years after this was taken people I look forward to spending time with, and that I know I could rely on for anything, even if we don't see each other enough.

Professional success can be rated in many ways, by awards won, by events produced, by how well known you are. For me, professional success is building strong teams that enjoy collaborating to produce incredible and always different events for a variety of clients, again and again. The teams evolve and change to suit the needs of the event, but I have stood as the doors open to countless events produced by our team and heard the gasps as people arrive and experience the many aspects of an event, or heard the buzz after a great presentation that inspires new thinking, two reasons we do what we do.

As I mature in the event planning profession I enjoy seeing the impact of the industry and sharing ideas with people who all are in this to make a positive difference. Again, success.

What does success mean to you?

Events with Intent - Looking forward to Event Camps!

Events with Intent. That sounds so deceptively simple.

The bigger question is why would we do events withOUT intent? 

How many events have you been to that you left feeling nourished? Events where you feel as if your needs have all been considered in the planning?

• physical (through movement, food provided, other)
• emotional / connection
• intellectual / knowledge / engagement

Where you return feeling rewarded and ready to make an impact at work or in your life?

If you haven't left feeling that way, then do you think all our participants have? Now I realize we all have different roles from planner to producer; logistics to content; and everything in between, but if the beginning is always that you have an intention - a goal to reach - then the middle should logically be that we are working with intent towards that goal(s) and the end is that your participants all leave feeling that this event was worth their time.

What are the roadblocks we face?

1. Is it challenges getting information from the stakeholders so we understand their goals from the beginning and can work towards alignment all the way down the event details?
2. Is it that the information is funneled through many channels? (this is certainly the case as the Producer at a DMC - we often only have information only via the agency)
3. Is it budget driven - where what they want simply cannot be achieved within the set budget?

What are the roadblocks you face?
How have you surpassed these on the road to great events?

Event Camp = Good Intent
One of my favorite things about working with the amazing team surrounding us for Event Camp (Vancouver and those coming up in Twin Cities and London and ALL the on-line participant pods and inclusions) is that we have the opportunity to plan events where we can seek out what participants want to learn about and then we can take risks that push the boundaries - and through collaboration and participation and thoughtful planning we can create events with intent and have participants,in the words of Kiki L'Italien leaving having "filled the well" and returning to work reinvigorated. Events with intent. Please.

We look forward to hearing what you want!

What I loved about Event Camp! #ECNC

Last fall I attended Event Camp Twin Cities as a registered virtual attendee, and then repeated that experience at PCMA 2011. Both experiences had their benefits, heightened by the level of engagement of both the f2f and the virtual attendees sharing ideas and knowledge together.


Both provided opportunities to see that there is a community far beyond the limitations set by geography, finances, or time to meet people and share thoughts, ideas and concrete data on moving our industry continually forward. As our participants become more connected and more knowledgeable via multiple streams available to all of us at the touch of a keyboard, mobile device or tablet, it is incumbent upon us as meeting and event professionals to create environments that are most conducive to engagement, contribution, relationship building and higher learning.

All of this led me to the decision that I MUST attend Event Camp National Conference in Chicago, and what a great decision that was. Here are a few of the things I learned. These are not even the "real" take-aways - for that I will refer back to the twitter stream and remind myself (and so many others) of all of them!

1. Engaging in social media with #eventprofs and #engage365 among others provided a sense of community prior to attending - I could not wait to meet my new #ecnc tweeps!

2. When you already have a sense of who is attending, there is a sense of anticipation that cannot be duplicated - you are going to meet friends, and that awkwardness of attending a conference alone is non-existent. This can obviously have applications for many.
 3. It takes a community. Thank you @mizcity @jessicalevin @mmcallen @heidithorne @michaelmccurry and others across all the event camps who have taken the responsibility to make these great.

4. You meet people with hugs not handshakes - I arrived to meet at least 15 friends, but had only met one before f2f (@glennthayer you are even more interesting than I could have imagined - thank you for the fantastic stories)

5. Virtual hosts, or as we are about to call them Hybrid Event Concierges (yes you heard it first at #ECNC @EricaStAngel) such as the role Glenn Thayer brought to ECNC are an integral part of a hybrid experience

6. Catalyst Ranch - just google this - very cool, very thought provoking, very inspired venue when you are seeking solutions, innovations or just plain happiness (they will outsource their design ideas too).  Plus, the food was great - awesome selection, lots of nutritious choices, and enough "play" food that it offered a great balance.


7. It is good to share - I had the opportunity to share my room with the most lovely young lady @lizkingevents and this was one of the best parts of my experience, and another community builder (yes Liz you will see me in New York!)

8. The ability to capture information and to extrapolate learnings in real time through a combination of lecture, discussion and the ongoing ubiquitous twitter stream adds a depth to understanding that cannot be replicated

9. Involving virtual attendees and presenters via Skype adds dimension to what we learn and provides alternate perspectives that could not otherwise happen

10. There is no longer a separation from real and virtual - social networks - whichever you may choose to engage in (or not) are going to continue to grow in strength and numbers, and embracing it opens up doors you can't yet imagine

11. There are people in the world who are scared of pickles. Really.

12. Virtual presenters when added via Skype are an excellent way of sharing and thank you to @lindydreyer @GreenA_V and Klososky (see below) for taking the time and making this work

13. Your own community will have great presenters - and using crowdsourcing to narrow down presenters and topics ahead of time can help drive sessions people want. @brandtkrueger @glennthayer and @psalinger among those I saw - thank you for bringing it

14. @chrisbrogan @lizstrauss are both as nice and as smart and as funny as you would expect - I remain impressed

15. @kikilitalien - you are the sweet spot - of social media and more

16. You can change the world one teen at a time. Their perspectives are incredible and thank you @hankwasiak for your incredible, inspiring stories

17. Mullets are still in fashion. Right @ScottKlososky ?!?

18. Social media crosses all boundaries of age, gender and experience. This is a very, very good thing.

19. Social media may be the bane of privacy and legal departments but it is here to stay so learning how to use it to your advantage, is to your advantage.

20. An engaged virtual audience adds depth - thank you to so many of you who shared - check out the on-line archives to see all that everyone had to say - some amazing takeaways.

21. On - line archiving. ROCKS. Thank you Event Camp for continuing to keep the messages alive. Follow the #ecnc tag or Event Camp

22. The Velvet Chainsaw and Mid-course Corrections @velchain @jeffhurt - you are as relevant and engaging in real life, ok, maybe more.

23. Event Camp West Coast. Please.

24. You never know where the next great idea is going to come from (as in the above). One great (unrelated) idea I see coming is from @tracibrowne, trade show maestro and @asegar (Conferences That Work, a totally excellent read) is Exhibit Camp - which looks to me like it will be a most unique opportunity for exhibitors who want to maximize their opportunities that drive revenue. Oh how I love awesome ideas!

I look forward to seeing what else people have to share.

Don't...

So I have arrived for class tonight and am again surprised that there is still a sign up in the foyer space that says. Do NOT rearrange the furniture.  The furniture is 20 stuffed blue chairs lined up around the space on the walls, 3 here, 4 there. This foyer is in the hospitality management area of an institution that prides itself on being progressive and connected to the industry. Yet, they don't assume that these same progressive students that they seek to attract may want to sit and face each other to have a conversation, and heaven forbid - they might not move a chair back against the wall. Seriously?

Obviously this institution (and likely many others) could use a dose of "Event Camp" to up the progressive ante on the models and methods of engaging learners and creating the next level of professional entering our industry.

Event Camp - Like Minded Thinking

For so many reasons, what Event Camp has started is an amazing step forward in keeping our industry at the forefront of thought leadership for creating more engaging life-long learning experiences. Check this out for yourself.

Why is the Event Camp Community Special

Each time we are able to bring some element, whether introducing new seating styles (exercise balls anyone?) to virtual breakouts, or transparency in learning styles, it is all an opportunity to extend the life of the meetings people attend.  When we set the stage for better connections to be created, it allows opportunities for people and their businesses to see growth and return on the time invested in the education and networking available.

Thank you thought leaders for starting this and let's keep it growing.  West Coast anyone?