I am fortunate to be at Jerry Michalski’s invitation only retreat in Asheville this weekend. Jerry has organized these for 14 years and I would venture are the mother of all unconferences where the audience once arrived is mostly driving the agenda. One of the roots of it are Quaker meetings. He developed the format after being frustrated with the over production of regular conferences and he is experimenting and fine tuning the format every year. As a community and event organizer I am very intrigued.
We didn’t do it this time, but he told us about a great ice breaker if your gathering is a small enough group. Everyone brings one book that influenced their life tremendously. To avoid to get many Fountainheads or Lord of the Rings the small restriction is your book can’t be a best seller. The moderator picks a random book from the stack and gives it to one person in the room. The one who brought the book introduces the book and why it is important in their life and receives the next random book, until all books are given away. Amazing side effect, you get a great list of interesting books.
I would have brought the book Impro by Keith Johnston
Playing improve comedy is a deeply humbling experience highly recommended. In this book you learn that the corner stone of a successful improv session is the phrase: “Yes, And …” Embrace the other people’s ideas and develop them further.
We should use this rule in our life too, and I admit that I am the master of “No, but …”.
What would your book be and why? Twitter tag: #lifebook
What we did as an introduction/ice breaker is to name one word that is currently on our mind and tell why. Mine is inspire. After I love you, my favorite three words are: You inspired me. They induce pure happiness :-)
One of the participants word was fun. As he experienced, that if he puts more fun into your life more great things will happen. Jerry told about a university experience, that send students across campus after finding out whether they are more optimistic or pessimistic. The optimistic students found the $10 bill on the ground they was put their for the experiment, engaged with people, … the pessimistic folks didn’t. Consensus in the room was that a positive attitude and outlook on life makes you more open to the serendipitous opportunities that life throws your way. This is along the lines of Shawn Achor’s Happiness Advantage who’s talk I once saw who gives out 4 simple things to do daily to bring up your happiness.
Another great format that Jerry developed is the 5 minute University. Let someone present for 5 minutes about something that he is really passionate about, with 5 minutes audience questions right after. In an hour you can cover 6 themes and your mind will be blown. Can’t wait to find out what the rest of the weekend brings.