My wife Caroline and I hosted a private gathering last weekend, specifically to do sharing around the concept of creativity. It was not a conference. Only 20 people attended, and that was intentional. I’m going to post a few times about this unique “creativity weekend” so let me give you a bit of background to start.
The original impulse to host a 4 day creativity event was simply to reconnect with a number of creative people, who are also friends. When I say “creative people” I mean people with a specific interest in the topic — not just people who Are Creative. Those attending all had some connection to applied creativity, innovation, facilitation, self-expression, and the arts. The invite list was kept deliberately small, and, focused on those who would fully participate. A few exceptions were made, and interestingly, some challenges arose as a result. More on that later.
In summary, it was an impossibly amazing weekend, and I’m still savoring the delicious aftertaste 3 days later.
The weekend was held at our country home in Three Oaks, Michigan. We have 10 acres of woods, a large pond, and a roomy house. It’s a pretty, remote place, quiet, and in the peak of summer, a lovely place for a “sharing”.
My first takeaway from the weekend is simply the value of community. Whatever you are up to in life, it is a valuable thing to share, and share deeply and personally, with people of a like mind. One of my problems with conferences is the sharing that happens tends to be shallow and fast. The sharing that took place here was deep and long, and for me, much more worthwhile. One hopes for breakthroughs (without being a guest on Tony Robbins’ new show Breakthrough!) and I was delighted to be confronted with the discomfort and excitement of personal growth. I think others were too.
It also helps to share with people who have something interesting to teach you. Part of the selection process had to do with people willing to share very different, and advanced, tools, techniques, and ideas. While we all had something in common, it was a fairly diverse group in terms of actual professional and personal roles. There were corporate types, one monk-to-be, an actor-director, a fashionista-blogger, several consultants of various stripes, one “shaman,” a musician-teacher, an artist-engineer, several authors…you get the picture. Ages ranged from 27 to 70, with the bulk of the group squarely in the Baby Boomer Generation. Diversity, especially thinking and skills diversity, leads to new and novel combinations of knowledge.
More to come on “Letting Go”, but for now think about how you might connect more meaningfully with your community of peers, and, think about who has something to teach you. One more thing, two blog posts about the weekend out there already, one on Beefy Muchacho, and another on What I Wore Today. Thanks for the posts!