After 2 days at leadership bootcamp and a morning planning session for Krystal and my session for the UBC SLC, it got me thinking about why annual conferences and team retreats are so amazing.
They connect us with other like-minded individuals. They provide us with space to reflect, learn, and discover more about a topic or ourselves. They remind us of the value of just relaxing. They let us interact with colleagues or industry peers in a different setting than in a boardroom, a store floor, or a lecture hall. They sometimes feature pretty wicked speakers that make us go “hmmm.” They surprise and delight.
The punch a great conference or retreat can provide is not to be taken for granted or devalued. The “post-conference high” is absolutely brilliant and sometimes even a game-changer in attendees’ lives.
This got me thinking though. Why do we wait for one event, once a year, to achieve this “high” – this development – this connection – this hit of holy-crap-this-is-amazing! What is stopping us?
We have social networks, active airlines, and Skype to connect us with like-minded folks around the world. We have the ability to dedicate time each day to reflection, or reading, or sweating – whatever helps us uncover new areas of our selves or a subject. We can do yoga online to relax when heading to a studio just doesn’t fit into the day and our sneakers are always ready for us to take them out for a run. We have access to brilliant presenters and their ideas worth spreading at TED.com – all at convenient time increments too! (A 5 minute hit of inspiration? Don’t mind if I do!) We also have the ability to surprise our colleagues by inviting them over for dinner, or a drink after work, or to a local market to do some holiday shopping. A different interaction can come from simply adding in a different location.
Determining the rational we tell ourselves that stops us from connecting, developing, and reflecting on a daily basis is probably more valuable than determining the next conference we should attend or the outline of our next team retreat.
Why not make everyday a friggin rad conference? We’ll call it life.
Pick of the Post: Chris Assaad – Pave The Way
