From Solo Frustration to Collective Innovation: Origin story of The Decentralized Conference

Got a solo cast for you and I want to hit you with the idea of collaboration. I'm going to attempt to describe what it looks like and even feels like. Luckily, I have a very recent experience to draw upon. I reached out to a group of people that I respect and looked up to to help me out with an idea I had around the decentralized conference, which is a virtual conference. It's going to be going down in February. You'll hear more about that in future podcast episodes but the point is I had a general idea of what I wanted to do and, more specifically, what I want the viewer and the audience to experience, as well as the presenters. So it kind of started with just my pain points, my observations, right. As a speaker in conferences, I get irritated by the amount of effort it takes to write an abstract, submit the abstract, hopefully get approved, then schedule, travel and get dressed and do all the things to show up and deliver my message at the conference. At the same time, I have to contort and twist and cajole my message to fit within the framework of the conference I'm speaking at, which is understandable, but it's not the most ideal situation for me, and then I got to travel over there, get dressed, do my hair, put pants on all these things. The other side of it, as the viewer, when I go to a conference, I have to pick something, and what that also means is there's a bunch of some things that I'm not able to pick, so essentially, I miss out on the other stuff that is going down, which is an irritation for me, because I want to have it all right and at the end of it all, whatever I consumed or what was a present to, I have to rely on my memory and my notes, which both are not very good, as well as expect a barrage of emails to hit my inbox from all the vendors that were present at the conference, which is annoying, right, because I got to go and unclick and unsubscribe and it just clutters up my inbox. And so that led me down a path of, okay, what could I do to, like, mitigate all of that? That's where the idea of the decentralized conference came up. So that's super high level. Next level is okay. What in the world are we going to talk about? And so the one that's coming up is about the entrepreneurial mindset in construction, and so I reached out to a bunch of people and kind of explained what I just explained now and hoping that they didn't, like, roll their eyes and hang up on me and say you're nuts, we're not going to do this. What the hell are you even talking about? And this is where the collaboration piece comes in. They said this sounds interesting, and then they said what if? What about? So they started suggesting their idea, and it reminded me of my times early in leadership, where I had, like, drafted out to the infinite detail of how I wanted things to be, and what that created was a situation where I couldn't receive ideas and input, and so my response to them were like no, no, no, no, we're not going to do that, we're going to do this. No, we're going to do this. No, and the key word is no. I said no a lot. And what did that do? It's signaled to the people like this is not a collaborative thing. So they turned off their brain, they turned off their creativity, and then I really needed it, like I needed ideas to get through some pinch points and some barriers that I couldn't see, but I couldn't access it because I had shut it down already. That was in the past, and so fast forward to now I'm on this call with these like super experienced, accomplished professionals in the industry and they're willing and open to try out this new crazy idea. And as they started sharing ideas, I said, yes, what else? Yes, what else? End of one idea, attached to the next idea and built, and then it led to another strand of thinking and what if we did this and what about this? And so I guess my maybe for some clarity. What I did was I pitched an idea and I presented the overarching topic and maybe the structure, right, like we're going to do 30 minute segments and we're going to have a handoff and an intro and this is the umbrella of value that we want to deliver to the audience. Let me know what you think. You know we had one call and here's another. Funny, like interesting thing is some people really are uncomfortable with the absence of structure, and that's just how I roll. I'm not a high structure person, and so that may be like a takeaway, right? If you're a high structure person and you're looking for collaboration and ideation, maybe removing some of the structure on the front end leaves the gate open for people to fill in the blanks and fill in the skeleton of that structure. And so then the question like in my head is like wow, like that was so amazing, how, like? How do I repeat that? How can I share what I'm observing and experiencing with other people so that they can repeat that? And it really is detaching my personal feelings, my needs and my wants from the outcome. Right, like meaning very general, targeted outcome. I want to provide a unique experience for the viewer. I want to provide a unique experience for the speaker. All the details within that don't have to be hashed out, and actually all the details that were colored in with the crew, with the group of people that are going to be doing this decentralized conference, are a million times better than what I could have come up with independently. And so that's another kind of magical thing, right, is I wonder? I mean, they're always smarter than me, but I wonder, if they were planning something like this on their own, would they have been able to independently come up with an experience that's going to be as engaging and fulfilling mutually fulfilling for all the speakers, for all the people that show up, for all the people that watch it on replay? Like I don't know. I know I couldn't. I 100% know, I've proven that I can't do it alone. And so this collaboration idea, I think the formula I think this is the formula that I see and I'm going to test it out again because we're going to have more decentralized conferences but I think the formula is have an overarching idea, because that sets direction and helps people understand some parameters, have some structural information in terms of, like, duration, how long it's going to be. Do you want a PowerPoint? Do you not want a PowerPoint? What's the introduction going to look like like, what's the experience going to be for the presenter or for the people? And then open the gates and agree and say yes to any idea that comes to the table. Because here's the thing it doesn't mean like I got to see this happen in real life. The first idea that comes out isn't the last idea, or the form that it came out in is not the form that it ends in Meaning. One person pitched an idea, somebody else said, oh, yeah, what about this? And another person said, oh, and what about this? And so, like, that first pitch of an idea sparked creativity and curiosity in somebody else, so they added to it. And then somebody else said, oh, and what if? And what if and what if, and so like allowing those ideas to germinate and grow into what they're going to end up being. I think that's a skill to like restrain and hold back from saying no and just saying yes and in the end, you know, yeah, it feels a little bit messy, but in the end we're all like super excited about what the thing is going to be amped up, about doing the thing, and I promise, like there's no doubt in my mind that after that session, the pre-coordination session, whatever you want to call it they're excited about ooh, what else? What if, what if, what if? Which is only going to provide more value for the people that show up and experience the dang thing. I don't know if I'm right or wrong. I do know that I feel like I have a little bit of a formula to go and experiment with and test and verify, like, if that's the thing. And I wonder for you, like, what are your collaborative experiences like? And maybe an early filter to think through or consider is do you have a yes and mindset and have you over detailed the situation such that it's suffocating creativity? It's possible, I don't know. I think for me it's true, but I'm going to leave you with that Like, what is collaboration. What could it look like? And, lastly, I appreciate all the time and support and attention that you've gifted the Learnings and Missteps podcast with and I invite you to sign up for the email list. So right now I'm sending out like a monthly vid letter, which is a little video update celebration, some resources in there, and I'm launching a weekly newsletter that'll connect you to some resources meaning services, content, et cetera from, like, all of my awesome friends that are putting amazing things out there in service to others, and also it'll connect you with some thought-provoking content produced by yours truly podcasts, blogs, articles, et cetera. Be cool and we'll talk at you next time. Peace.