This is a post about the tenth anniversary of Web of Change, a conference held every year at the Hollyhock Institute. To everyone who could not attend this year, you were missed. And to those of you who have never been, I urge you to consider coming next year. Financial help is available and the carpooling is a gas.
I wanted to write a post that recognizes the many hundreds of participants who have attended the Web of Change conference over the years as well as those who have always wanted to attend and haven’t made it out. You all deserve to be kept in the loop.
It’s humbling to write and reflect back on the Web of Change experience knowing just how many brilliant minds and wordsmiths make up the conference each year. A handful of catchphrases don’t do it justice. However, I’m all about sound bites, brevity and wit and what have you. So here’s a little something to whet your appetite — Web of Change 10:10 divided into four flavours: Yeast Dressing, Ladders, OMPA and Love.
Yeast Dressing: Sounds Gross, So Good **
The Hollyhock Institute is on Cortes Island in beautiful British Columbia. Surrounded by the kind of beauty that inspired Emily Carr, Hollyhock devotes itself to personal well being and community building.
And it just so happens that Hollyhock is home to the best yeast salad dressing you’ll ever taste. That is, if you’re brave enough to try a dressing with a name like yeast.
It’s over this very dressing where the spark of inspiration and understanding first appears as groups of people from across the continent and a precious few from overseas sit down and break bread together. Web of Change, in particular, is an opportunity for social, tech, and not-for-profit leaders to converge in one place over a very short and intense period of time and share practices, successes, failures and, above all, stories. I know, without a doubt, that each and every person who has ever attended Web of Change values the power of storytelling on some level.
Ladders: We’re Listening
Whoever first came up with the idea of personal shoppers most have felt the same giddy sensation I felt when I first learned about “Engagement Ladders” at WoC this year. Personalized, profound and practical, Engagement Ladders are like stepping into Macy’s and receiving top-notch shopping service, only Macy’s is a not-for-profit and you’re an organizer. This exquisite tool that circulated the conference this year was directly responsible for a lot of innovative talk. With apologies to the many voices that helped shape this conversation – I’m going to try and do my best to describe what an engagement ladder is but for the love of Gibran, keep the definitions coming!
Within any given organization, there will always be a variety of supporters willing to take up the cause on any number of different commitment levels. Several organizers who attended Web of Change this year have begun tracking these supporters and taking a good long, look at which level, or in this case, which step they sit on the “Ladder of Engagement.” Engagement Ladders help us focus on what we should be measuring so we can not only reward each supporter, we can introduce them to the next step in a practical and profound way. Web of Change 2010 attendee, Steve Anderson, has provided an excellent example of how his company, Salesforce.com, utilizes Engagement Ladders. A must watch video complete with a “Back-to-the-Future” moment for Steve as he listens to his voice, circa 2007.
OMPA: What He Said
I want to share with you an expression that one of our facilitators passed on: “OMPA.” It means “Our Mother of Perpetual Amazing” and I think it sums up some of the “ah-ha” moments many attendees had this year.
A conference is really just one big conversation and like any lively and successful exchange, it requires facilitation. This year at Web of Change, some extraordinary hosts were charged with bringing together two groups of people: front-line organizers and tech-strategists. I think it’s safe to say that unbeknownst to either group, both were in need of an uncomfortable and ultimately transformative conversation. I have no doubt that the details of the conversation will continue to come to light over the next few weeks. All you need to do is Google search Web of Change and see what comes up.
Another beautiful sound bite that deserves to be featured is a question that was poised early on in the conference: “Are you on a mission or simply working for an organization with a mission statement?”
Great question.
Love: “Propagate Love With Gratitude”
The above comment was left below fellow participant Ian Rhett’s video of his Pecha Kucha presentation on love. (In lou of a talent show, participants prepared Pecha Kucha presentations. They were all remarkable and I hope they’re all eventually posted.)
His presentation eloquently reminds us, whoever we are, whatever we do, that we own our work. From leaders to linchpins, as Ian puts it, we “make the choice to stay involved.” His presentation also came at a vital moment: the conference halfway point. It’s for anyone who has ever felt frustrated or helpless in their work (um, that’s pretty much all of us, right?) It reminds us of the power we have to at least try and move mountains or remove ourselves in the best interest of love. “Life is short. Do what you love and love doing it.” Thanks, Ian. Rock on.
These are just a few snippets from the latest Web of Change conference, or rather, (un)conference. I don’t pretend to represent each and every voice that attended. I only hope to add to the conversation which, to my delight, continues to grow. I welcome all Web of Changers, and anyone else interested for that matter, to join in.
One final note. I just read this status of a fellow Web of Changer: “listening is a willingness to be changed by what you hear.” What a glorious sentiment and for past and future attendees, one I know you take to heart.
Much love and plenty of “word.”
Theo
Theo is an online community organizer with TheBigWild.org, the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, and the Women’s Health Research Institute. Her background is in radio and television production. From time to time, you can still hear her voice on Vancouver’s Bollywood radio station, RJ1200. She also thinks redheads are pretty cool and likes to write about them on her blog, GingerAiling.com.
[Snaps fingers with gusto].