Hi Barb, 

Depression. Anger. Fear.  Feeling emotions like these can be healthy for a few minutes, and can motivate you or a group to take action. But holding onto anger and fear isn't healthy and can keep a group stuck.

I feel these emotions most acutely when I am alone. Lately, I keep learning these simple lessons:  
-- If you want to go far, go together. 
-- If you want to live long, keep your friendships strong.
-- If you want to make a real change, you must be in the present moment 

For me, this means:
-- taking responsibility for my needs, which can include asking for help
-- doing things with others even if I could do them faster by myself
-- joining communities of practice and coworking spaces

Although some of the above may not seem to be directly related to having better meetings, my meetings turn out a lot better when I'm caring for myself and I'm fully present. How about you?   

Speaking of doing things in community, I'll be at all the events listed below, and I'd love to have you join me. Please come!

Warmly,

Barb Bickford

Building Conferences that Connect
-- Tuesday June 17, 2025, at 12:30 PM ET / 11:30 AM CT / 9:30 AM PT  / 60 minutes online (no cost)

Many conferences can feel like a grind -- for planners and participants alike.  But, there are things you can do to help people really connect!

In this hands-on session that's geared for people who plan or manage conferences, you'll explore why so many events under-deliver on engagement, learning, and connection. Then we (you, Lee Gimpel and I) will roll up our sleeves and work together to build better ones. You’ll identify pain points and leave with actionable takeaways to make your next event more human, connected, and memorable.

Register for this June 17th event at the Washington DC Liberating Structures' EventBrite page. The button to register is in the upper right corner of the page. You'll need to scroll down a ways to see the description of the event. 

Note that this workshop is a follow-up to May's event on "Reimagining Conferences: More Connection, Less Lecture" AND you don't need to have attended that session to join this one! 
 

Vitalizing Health, Care, and Community with Liberating Structures
-- June 12, 2025, 11 AM ET / 1O AM CT / 8 AM PT   two hours, online (donations accepted; this is a fundraiser)

Liberating Structures (LS), simple yet powerful methods that change how people work together, has deep roots in health contexts. Much of the earliest development and testing of the methods took place in healthcare settings.

In this session, you will delve into Positive Aging. At once intimate and personal, and one of the truly universal experiences — use Liberating Structures to explore the complex aging process. There will be a lively mix of direct practice, novel experiences, and animating stories and examples that expand everyone's sense of what might be possible. Sign up here! 

RestUP: how to get just a little more rest
-- Thursday, June 26, 2025, 6:30 PM CDT / 90 mins 0nline (no cost)

If you or someone you know provides care for someone with ALS, you know how exhausting this condition can be -- to you! Learn more about different kinds of rest and choose a way to get just a little more rest. 

Read more and access the link to register on our Upcoming Events page. 

If this sounds good but you aren't an ALS caregiver, ask us to do this presentation for your group!

Short and Fun Networking Workshop
-- July 17, 2025 / Shoreview, Minnesota  / Evening in person (no cost)

Networking can connect us with people, knowledge and resources we wouldn't find on our own. At its best, networking creates webs of trusting relationships that benefit everyone involved.

But many of us struggle to network effectively. And how we network can actually turn people off! 

Join us on July 17th to practice microskills of networking that will both help others (and ourselves!) feel at ease and will grow our networks in a healthy way.  I offered to lead this event because I'm finally losing my fear of networking. LOL

All members of the Minnesota Organizational Development Network (MNODN) for members AND people others interested in organizational development are welcome! (If you have a bent for improving things in your workplace, that would be YOU.). 

For now, save the date. This is an after-work event (time to be determined). Registration opens soon on the MNODN events page.  

Transitions and New Beginnings weekend and 1-day retreats 

Here are the upcoming dates for events open to the public: 
-- August 2, 2025, Saturday only, in Stillwater, Minnesota  
-- February 4-8, 2026 in Sun City West (near Phoenix), Arizona
-- April 17-19, 2026 at St. Anthony's Spirituality Center, Marathon City, Wisconisn

Reply to this email if you are interested in any of these dates, and then save the dates in your calendar.

We also offer 1-day Transitions events on demand. Do you know a group of 6 or more people who might want to examine their personal or collective transitions? Let me know.

Related blog posts
-- How to create more engaging conferences
-- From stoning to building: How to energize science meetings
    (this is a guest editorial I wrote for the professional journal Ground Water)
-- On Grief and Engagement

Our upcoming events, workshops and courses

How to make progress anyway 

In my last email , the tip was about aiming for progress not perfection by implementing three basic practices in all your meetings. (May 13, 2025 newsletter in our Newsletter Archive)

This time, let's focus on a meeting where a group feels stuck because of things beyond their control. For example, they think they can't act because of management, the economy, politics, weather, you name it.

In those times, it's easy for groups or individuals to feel and even get stuck in depression, anger or fear. 

What to do: Introduce a simple exercise that will draw their attention back to what is in their own sphere of influence in the present moment.

The exercise is known as "15% Solutions" because in any situation, about 15% of the successful outcome of any project or movement is due solely to individuals acting under their own authority and with their own resources. Read instructions for 15% solutions.  

Example: Think about D-Day. The soldiers on the Normandy beaches could not control the war, the enemy or the weather, but they could scramble to higher ground, dig foxholes and encourage one another. Without those thousands of soldiers acting on moment-to-moment conditions with what they had in hand, the invasion would have failed. 

When I've used 15% Solutions with groups, people really get energized, knowing there is SOMETHING they can do and indeed, it may be something they and only they MUST do. 

We'll be using a variation of this exercise at the Building Conferences that Connect event. Do join us! 

Want even more tips? Access Ten Tips to Foster Online Engagement.

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Photo Credit: cartoon created by me using Dall-E.