I guess that’s how I have been going to conferences, meetings and trade fairs too. Knowing what to expect, and getting just that. Taking in new ideas, making notes, presenting sessions. Engaging in Q&A with panels, asking and answering, and following the event program. Nothing wrong there, right? Just give me a schedule and I will find my way. Again, knowing more or less which road I’m on.
In the end this provides me with the ROI needed, but I sometimes wonder: is that all I should be aiming for?
OK. So this week I stepped into another person’s comfort zone: that of my son, seeking thrills and excitement at an amusement park. NOT something that I ever wanted to do as a child, and certainly not something I thought about doing as an adult. But now that he is tall enough for all the rides, it seemed silly to let him do all this stuff by himself. So I sat beside him in the roller coaster …and boy did I know it.
For him, it was bliss. For me it was daring, an experience that involved loads of adrenaline and feeling completely out of control. However, it also left me feeling great about new stuff and laughing at myself on the rollercoaster picture: slightly anxious, trying to hold on. But full of energy.
For him, it was bliss. For me it was daring, an experience that involved loads of adrenaline and feeling completely out of control. However, it also left me feeling great about new stuff and laughing at myself on the rollercoaster picture: slightly anxious, trying to hold on. But full of energy.
Yes, this was an obvious “step out of your comfort zone” lesson. To be applied to life in general, but even more so professional life, meetings and events, and the research involved in it. So from now on I will try to think about:
· Getting out of your routine will give you valuable information about yourself AND your organization - use it!
· Let go more – and find out where it leads you
· Step into the shoes of attendee, exhibitor or organizer: what is THEIR comfort zone?
· Realize that your comfort zone is someone else’s nightmare (maybe I should stop talking about databases and websites to my colleagues)
· Disruptive sessions or unexpected changes can bring engagement and fun to events – so why not to your own day-to-day meetings
· Volunteer, crowdsource, open up your ‘gated community” and let in fresh ideas
· Learn from new (un)conferences, hybrid, meeting architecture ideas – by participating in them
Trick is: not to slip back into my comfort zone right away. I am halfway there already, typing a blog on a Sunday evening. Anyway, I just sent myself some reminders that will start hitting my inbox two months from now. And I asked my son to take me out again – in the fall, I need to catch my breath first. And of course…,there is always a silly picture to remind me.
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