Another sage on the stage?
‘I planted the seeds, they will surely germinate.’ Kwame Nkrumah
How many conferences, summits, live webinars, conversations, and meetings have you attended until now?
How many Youtube and Vimeo videos have you watched?
How many podcasts, and iTunes and Soundcloud audios have your listened to?
How much of what was shared can you remember? Moreover, how much of it were you able to internalize and integrate into your life? And how much are you able to apply on a daily basis?
The wisdom shared and impact at gatherings such as conferences, webinars, summits, and any teaching experience, is easily lost during and after the event. Continuity and generative, meaningful, and committed action after the event, even though desired, is not an every day occurrence. We do not speak about networking when we refer to action, but generative action circles as part of each session, during which everyone plays a vital role and contributes.
Why does that happen?
Seasoned, gifted, and experienced speakers, experts, and facilitators receive invitations to share their wisdom and expertise at events. They captivate. They inspire. They provoke. They excite. They expand our perception and knowledge. We become intrigued by some. We become curious. They begin to weave a magnificent thread and a wave of excitement is created.
Then something happens. Life goes on. Out of sight out of mind. It is like lighting a match. The flame will soon die if we do not use it to ignite something else, such as a candle or fire. The light, energy, and warmth it provides will be short-lived. Even the candle will eventually burn out. Thus we need to continuously add wood to keep the fire going, which means generative action.
Sadly, there is another devil in the details. We are spoken to. The speaker tells us about something amazing. Yet, one way communication does not engage or stimulate all our sensibilities and intelligences in a lasting way. We are merely passive listeners.
The way we listen impacts how much of the information we are able to internalize and integrate into our experiences. We listen to understand and evaluate when someone tells us ‘about’ something, whether at a conference, event, webinar or during a meeting or learning process. This means our mind is preoccupied with what was said; it tries to fit this new information into its current filing system of what we already know. Thus our mind’s capacity to process what the speaker says next, is limited. Not because we are not interested or because the speaker is not capable to hold our attention.
Furthermore, our attention will naturally focus on something interesting, thus we will want to ponder on it. We might get lost in thought, and wonderful ideas, and insights might emerge, which is great! Yet, we will lose connection with the speaker momentarily and there is no time to note down what came into our awareness. This all impact our ability to follow the flow of what is shared. To complicate matters, our attention is not 100% available, as expectations and distractions from our lives impact our experience and our attention is scattered. Non-related stress, worries, to-do-lists, anxiety, fear, and the likes cause us to only hear about 10% of what is being shared. An overload of information and time pressures contribute to the lack of time to internalize and integrate the experience, and to create context for it in our personal perceptual and experiential landscape.
Our wondrous, interconnected, digital world impacts our ability to connect to others in a meaningful way. Their level of awareness and level of experience will impact what they will be understand and perceive. Moreover to effectively articulate and share a message with people we have never met and have no real relationship with, brings about an entire new way of communication and expression. The same applies in the physical environment, hence the importance to involve participants from the start with interactive engagement.
In the event that a gifted storyteller or speaker captivates us by enacting more sensibilities and other ways of communication, listening and engagement, we will have a profound experience, which is wonderful! Yet, what happens after this event? Is there continuity? How can this gifted storyteller or speaker allow the wave that they created to become the ocean? Motivation drives intention. Likewise, intention drives action and behavior. External motivation does not last.
A spark
To light a match we need two objects, the match and the matchbox. Together they create the spark, which in turn creates the flame. Passive participation does not create a spark. A connection needs to be made to create alchemy. Connection requires active participation and two way communication. And when we speak about two way communication and engagement, it is not a Q & A session at the end of a session or panels of experts discussing a topic on stage.
The spark can not grow when we have physical obstacles, such as a stage. Effective, two way, interactive engagement is not possible when there is distance and a barrier between the speaker and the audience. A sage on the stage speaks down at people, from a physical perspective. True connection and meaningful communication happens when we are all on the same level, no experts and novices, no leaders and followers, no teachers/lecturers and students, and no speakers and audience.
For the spark to grow we need to also reflect on why people attend events? There are many reasons, yet in the past people attended such events to network, to expand their knowledge relating to a topic of interest, and to meet people. They did not mind to spend 2 to 3 days at such events. Today, because so much information is readily available on the internet and chaotic schedules, participants’ expectations are much higher. They want a meaningful experience that contributes to their lives in more than one way.
The linear way venues are set-up in classroom and theater style, does allow for a spark to spontaneously and organically grow. Likewise eye contact between participants and speakers are not possible, which is an important element of engagement and when the ‘new and unfamiliar’ is shared with us. Lateral thinking is not stimulated in such scenarios, as our bodies face one way towards the stage. There is no opportunity to move around, to cross-pollinate, and to discuss and explore topics together. A seasoned speaker will be able to engage us in such set-ups, but the potential will not be optimized.
What else is possible?
We are extremely grateful for developing and sharing a wondrous, practical, energizing, and visionary process that enables a speaker to share their wisdom, whilst simultaneously facilitating two way, interactive engagement — with plenty creative and lateral thinking and embodied exploration — and time to contribute, question, expand, process and internalize — resulting in intrinsic motivated, generative, aligned, and synchronized action. And moreover, stimulating creative thinking abilities enables each participant to co-create authentic context that has personal value, symbolic meaning, organizational/group/global impact, and practical application. This process is prolific and stimulating, as it is outflow- and not outcome-based.
The Gap Experience and approach is highly effective in any type engagement, regardless the topic, theme, culture, context, platform, or industry. As a seasoned public speaker, key note, and facilitator, I have been using this approach during key notes, expert presentations, strategic sessions, employee wellness, and other events, in Japan, Turkey, Spain, the UK, Romania, Malaysia, Ghana, Zambia, South Africa, and online. We are grateful for conference organizers from Switzerland, Spain, Germany, and South Africa who trusted us to design their events according to this process, and for allowing us to lead their conferences in South Africa since 2016.
It does not stop here
How can we see where the flow of energy, others’ insights, discoveries, relations, and actions go and where ours intersect with theirs after such events? How can we track synchronization and coherence points and benefit from power nodes? How can we harness the unexpected, synchronicity, serendipity, and act more spontaneously? How can we make more informed decisions and take appropriate action?
Technology and modern day communications are wonderful. Our ‘The Gap Flow’ processes, maps, and tools harness these technologies so we can effortlessly record and share insights and ideas, track their natural flow, become aware of synchronization points, coherence points, choice points, degree of connections, growth patterns, and power nodes.
Need a speaker?
Seasoned Public Speakers and Facilitators, we are available to speak at and share this wondrous method at your in-house events, public events, online events, conferences, webinars, strategic sessions, think-tanks, and summits, regardless of the topic, context, environment or industry, across the globe and also online. We are also available to assist in conference, webinar, and summit theme design and generative action circle development. Connect with us to explore your specific requirements.
Topics close to our hearts
IOS — I am onto Something
Begin as you mean to go!
An encounter with Einstein!
Mountaineering in the Sahara!
Creativity and Innovation
Collective Sensemaking
Leading from the Heart
The art of Relating in the 21st Century
JOYSense
To introduce you to some of our processes, we share 8 downloadable sensemaking experiences relating to topics, which impacts the way we engage and interact. You can access them here:
https://joyplanet.joygeneration.world/joy-sense-experiences/
IOS — I am onto Something — Embracing the New!
In IOS, my latest book, I share more about these wonderful processes. You can access the e-version of IOS as part of our Joy Panorama Experiences here:
https://joyplanet.joygeneration.world/joy-panorama-experiences
Message me for a free copy of the first episode. The foreword by Prof Piero Formica, Professor of Knowledge Economics, Contamination Lab, University of Padua, and Senior Research Fellow, Innovation Value Institute, Maynooth University Ireland.
