Pilot as Practice
Some months ago, a former coworker encouraged me to think about hosting the kinds of offerings she’d seen me facilitate at work for a more general public.
This thoughtful nudge connected to something I’d been daydreaming about for years: inviting my favorite minds to a big house where I envisioned a conference, a mind-meld, a deep think, a wedding of ideas.
Some weeks ago, I invited dozens of people to a deconstructed Culture Forms Conference Pilot, a Zoom practice with a selection of containers.
This is where poetry has led me. I create myriad, flexible spaces that offer people a sense of belonging and nimble ways to explore various forms of creativity. Practically speaking, I facilitate gatherings about creativity, community, and navigating uncertainty with greater ease.
The sessions I’ve led over the last several years have proved useful in connecting people to themselves as well as to others. As a facilitator, it is my goal to foster open exchanges that lead any room toward:
building trust, even among strangers
practicing our vulnerability
creative questioning
a feeling at the end that you’d like to continue the conversation.
In the invitation, I offered four containers:
“Creating a Community Circle” based on the practice I’ve been facilitating with my neighbors since June 2020
a “Creative Processes” session examining new ways to think about how we use our time, creatively and otherwise
a bi-weekly space called “The Great Debriefing” for debriefing the pandemic
a bi-weekly space to think “About Uncertainty.”
Over the six days that registration was open, more than 25 people signed up.
Here’s what I have learned so far.
I learned that people are indeed looking for connection, and they’re not done with Zoom; that they want to build their own community circles at work, home, or school, and could use the guidance and support of like-minded people
I learned that dozens more people would sign up for a mailing list if I had one
I learned that I can, and must, ask for help—as we all must, sometimes—and that people are willing to help
I learned that the choice of four offerings was the right amount for some people, and overwhelming for others
I learned that some people don’t use Google Calendar (I still use a paper calendar)
I learned that offering a pilot means that I was willing to learn by doing, and I am still reminding myself (when it gets uncomfortable or when I fear I’m making a mistake) that this was the whole reason for trying a pilot.
In the early days of November, I held the initial offering, the first About Uncertainty session. I learned that the familiar feeling my former coworker encouraged me to find in new spaces was indeed possible, even among strangers. I was reminded, once again, that it is worth it to try.