Meet IN The Moment
In designing a conference or an event, hosting a meeting or a Town Hall, we have to recognize that it will not take place in isolation, not in 2020. When we invite people to join us and to bring their “whole-selves” we must factor in that also means that we are inviting the mess swirling around us, near and far.
People are attending the meeting from where they are. People are meeting from their homes; from their living rooms, bedrooms and make-shift desks. People are meeting in the middle of their messy, complex, busy lives yet, we want their attention.
We are meeting in the middle of a health crisis, a financial crisis, a human crisis. We are meeting during a pandemic and civil unrest; we are meeting while people are shouting to be heard; Black Lives DO Matter and #MeToo!
As we are meeting the conversation is changing, the script is changing. We can no longer meet the way we used to.
We need to Meet IN the Moment.
We need to recognize that the moment matters and invite it in. We need to meet about what is relevant now, we need to Be Ready, Be Brave and Be Bold. We need to be part of the conversation especially if we want to change the conversation (or risk being muted).
This means that we need to design with meaning and with intent. We need to create the creative, safe spaces where bold conversations can survive. We need to be willing to poke and provoke, to challenge and cajole and we need to listen, really listen to what is being said and what is not spoken.
In order to have relevance we need to be relevant and that means that IF we are meeting we need to Meet IN the Moment we are in.
