The kick-butt Event 360 team!I just returned from Valencia, California, where I spent two very full days with our entire Event 360 team at Impact 360, our once-every-18-months-or-so all-team meeting. I’m finding it hard to describe the many thoughts I have rolling around in my head right now, but I thought I’d take a shot at a few of them. 

Here’s what I’m taking away.

• Show is better than tell, and do is better than show. Even as the leader of an event fundraising company, I sometimes forget how powerful experiences can be. We spent a lot of time in activities and very little time in lectures. There’s just no substitute for something that is immersive and engaging. There’s no substitute for face-to-face interaction. How can you engage someone in a powerful conversation today?
• “We” is more powerful than “I” or “you.” Our content was developed by a very large group of our team and our core activities involved literally everyone. There’s no doubt in my mind that this made our curriculum much more compelling. What are you doing that would be improved by someone else’s input? (Probably everything.) What can you do to involve them?
• Your clients and partners can discuss your impact better than you can. It sounds risky to hand over your most important messages to people outside of your organization, but that is exactly what we did. Rather than talk about our accomplishments, we asked clients and partners to discuss it. In what had to be some of the best sessions we’ve ever conducted, we heard unscripted presentations and discussions about our role in other people’s growth. What could you ask your clients to do for you?
• Not everything works, but trying everything is worth it. We wanted to create a comfortable and unique environment for our team, so among other things, we augmented the normal “chairs and table rounds” you find at a conference with yoga mats and medicine balls. The first day, the medicine balls were completely taken; by the last day, the thrill had worn off and almost every single ball rolled around empty. Still, it was a fun thing to try and a neat thing to do. What silly ideas have you been putting off? Could you implement one today?

I know I’ll have many more thoughts over the next few weeks, but I wanted to write a few today while the meeting was fresh in my mind. 

By far my biggest takeaway is that the Event 360 team absolutely rocks, and I’m nothing but proud and inspired to spend my time with a group of fun, driven, and idealistic world changers. How can we help you?