I don't even know where to start with this one right now...I am trying to write this out the night of the event which I know is probably the best time to do this...for now I am going to limit myself to doing just doing what I can remember off of the top of my head without skipping to my notes...mainly because I am too tired to do anything like that at this moment...I was at the conference from 8:00am till 7:00pm. So yes it was 11 hours but it felt like about 4.
It was amazing and I haven't been this on fire about anything in a long time. It is nice to find passion like this. Granted my desires are running some what parallel to EWB but are not the same in one crucial fact. I want to also teach people about the Lord that I am impacting. The speakers are so knowledgeable in their areas it is beyond me. I love how this is providing real world advice to real world problems
We went to breakfast at 8am.
Opening ceremony started at 8:30
First speaker started at around 9
....This is what I had wrote down before basically passing out in my bed...I find it slightly amusing that I tried to go through the day with the times...then just stopped. Here is the review I wrote up later while in the plane...
The rumors were flying around the previous day that we were going to have snow. Some were saying 8 inches while others were saying as much as 14 inches. Of course it was 60 some odd degrees the day before I and I no more believe them then the man on the moon. Well sure enough it did get cold and it did snow.
When I woke up around 7:30 I looked out the window and found that it was snowing. When we walked out I could tell the snow had been coming down for a while but apparently the ground was still way too warm from the previous day’s heat for much accumulation to occur.
We were greeted in the opening presentation by Catherine Leslie with the welcome ceremony. The Denver Mayor (John Hickenlooper) was then scheduled to speak but did not make it.
(8:45-9:45)
Next in line was the keynote speaker, Joseph Grenny. He was a motivational speaker of sorts…and his subject was Critical Conversations. Critical Conversations are the point in a relationship usually surrounded by conflict where the politically unsure thing needs to be said to a person in order to help the team as a whole because if not approached it becomes the forbidden topic and at that point it is too late.
(A copy of what I wrote in my notes:)
Moments of Disproportionate Influence
-They are emotional or politically sensitive points in a relationship.
93% of people work with an "untouchable" person. These people are those that are incompitent, dishonest, rude, etc. Their actions have been going on for so long that no one will approach them about the issue.
People kill the dialogue during these "Moments of Disproportionate Influence" unknowingly by these actions instead of taking care of the issue:
-Keep the peace
-Avoid Conflict
-Win
-Be Right
-Save Face
When in one of these "Moments" you should stop and examine your motives because of these things:
- Your motives always control you actions
- You are never a good enough of an actor to fool people
The solution to all of this is to ask these questions:
-What do I really want for Me
-What do I really want for Others
-What do I really want for My Relationship with them
People never get defensive about what your are saying. They get defensive because of why you are saying it. Therefore, show that you care about their problems and care about them to break past the communication barrier.
And last but not least (THE BROWNIES ARE BAD)
And last but not least (THE BROWNIES ARE BAD)
Audio
Part 1
Part 2
(10:15-11:00)
Karen Luken: The Director of the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), spoke on Using Waste as a Resource Can Help Build Sustainable Societies. I personally did not too much care for this talk. Politics started creeping into the discussion and to be honest I don’t think the title of the talk matched what the talk was actually about. I don’t know off hand if I got this speaker recorded or not. Her basic talk was about how the CCI convinced a government in Africa to lease garbage trucks for people to use and eventually have the people buy the trucks from them. I suppose the waste was the trash and the sustainability comes from the amount of trash everyone naturally produces. The talk did not just stop with that as she was an adamant supporter of global warming. I personally find it a bit hard to focus so much over a still controversial idea of global warming.
(11:15-12:00)
After this, the breakout sessions started. I chose to go to the session based on making a successful assessment trip on your first trip to evaluate the project site. This session was VERY good. I learned a lot from the people speaking. They talked about the social dynamics of dealing with other cultures, designing the project for the supplies avaible, making a connection with the people and allowing them to take ownership of the project, taking time to understand their culture so that they accept you…this is what I can remember off of the top of my head. I will post up the notes in an edit later.
(Notes for this break-out session below in blue)
Top Ideas:
-Things to do:
- Elevation survey
- Water quality testing
- Health interviews
- Compile data while you are there (that way if you miss some information you can still get it.)
- Post trip paper work (Try to do as soon as possible, while in country if possible)
- Build Contacts with the people, but set your own stuff up and do not rely on them.
- Stay where you are working...allows people to get to know you and trust you.
- Take as much data as you can regardless of what your current plan is.
- Take pictures
- Have some fun so you dont get burned out.
(12:00-1:30)
Now it was time for lunch. The conference provided everything. We were given some chicken, a rice pilaf thing, rolls, salad, other assortment of vegetables, and of course desert. I have to admit we ate like royalty when the conference fed us.
After lunch we attended a panel on the “Challenges of Sustainable Economic Development”. I recorded this as well. I have not figured out a way to put the recording up yet. This panel covered such a wide range of topics that it is hard to narrow things down with out going back to the notes.
(The notes from that session are below in blue)
The panel:
Jim Hallock
Scott Lacy
Zenia Tata
Kane Luken
Key Points:
-Address failures, dont hide them.
-Must have an exit strategy, must be able to end the project and not have it continue indefinately
-Profit drives the world to proceed
-Dont run others out of business (the people sending mosquito nets to the 3rd world ruinung local business)
-Be able to see what people want. (Ford was asked what people wanted, He apparently replied along the lines of, "People want a faster horse."
Make sure what you are doing is culturally acceptable
Train People - (Teach them to fish so that they can continue on after you leave.)
90% of NGO's (Non-Governmental Organizations) FAIL.
Create faith in the product. (If the people dont believe it they wont use it.)
Be diverse in your team make-up so you dont all fall into the same mold of thinking.
Focus on what you are good at only. Doing too much will cause loss of focus.
Below are some of the main questions they attempted to address during the discussion along with the audio file...
I met a lot of great people at the conference. It is amazing how well everyone got along. I guess that is what happens when you get people with similar minds together. Also surprising was the socialness of the people there...engineers are rather introverted by nature but for the most part these people were very extroverted...of course there were a few exceptions.
Another breakout session took places after the panel. This time I choose to go to the session called “Leading Between The Lines”. Sadly the recording did not come out very clear for this one. I have tried to doctor it up some and it has become more usable due to this. I still need to figure out how to post audio... The session split everyone up into different types of leaders. The four groups were given a certain color to represent their specific leadership type. Again I will add specific notes to this when I can. This is a slide from the session talking about the levels of leadership.
(Notes about this breakout session are below in blue)
Top Ideas
Spiral Dynamics
Credibility
Outliers
Communication
Use annymous surveys
Main Point
If you only have a hammer then everything begins to look like a nail. Diversify your tool kit so that you are able to tackle different challenges in a better manner.
(5:00-6:30)
Speaker & Sponsor Networking Reception
This is time probably from an EWB standpoint was the most valuable. I was able to talk to a lot of people and exchange contact information with at least 10 different groups. These groups ranged from new start-ups like ours, and older groups such as Texas. I met a great group of people from North Carolina State. Hey Sarah and Bryan! I also met a guy from Michigan whose church has a very interesting program. Basically they have all of the contractors in their region drop off unused building supplies such as extra drywall, doors, and etc… They then sell these products really cheap to homeowners that are in financial need. The idea is that people who take care of their houses tend to take care of their neighborhoods better. And of course the obvious benefits of the church helping out the community.
I managed to stay and talk to people until 6:45 when I realized the time and dashed to my hotel (the Hilton). Jenny and I then came back for the EWB night on the town. But we missed the group that left so we went off and explored on our own.
This is me on the RTD Free ride shuttle that runs down 16th street. By this time we decided it was best to head in because it was stinking cold and late. This is the one night that I was not out past 10pm.
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