Connection of souls

Three days with wonderfull people at Fort aan de Klop for the first Meeting Design Practicum.

First about the Practicum

The MD Practicum is an annual 2.5-day international meeting. Participants are curious MD practitioners serious about developing their profession through knowledge exchange, experimenting, taking risks and analysing successes. They gather to do what is common in other fields of expertise: Research and Development. During the MD Practicum the practitioners are content providers as well as participants, guinea pigs as well as speakers, audience as well as composers. They share their secrets, key questions and research issues. The outcomes of the MD Practicum are owned by those attending. The registration fee is nothing more than the total costs divided by the number of registrations. It is an invitation only event. The MD Practicum was initiated by Eric de Groot and Victor Neyndorff.

The first MD Practicum took place in February 2016, in Utrecht the Netherlands in Fort aan de Klop and was organized by Eric de Groot, Juup de Kanter, Maureen Kamphuis, Sara van den Berg, Victor Neyndorff, Ritzo ten Cate and actually all thirty participants.

The design concept: the annual conference of druids

Borrowed from Asterix and the Goths. The druids come together to meet friends, share tricks, prepare food, drink, cut trees, play, talk, share knowledge. They come together and there is no real direction. But there is tradition: to select the druid of the year.

The MD practicum’s verbs (designed by Eric, Maureen, Juup, Ritzo)

Do and experience magic

Play

Have meaning / be meaningful

Connect

Develop

Disorganize / disrupt

The MD practicum targets (designed by Eric, Maureen, Juup, Ritzo)

Make at least three new friends.

Meet at least 7 approaches / schools / angles / roots of meeting design.

At least one applicable idea which you can use from the the day after.

Laugh three times uncontrolably.

Increased love for our profession with at least 5%.

Wanting to continue after the official end of the practicum.

Content flow (designed by Eric, Maureen, Juup, Ritzo)

Composing Formats

EM = Experiment – try something new – Maori Thoughts, Drincussions, Knowledge tree

EX = Experience – Escape room, Reflexiology, Postive Energy

CH = Challenge – challenge your colleagues with a real challenge – how to prove ROI to sales budget holders? Monday Morning Agenda / meeting

DS = Design Session – design a meeting – Icca conference (Martin)

TT = Tips and Tricks with beards

SS = Skills session: share your skills – objects

DR = Drincussions

WTF = Walk around the fort

RE = Reflection

EN = Energizers

EAT = together

I really enjoyed the Bridge Ritual: what will you leave behind before entering the fort? It makes it a warm welcome.

And also the reflection tree worked very well.

From the roots (people on whose shoulders you are standing) to the fruit (personal evaluation of the targets).

Those tree days and especially the people had a huge impact on me. I’ve been touched.