At the beginning of the month, I had the opportunity to go to the New Leaders Conference in San Francisco along with our Production Manager and Communications Director.
Wow, what a weekend!
I could go on for a while expounding the beauty of San Francisco and some enviable lifestyle practices - not to mention their green leanings (the main grocery store chain uses only paper bags - no plastic), but I'll focus this post on the events having the most impact on daily life.
1. The simple beauty of conversation.
Production and communication are both very busy departments that occupy geographically different parts of our building. Save photo calls, there is very little cause for staff of these departments to cross-pollinate. I think I'm almost the only little bee that deals with both departments on a regular basis. It was extremely enjoyable to watch these two managers geek out and discover how much they have in common - not just in terms of graphic novels and techno-speak, but also in strategy of running their departments and issues that they face daily. While the conference leaders did some great programming, the ability to sit with a beer and talk as leadership and managers was, for me, the greatest gift of the trip.
2. Generational issues
Millenials, Gen-X, Boomers... Seems to be all I hear lately. But I guess there's a reason for that. The conference was less a full blown discussion of generational issues, and more a mezze for a further national discussion to be held online. Lynne Lancaster presented a general analysis of the generational characteristics. While it was a nice overview, she seemed to talk to the "older" generations, ignoring the fact that over half the room was Gen-X and Millenials. And she talked a LOT about boomers. But, that is what boomers do, now isn't it? (I kidd because I love)
3. Goal Setting
On the first day there was a lovely session led by Daniel Alexander Jones that featured a structured analyzation of your life plan. ("plan" seems like the wrong word, but "life intention" is too weak) While the ideas were a combination of 7 Habits and GTD, the theatre field seldom encourages this type of analysis in a formal corporate manner. The invitation to do so started a welcome re-organization of my priorities that is still in process.
4. Self Artistic Analysis
Daniel's other session focused on how to write about your work. It was an exercise similar to developing an elevator speech. Again - things that are common in the saturated realm of entrepreneurial self-help books, but, again, thinks not often discussed corporately in our field. Again, a refreshing reminder.
5. The other conference sessions, while interesting in a lesser degree, were less New Leader-centric. The second day of the conference was combined with the Theatre Bay Area conference. While they are quite the organization (the produces a very attractive magazine), the topics of that day were less exciting that the discussions we were already having. I did have a lovely time eating dim sum and furthering the discussion that evening at the R and G Lounge in Chinatown Monday night.
The trip began a lot of thought processes that have found their way back to staff meetings, production meetings, and even conversations in my personal life. Thanks San Francisco!
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