I have attended this conference every year since Agile2007 minus Agile2020 but no one could attend that year! And each year, I write a reflection and appreciation post following the event. This time there is just so much that this post is going to be in a series. Part 1…behind the scenes done and this is part 2…sessions.
Let’s start with sessions that I got to attend (in no particular order)…
- Kadidra Hurst: One minute we are in an hotel suite pre happy hour event, the next minute we’ve encouraged Kadidra to sign up for a lightening talk. And of course, I’m attending this to give all the support I can. She didn’t need it. Kadidra got up there and nailed it. She had content, she had a flow, she had vulnerability, she had key points, she had humor…she delivered. She got a standing ovation from me and others! It was amazing! I can’t wait to see her continue down this path of sharing her passions and wisdom. We are all better because of it. Key take-away from this one for me, a reminder that words truly do matter (even if it’s no big deal to you).
- WiA New Voices – Kara: Kara talked about her journey of overcoming obstacles and it was inspiring. She delivered with pose, vulnerability, honesty and I was left inspired to not let the little voice in my head tell me I can’t.
- Lightening Talks: The set of lightening talks on Th afternoon (as I came to see Kadidra) were all fabulous. I was so inspired by everyone getting up there. They were challenging themselves and delivering great content. So much so, that I decided to get up on the fly and do one. Ok, it’s not a challenge for me but I just wanted to participate they were all so good. I let them pick the topic and they went with handstands. So much fun. I forgot how much I love this format!
- Lyssa Adkins: She asked a question from a source (didn’t write down the book) that basically said… once you knew, what did you do? Talk about speaking to my core especially as my talk was going to be on courage. This might be the single most question that helps me realize why I get so frustrated with the world right now. We know better now…no need to judge the past, but let’s do better.
- Jeff Patton: Jeff always delivers but he made a statement that continues to rattle around in my brain. “it’s also the onion metaphor because the further you peel back the layers, the more it stinks and the more you cry”. I don’t know the emoji for expressing how much I love this as I cry at its truth.
- Christina Hartikainen: I’m not resting my brain. Yes, I sleep. But I’m not resting. This was very well timed for me as my brain can go into speed mode with tasks, etc. I’m already incorporating some of the techniques she listed with much success.
- Woody Zuill: I won’t get this verbatim but…If you can’t measure what they value, they will just focus on what can be measured. Made me think of how many teams are tracking useless data just because it can be tracked.
- Jake Calabrese & Allison Pollard: They did a fantastic job explaining, facilitating and then hosting open space & presentation karaoke this week. I have to say that the lazy river open sessions we did were extremely valuable. I needed a few new questions to ask in awkward situations because I’m not a small talk kind of person. And I got them 🙂
- Stuart Young: I didn’t get to see his full session but I loved that the program team had Stuart on stage in the opening for a little drawing activity. Of course, my abilities went off the rails but the laughs started this conference beautifully for me!
- Reimagine Agile panel: Ellen Grove always impresses me with her holding space abilities for groups. Panels tend to be one of my least favorite things to attend but I knew with Ellen, it would be great. There was a moment of just seeing the support up on that stage for each other but also for this community that gave me all the feels.
- Melissa Boggs: I felt a little guilty in that I got to see an early version of her keynote at Mile High Agile Denver just a few months ago. But she had already made tweaks and I got even more out of it a second time. Obviously, her content and delivery speak to my soul. But what I want to express is just how freaking happy we all were to see her on that stage doing her thing. So so proud!
The person I didn’t get to see their session (but I did get some dancing time with later in the week) was Olivia Vick. I always ask who was awesome this year and Olivia’s name kept coming up. I’ll be watching for your name at the next program so I can see your magic.
Now my session. So the one time that I’m going to break the goal being only positive is when it comes to my own stuff. I wasn’t thrilled with my pace at the end/closing. I had added an extra tip the day before (Christina’s session was that amazing), and forgot I did it while giving the session… and then ran short on time. Rookie move that I know better. Now I realize that most won’t notice and it was still fine but I know. That said, here’s what I loved about my session:
- Because they only setup video in the main keynote room, a few sessions that they wanted to record was put in that room. This means that the room was setup for the entire conference. Let’s say 1000 people total at the conference. Out of that at best about 800 are attending sessions (sponsors, organizers, speakers, hallway, lazy river, etc). Then you have 14 sessions at the same time. So you are doing great if you get 50-60 people. But I know the room is 1000. I was nervous if I could keep the connection in that space. So I was thrilled that I had 3 times that many people show up. But it was still in a huge room. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard to maintain connection, energy, etc in this setting. I pulled it off but I was wiped out afterwards.
- People wanted to chat with me after – which means I was able to choose a topic that resonated with people. That I was able to be vulnerable that created a connection. That I delivered for the conference and attendees. The feedback has been phenomenal. People might assume that just fills my ego but in reality it fills my energy because I feel like I’m paying forward what others did for me at this conference over the years. Inspire, challenge, support, appreciate.
- Again, people loved my shoes 🙂
Now this doesn’t even take into account all the value from hallway discussions/tips. There was just so much content value this year!
Next up in the series: Moments
Do you have any Agile2024 session thoughts to share?
