Daily Endeavor Blog

Last week there were a few particularly intense and nourishing days moving between events — Mark Hurst’s Good Experience Live (GEL) Thur/Fri, then LaidOffCamp NY’s Friday night panel and full event on Saturday where I had a great time MC’g both, followed by an Endeavor Prep Bootcamp we ran on Sunday. It was 4 days of people investing in what’s next.

At GEL, Scott Heiferman kicked off with an upbeat talk about how he sees people increasingly turning their backs on desperate marketing, and instead turning toward each other, much like we did before industrialization creeped in to most corners of life last century. Scott captured the idea in a poignant phrase:

Instead of DIY, it’s increasingly DIO

Instead of do-it-yourself, it’s increasingly do-it-ourselves. His idea is right on. In my experience when people want to do anything that’s hard or truly new, it never happens alone. Instead of the lore of the lone genius in the tower, there’s always a circle, a team, a network, a community of supporters and promoters that are co-creating along the way.

This idea became the theme for me throughout the weekend, underscored especially by the hundreds who showed up for LaidOffCamp. Attendees with expertise to share led 30 sessions throughout Saturday. It was DIO in action. Not only did a small group of us self-organize to produce the event, a much larger group came to breathe life into it. I’m glad Chris Hutchins was able to make it too, to see what he’s spawned.

For a piece of the events, here’s Chris Russell’s (JobRadio.FM, Secrets of the Job Hunt) podcast of a session I moderated with Deb Berman, Dr Doug Hirshorn, and Matt Wallaert:

Yesterday Jesse Fallick and I did a call with almost 20 potential session leaders who have expressed an interest in LaidOffCamp NY. Ever since the first Barcamps I attended (back in the Socialtext days), I’ve been a full convert to the open-space approach to events. I love it when people come together to make something happen.

Have you ever noticed some of the most interesting conversations that occur at traditional conferences are in the hallway with other attendees?

The key insight that produces the magic at the “camps” is that the richest resource at the event is the group of people attending. So why not create an event focused solely on that — self-organized conversations around central themes.

The costs of starting a company are falling (see for example Graham Lawlor’s Ultra Light Startups). Changing too are the costs and models of organizing live events. First there was Ward’s wiki, then Meetup burst on to the scene and across the country. About 4 or 5 years ago I first ran across the open approach through Ross Mayfield, Jerry Michalski and Tantek Çelik. Produce an event on a low budget that’s free (or nearly free) to all where the event design and delivery is participatory. People join in to make it happen. It truly is a barn-raising with some lightweight tools.

Case in point: Over the last six weeks, LaidOffCampNY attracted a group of 40 part-time volunteers, with an active core of about 10, who have produced a full event at two sites from scratch and with no formal budget. The event is on track for 350 registrants both for Friday night and Saturday. Cost to attend? Free (though donations never hurt).

So if companies are going ultra light, and conferences are too, the question is whether laid off individuals can do the same for themselves, emerging from this meltdown stronger, lighter and better.

Note: If you’d like to present at LaidOffCamp NY, go here to read about how it works, tips on preparing, then sign up Saturday morning to get on the grid. Looking forward to seeing you all.