A heartfelt thank you to the Intrapreneurship Conference
I attended the Intrapreneurship Conference (IC) for the first time this week. It was held in my home town of Toronto, Canada.
This is about the electricity it just created in my life.
I’m sure many of you have been to conferences before. For some, they are an obligation. A slow, steady march from session to session in a massive, window-less conference centre. Sure there is the odd insight, but was it really worth it to spend that much money and time away from loved ones and work?
If you are even remotely involved in what you (or someone else) might call innovation, I beg of you, PLEASE come to the IC! It’s a lonely world working in the intrapreneurship space. We ask ourselves to change organizations and the humans that sacrifice their free time within them in the most challenging of ways. It takes a certain type of insanity to wilfully push water up that tall a mountain. You need a support group. Good news … everyone at the IC is insane in their own beautiful way too!
What other conference can you attend where you can stare into the eyes of people you just met for what feels like an awkward amount of time to create human connection, dance like nobody is watching (when everyone might be), make meaningful connections with the grandest of thought leaders, try to sell sandwiches made of Wow Butter while being chased by a dinosaur or hippo, and travel to the most innovative locations around the city the conference is held in?
Yes … that’s right, you’ve never attended a conference like that. That’s because there’s only one. The Intrapreneurship Conference.
How does a conference change one’s life? That’s obviously a deeply personal topic. For me, it was the experience I had and the connections I both made and fortified. There’s something magical that happens when space is held for people who gather so that they can be vulnerable with one another and not be judged. For everyone to feel each other’s curiosity. To be treated with the deep respect of a peer.
That’s the magic I felt this past week and I’ll miss it terribly.
There are far too many people to thank for the warmth I feel in my heart in this moment. Here’s a woefully incomplete but important list: Hans Balmaekers and the volunteer team, Tristan Kromer, Nick Noreña, Jack C. Elkins, Brant Cooper, Lars Crama, all our volunteers for the “chaos” game, Tirza and Philip of Luman, and Carlos Oliveira.
Extra special thanks goes out to Hans who somehow puts on 5 of these a year. I have deep respect for the care it takes to curate and manage so many intricate details and pull off an event of this magnitude. Thanks for loving it Hans!
I also owe a deep debt of gratitude to Tristan who was so generous with his time and feedback while providing the opportunity for me to work alongside him as a peer. If you don’t know Tristan’s work … get to know it (start here or here)! You won’t find a more brilliant thought leader anywhere.
With that, I bid adieu to you Intrapreneurship Conference … I will miss you so.
