Global Shapers Retreat
By: Nirushaa Senthilnathan, Montreal Shaper
The World Economic Forum Global Shapers Montreal Hub retreat was held on February 4th and 5th at the Jeanne Sauvé Foundation House, thanks to their generosity in providing us with their beautiful accommodations.
The weekend was filled with team building activities, laying the foundational groundwork for our Hub, coming up with and developing plans to execute new project ideas and expanding our network by connecting to Shapers around the world.
Day One
We began the weekend with an icebreaker that revealed individual personality types and insight into how effectively people collaborate with one another. This set the foundation for our group’s interaction over the course of the entire retreat.
We then transitioned into developing the culture of the Hub with an activity focused on the mission, vision and values that we wanted to establish. First contributing individually to each component and then analyzing the ideas that came up frequently, we were able to pinpoint emerging themes.
We see ourselves as change makers and leaders.
We became Shapers because we care, have passion and want to be impactful.
We aim to create change through collaboration and projects.
Building on this initial work session, we came together to develop a minimal viable framework. This addressed what needed to be done to get the Hub to become fully functional for the year.
Later into the evening, Akil Logeswaran, the curator of the Munich Hub in Germany, joined us on skype. He talked about a major refugee project his Hub had worked on and a meeting with all the German speaking Hubs he recently organized.
An important revelation made from our conversation was in regards to the political diversity of his Hub, demonstrating that people can come together despite ideological differences to work towards common good.
Akil shared many valuable insights. From advice about best practices for Hub projects to how he effectively manages his busy schedule while also maintaining personal happiness levels and being committed to spreading so much love and kindness into the world.
We ended our day with a SWOT analysis. We each identified the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats we believe our Hub currently has, all vital information to keep in mind when moving forward into the execution phase of our projects.
Day Two
We began our second day with another icebreaker focusing on commonalities and differences as individual and collective Hub members. This was an opportunity to really learn what makes us unique while also revealing our common strengths and shared interests.
We then moved into another work session, where we brainstormed relevant themes and project ideas for the Hub. The major ones that emerged focused on refugees, women empowerment, diversity, inclusion and combating racism.
Next, Nimra Amjad, the curator of the Calgary Hub, joined us on skype to give her perspective on Davos, an event gathering leaders from around the world held by the World Economic Forum every year. She gave us insight into critical themes discussed including gender parity, the refugee crisis, income inequality and the fourth industrial revolution, all topics that will shape the projects that the Global Shaper community engages in this year.
Finally, we ended the retreat with a “Do” session focused on gathering everything we developed throughout the weekend and building a tentative time line including planning events and activities for the entirety of 2017.
All in all, our weekend retreat at the Jeanne Sauvé Foundation House truly bonded all the Shapers and reinforced our commitment to one another and to taking concrete steps towards creating positive change in the world.
