This week's mini Tessitura conference in Sydney went down like a treat. My presentation went well (everybody loved the Prezi software I used...more comments on that than the actual presentation content itself!), others gave inspiring presentations and it was great to be back catching up with all 'Tessy nerds' as well as friends and colleagues from around Australia and NZ. A great highlight from me was also having one presenter I deeply admire stop me and express sadness that my presentation was on the same time as hers...I was thinking the exact same thing!
When reflecting on the day I was struck with two things:
A day away from the office, but not a wasted one. When else do you get a chance to stand back, to listen, to reflect, to get the grey matter mulling over different scenarios and really delve into the questions of are we making the best use of our technology? The deeper question of course is are well doing all we can? What are we doing well and what could we be doing better? Time to think is grand, now if we could only schedule in some time to play and let those ideas develop we would be onto winner I think. The conference and those mini catch ups you do with friends old and new is the type of communication and work process I like best. Inspiring and passionate people with vastly different skill sets to my own but all with a care for the end result. Yes we always don't agree about the one best way something might be completed, but there is a wish to assist each other, to work through a problem sorting it into logical parts and an attempt to innovate while ensuring the work we do now is flexible enough to adapt to the demands of the future. Got a problem, ask the brains trust!
Add in the fact these people are generally fun to work with and love a good debrief at the pub...and the whole experience was just about perfect. Surely these types of gatherings coupled with time after them to reflect and think is where both innovation and professional development spring?
