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User generated business conferences are an example to all on how confidence in business can be rebuilt

07 December 2009

Padraig McKeon

It’s interesting how different worlds collide sometimes to shine a new light on what looks like a problem. I have a background in sport and played and coached Gaelic football to a decent standard (senior inter-county level) up until recently.

 

Some time ago, I was in a discussion with a colleague about how one can build a bit of confidence when things seem to be running against you. Given my background, we looked for a sporting analogy and found one. When the ball isn’t running your way, just look to do the simplest thing you can. Make yourself available for and take the ball off a colleague just nearby, then immediately pass it to someone else nearby. Then look to do that again, and again and again, and before you know it, you’ll have executed half a dozen moves well, will be busy and back in the game.

 

I subsequently discovered that the great Dutch player and coach, Johann Cruyff, espoused a similar approach to his charges and it has struck me that there are lessons there for business, particularly at this generally tough time.

 

There is no shortage of guidance or reading available to either the experienced or the prospective business person these days but the ‘Cruyff advice’ was really brought home to me over the past week after a day spent attending Northwest Connects (www.northwestconnects.ie) in Sligo.

 

This was a conference modelled on the user-generated BizCamp, which set out to help entrepreneurs, people in business or people that want to get into business to meet and share ideas with others and to gather learning to put to practical use. It is free to attend with speakers and workshop leaders giving their time for free.

 

Northwest Connects mirrors similar events that have taken place in recent times in Limerick, Cork and Dublin - the last event in the capital had nearly 500 attendees - and for me it represents Mr Cruyff’s thinking in action.

 

Although really well organised and structured to keep people busy and active across the day, the approach is not about teaching but learning - no lectures, just discussions. When asked by a colleague how to describe the experience, my reaction was that whereas at a typical business networking event, most people leave hoping that they left an impression of themselves which might lead to a bit of business, in this context one hopes that they have been of help to the person that they have been talking with.

 

It was my experience of every conversation that every single person involved was rooting for the others.  The workshops were very open with a wide range of participants and people happily talking across and over each other, as one does in group discussions - not to contradict or interrupt, but to add.

 

Now it wasn’t all happy-clappy backslapping either. Home truths were told, cul-de- sacs were identified for what they were and past experiences of failure were dissected.  But this was all done on the basis of it being an open forum to learn about what will work. It was a place to work out the business equivalent of Mr Cruyff’s simple pass.

 

Most striking of all though, whether by accident or design, was there was almost no reference to wider economic woes or constraints. The forthcoming Budget will probably change some aspects of the State’s contribution to enterprise development and that was mentioned, but the problem lies in having to wait until December ‘09 to find this out.  Given its choice, this audience would have taken the news there and then so that they could get on with life.

 

The format of the user generated conferences is organic and self-generating in nature. It suits the small business and the sole trader but it has a format that could be adapted for the benefit and the enlightenment of executives in more established businesses and businesses of scale.

 

Everybody leaving Sligo IT that cold dark Saturday evening had a smile on their face about being in business, a renewed sense of hope that they could crack their problems and an absolute certainty that if they couldn’t do so alone, they have a whole bunch of like-minded people to call upon who would do what they can to help out.

 

In championing this forum as a really positive contribution to the national conversation on enterprise, it is important that such conferences stand firm to their own principles and do not become ‘corporate’. The real value is in the informality, the spontaneity that arises and the mix of styles that participate which makes them accessible to all and more interesting to boot.

 

It won’t solve all of Ireland’s problems, but if every business person could learn more about where to find the short simple passes and how to build confidence in their own ability to play the game, pass by pass, then there would be a positive effect for all of us. It is a joy to know that we each have it in our own capability to do so.

 

 

COMMENTS

07 December 2009 @ 20:38:36

Great to read that Padrag. Must admit only had peripheral awareness of the day. Seems to have been a success for you all and a day when everyone leaves with a new sense of confidence is to be celebrated. keith
keith bohanna from dbTwang

 

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