New episode with Seth Godin 🎧
And 6 ideas about hosting unconferences
5 years ago, I started my podcast in Seth Godin and Alex DiPalma’s podcasting course.
A few weeks ago, I was lucky to interview Seth in-person with some of my friends. That episode on meaning, work, and significance is now available for you.
Here are a few of my favorite takeaways, notes, and quotes (more here):
why we don’t have a profit shortage, but a meaning shortage
why you should focus on finding a good boss
“the people I know who signed up to be dead at work end up regretting it.”
how if you are looking for a new generalist-type role, that you should look for someone that hires generalists.
“And you should not waste one more minute, working at a place that insists you be a cog in the machine until they figure out how to get AI to do your job.”
At the end of the episode, Seth challenged us with the following prompts:
what are you going to start?
who are you going to reach out to?
who needs to get an email from you tomorrow?
what question needs to get asked?
Have any questions or takeaways from this episode? Please reply back!
6 Ideas For Hosting An Unconference
I love unconferences. Love….. them! Through my work at the Chief of Staff Network, I have helped produce and host 5 of them since October 2022.
What I love about them:
the strong relationships that are built among attendees
they are repeatable to host and produce. I am a big fan of repeatable events!
they are also easier to produce than speaker-driven conferences
If you are hosting or helping plan an unconference, here are 6 things to consider:
Venue: I love an open floor plan type of space, and ideally everything is mostly held in one space and floor. With everyone in the same space, organic collisions of people will happen leading to new conversations! It’s also ideal when the space that has a lot of small, moveable tables and chairs. This allows for programming flexibility too.
Programming: Our focus has been on more small group discussions, than a lot of speaker-led sessions. In the past, we typically have had one main speaker, which is good for promoting and marketing the event. However, I think the main goal is for attendees to learn and connect with and from each other.
Pre-event momentum: Try to spark pre-event connection and conversations to build momentum and rapport leading up to the event. You can do this over email.
Length of event. Our events have typically been for ~6 hours starting at 2PM. This allows everyone to effectively meet each other, maintain high-energy levels throughout, and you don’t need to move. It can all be held at the one location and venue. And… people likely only have to take the afternoon off from work.
Number of attendees: while I am biased by my experiences, I think 30-35 people is a great size. It feels cozy for guests and is also manageable for a small team to run. A win-win!
The first 30 minutes. This is a liminal space and transitory time before the programming really starts and starts to ramp up. Nick Gray calls this time period “the awkward zone.” How to alleviate this? Upon arrival, you can give people a question card to help spark conversation. After this, your programming and the energy of the attendees and their connection will build momentum on its own 💥
Ask: Are you hosting an unconference soon? Reply back with any questions! If you are hosting one in NYC, I would definitely love to hear more about it too!!!
Portfolio Career Podcast Episode
🎧 Episode 281: Life-Changing Experiences
What has been an experience that changed you? In this Podcast Mixer episode, we heard stories about:
- a business partner break-up
- how one tweet at 2 am led to new opportunities
- how a tragedy caused someone to reflect deeply and then make a career change
Hearing stories of change can help us navigate change. And sometimes what is a bad in the near-term… can become good long-term!
That’s it for now!
I would love to hear from you on Instagram, have you reply back here, or by leaving a comment below!
~ David Nebinski who hopes you host or attend an unconference soon!
PS: please reply back and say hi! 👋
PPS: if you are interested in more on the behind the scenes on the Podcast Mixer with Seth, please see here!