March highlights… it was a full and very surreal month. It started in Zurich for Interaction Week 2023. The trip kicked off late February and was my first trip back to Switzerland in 18 years. I had a day of random meanderings, caught up with my mate Lio who lives in Chamonix, and got to see LTJ Bukem play for the first time in 20 years.
Then it switched gears for a packed week with the Education Summit, IxDA Local Leaders Retreat, three conference days, opening and closing parties, making momos at the cook-along dinner, a crazy night of karaoke… and being on stage for the big announcement that we’re hosting Interaction Week 2024 (IxD24) in Sydney. Get your super early bird ticket now!
If a picture is a thousand words, I’m not sure how many six minutes of photos/videos are.
It was an action packed week and it was awesome hanging out with old friends in the design ecosystem and making plenty of new friends from all over the world. A huge thanks to Thomas Link, Karmen Franinovic, Jurgen Spath, and the rest of the team, speakers, and everyone else who worked so hard to bring it all together… and for passing the baton to our Sydney team for the next one. See you in the warm sunshine February 2024!
Then it was the long flight home to Sydney. A day for souvenirs and cuddles with the family and it was time to fly to Adelaide for another Southstart.
Southstart is easily one of my favourite conferences/festivals. Dani, Craig, Jason, and the rest of the team make magic happen every year. This year I was one of the speakers for the Flip for Impact session with Moira, Sarah, and Amy (from Collab4Good), Guy and Tom. We got to hang out in the Spiegel Zelt tent, a 100+ year old transportable tent setup in The Garden of Unearthly Delights for Adelaide Fringe.
A fun few days catching up with my usual Southstart crew and some SEWF bus trippers (Sarah Jane, Cris, Kat, Mike, Alan, James, George, Brendan, Ari, Leesa, Nat, Steve, Sarah, Tom, Greg, Usman, Laura, Alexar, and many more) and making a bunch of new friends too. We kept the bus karaoke tradition alive… acapella this time. I got to catch up with a few other SEWF bus trippers too (Laura & Alex). This year was a great mix of venues with Adelaide Fringe, Lake Breeze Wines, and McLaren Vale.
WOMADelaide on Friday night was the perfect way to wrap things up. I finally got to see Aurora live as well as Cimafunk, Gratte Ciel’s Place des Anges, Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Terrain, and Bon Iver. Awesome to hang out with Evan, Cristen, Leo, Hannah, Ewen, and Mia… a few of my Sydney Gig Crew on tour!
Then it was time to fly home to Sydney again and start easing into the work year proper.
I spent Monday co-facilitating an innovation workshop with Lou, Ronni, and some of the leadership team at OzHarvest in collaboration with Hugo from Canva.
Tuesday was SydDT #80: IxD23 Recap in collaboration with IxDA Sydney. Susan, Mary, Oliver, and I shared our reflections with short talks and a panel led by Vinita. Thanks to Miles from VMLY&R for hosting.
Some more March highlights…
- B Corp Month, International Women’s Day, Earth Hour
- Working with my awesome coaching & advice clients
- Organising the impact clients for a couple of the annual project-based leadership programs I design and deliver
- Interview with Phoebe for her Entrepreneurs Wellbeing podcast
- Soul II Soul gig at Enmore Theatre
- Presenting/mentoring at the Founder Institute session on theory of change and customer development with Judith and Sally
- Plenty of IxD24 planning
- Refreshing the Dynamic4 website with more of our coaching and training products (in progress)
- NSW state election
- Jaz & Za spent three days at their school language camp
- Celebration of Kua’s Commonfolk merger with Darcy, Bri, and team
- A meander through my old Paddo neighbourhood
- Celebrating Tank Stream Labs Bridge St co-working space closing after 10 years (where I was a tenant in 2014 and 2017) with Nat & Dave
- What Does Impact Really Mean? panel with Rob, Georgia & Paul for Social Impact Hub’s Social Impact Fellowship
Plenty more exciting things planned as we head into the next 90 days too…
