Pots and kettles.
It's been a day of being talked at.
I'm in the middle of an extremely interesting and useful course for my work. A lot of effort has gone into putting it together- the speakers are excellent, and I am seriously grateful to the organisers and also to my employer for giving me the time, and paying the costs.
And with that, you just know there is going to be a big but. There so often is with me.
And the but is this: We've had four days almost solid of the same format- 50 or 60 minutes of talking at, with a brief opportunity for questions. (We've also had a smattering of practical demonstrations, with other people giving up their time to make this possible; and again, I'm grateful to them.)
I just wish
a) we'd had some different formats- problem-solving and info-sharing sessions, where we could ask each other for experiences, share ideas and innovations, and also draw on the phenomenal experience of the lecturers.
[I suppose it's the whole open space/unconference thing...]
b) I had the social standing and guts to put this across to the organisers thereof, in a tactful enough manner that it didn't come across as a whine.
During the lunch break I walked past a group of protestors with their trestle table. They're doing good work, patently, on Gaza, but I do wish the 20ish year old student hadn't just spewed long lists of what they were doing/wanted to do, but instead had asked where I was coming from/what I thought. Not because I have any particular expertise/advice worth sharing, but because if he keeps at that, he's going to alienate a lot of people. And Gaza (and by extension Israel) needs all the friends it can get.
Things to (re)-read: that "Time to Listen" book
Pots and kettles.
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