I attended Southeast Dreamin’ last week. This was my fourth event in Atlanta. I cannot be sure; the dates are blurry at this point.
I presented last year and delivered a hands-on training session this year. I was scheduled to give a hands-on training long ago, but Southeast Dreamin’ got canceled that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
I have been a fan of the event for a long time. The hands-on training sessions make this event very unique. There are things you cannot do in a 20 min or a 40 min session. Sometimes you need 1.5 – 2 hours to teach a topic in a certain way.
I have been trying to get a session approved that does not involve the participants looking at their notebook screens the whole time. I submitted a session proposal on Diagraming/Mapping last year, but it was not approved. I delivered a different version of that session at Florida Dreamin’: It could not be very interactive due to its limited duration (40 minutes).
Before this year, Southeast Dreamin’ was held at another hotel. This year it was moved to the Georgia Tech Conference Center and Hotel. I liked the location a lot. The hotel was good, and the area was pleasant for walking in. The expo room was suboptimal, but I will leave that to the sponsors to evaluate.
Architect Flow Solutions Session
I delivered a session titled Architect Flow Solutions. I had about 25 participants. I divided them into four subgroups. I brought large Post-its, flip-chart paper, and markers. I gave them scenarios and 20 minutes to talk with their team to design their solutions. They had approx. 3 minutes to present to the other groups. I prepared four scenarios but did not expect us to go through all of them. We completed two scenarios. It was a very interactive session. We debated the advantages and disadvantages of each solution without passing judgment.
I truly enjoyed delivering this session. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Participants said they wanted more; they wanted longer.
I am torn on whether I should attempt this on Zoom with breakout rooms because we need to be in one room to do this best. What do you think?
Result
I prepared a one-minute-long YouTube Short with the little clips I recorded in the session. I showed it to my daughter, and she said, “Where is the punchline?” Anyway, here it is if you want to see it:
https://youtube.com/shorts/w9FFiKwEJt8
Next, I have Midwest Dreamin’ coming in August: I will deliver a session titled Sometimes Later is Better; Async and Scheduled Flows.
I thank all Dreamin’ organizers, sponsors, speakers, volunteers, and participants.
This post was originally made to LinkedIn on July 6th, 2023.
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