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personal reflections

BIF-7 Breath Three: Giving Form and Structure

Welcome to the series where I connect my BIF-7 insights on the questions I carried with me to the Five Breaths of Design/Chaordic Stepping Stones. In this post you’ll find insights on Breath Three, Giving Form and Structure.

The third breath invites questions like what is the lightest structure that will serve our need, how do we leverage relationships, and what is the invitation process. Here are the golden threads from my notes on the various stories at BIF-7 that connected with the third breath of designing conversations that matter:

  • The BIF format had 45 minute breaks that I was grateful for as I needed them to pause the influx of stimulation.
  • The long lunch was better for connecting and dinner allowed time for rich conversations. I confess I can’t help but wonder what magic an Open Space or World Cafe would create inside the BIF experience.
  • However, I appreciate Saul’s clarity on what the BIF Summit is for: catalyzing. It is up to us to make the connections, to inspire by reframing the questions we ask, and to transform by get better at trying more stuff.
  • Posting the attendee list well in advance, using the Hashgang, a great Twitter backchannel/hashtag, a blog roundup, the emails on “The Top 10 Reasons to Attend BIF”, and Andrea Meyer’s Innobeer meet-up all helped us arrive well.

I won’t have a post on Breath Four: Conversation as all my notes from the conversation can be found here. Up next in my BIF-7 insights is Breath Five: Act.