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Kingston, ON, about 1910, originally uploaded by Musée McCord Museum.
Sylvain Grand’maison showed me this picture of Kingston. The year is 1910, the first Podcasters Across Borders (PAB) conference is still 96 years away. Yet, if you look closely, you can see future podcasters stumbling out of what will become the Merchant Pub.
If you look at Kingston now, it’s a thriving community with an enthusiastic group of social media participants. There are great restaurants, fun pubs and it’s become a place we all enjoy visiting every year. Is this all because of PAB? Sure, why not?
PAB is three weeks away, and I’m well into my pre-event jitters. As organizers, we deal with many real issues (logistics, facilities, activities,etc..) There’s a certain expectation people attending have of this event, but I also find myself struggling as I measure what we do against my perception of their perception.
I think if you look to history, “our perception of their perception” can be isolated as the root cause of many great conflicts and mis-understandings. In order to combat this and avoid repeating history, I went and took a look at the post-PAB feedback from all our previous events. It was interesting to see how often “my perception of their perception” was almost completely wrong.
In work, life, relationships, there are enough real issues to content with without dealing with the perceived issues. So try to keep your target in mind. If you find you’re dealing with “perception of perception”, maybe take 5 minutes, and find out what they’re really thinking…
you could save a lot of time and worry if you do….
You and Mark got it right the first time and set the vibe for a great time. People come expecting that, but also knowing it’s the collective consciousness that keeps it great. No one thinks the responsibility for a good time rests with others – it’s up to each individual to give and take and make the most of this very special gathering. That said, we all owe you guys Big Time for starting off the magic. We know even before we arrive that an absofknlutely great weekend is ours just for showing up! Thank you!
Left by Scarborough Dude on May 28th, 2009