CSI Member Summit 2023 personal recap

(*Cross-posted to LinkedIn)

In 2019 I published a blog post about feeling seen and represented at a software conference for the first time. At that time I’d never found real value from a conference but that experience showed me, in spades, a conference could indeed generate exceptional value for me. I was beside myself with realizations.

Fast forward to today and not only do I feel seen, with a sense of belonging, I feel unequivocally embraced and supported by the KCS community. KCS Nerds are a special breed when we get together and that connection of shared passions is almost manic. But, even more, that so many leaders at all levels from so many different industries can come together to learn from each other and collaboratively create with such authenticity and transparency is testament to the safe space created by the Consortium and respected by every single one of the participants.

The Consortium for Service Innovation staff do such an impressive job of creating such a safe environment for collaborative creation to occur, and they do so in a way that seems effortless (even knowing the immense effort that it takes to pull of events like this and especially with only 6 people to do it _all_). I can’t even begin to understand how much effort it really takes to build something and get out of the way, trusting that creating an environment for innovation to occur will indeed generate the deep value we all see from the experience. You do it in a way that is seamless, invisible, and deeply appreciated.

I was privileged enough to be able to attend, even though I am in-between member companies currently. I couldn’t imagine missing such a wonderful event and was delighted to have the opportunity to continue my engagement with the consortium members at large. While my intent was to share knowledge based on my experience and history of failures and successes in the KCS space, what I was really there for was to continue growing existing relationships and building new ones. After all, it is the relationships fostered by these events that are the key to any successes we may see in the future. We can’t exist in a vacuum, and the Knowledge industry is no exception… especially when you realize our successes are rooted in the concept of knowledge sharing.

So, to everyone I had the pleasure of chatting with through the Consortium events, be it the Member Summit or other virtual events in the past and future, thank you for being so open and engaged in our conversations. It truly is the people, like you all, who make these event so brilliantly valuable to me personally, and for industries’ successes at a much larger scale. I come away from this specific event with too many people to tag and thank, but to let you know it is because of you all that I return to my home-office desk energized and excited for the future, whatever it may hold!

 

The KCS^® methodology is service marked by the Consortium for Service Innovation.