From the CEO: When Dennis Denuto meets Marky Mark

In this week's #MEAExpress, MEA CEO Peter McDonald recaps what you may have missed at Evolve 2022 last week.

It’s a wrap. Three attempts later Evolve 2021-cum-2022 has now come and gone.

Although we’re in the process of gathering delegate satisfaction feedback, I have no reason to suspect it won’t be positive based on the atmosphere I observed and anecdotal feedback I’ve received thus far. I’m anticipating consensus will reveal it to have been a successful event.

Why’s that? As Dennis Denuto put it in The Castle “It’s the vibe of the thing”. And that’s not just mine or Dennis’ word. I’ve seen multiple people use that word when reflecting on their experience.

We had more than 300 souls participate in the event, predominantly in person but there was more than a token virtual audience too. I’m a bit stoked about that. We didn’t know what to expect with the uncertainty of the market leaving us unsure about how able the sector is to meet not just registration fees but also the travel and accommodation on-costs. Clearly for many the appetite for community outweighed the opportunity cost of missing out – that’s so heartening to witness.

I tell you Sofitel Melbourne On Collins were as good as perfect hosts. The food and drink was abundant, the room was styled and dressed to impress and the staff were well trained and responsive. The Melbourne laneway themed welcome reception and entertainment – complete with dancing kids, drag queens, a DJ and renowned artist Gosia Wlodarczak who sketched a one-night only masterpiece – was the perfect kick off.

The following day former Disney Head of Innovation and Creativity Duncan Wardle wowed the room with his live webcast presentation – whoever said face to face is the only way to fully engage an audience hasn’t been to a Duncan presentation. His key messages for achieving creativity are to ask “what if” questions and replace “but” responses with “and then”. He gave delegates a couple of scenarios to test it in pairs and you could as good as touch the energy in the room. Try it. It might just be the difference between a plain idea and an amazing experience. So many social posts about the event have tagged him. He obviously impressed.

Retired Royal Australian Navy Commodore Martin Brooker talked to us about leading people in harm’s way and drew a number of analogies between his active service and his own personal experience as a professional speaker through pandemic times. A key takeaway learning he paralleled was the need to ride the wave in times of stormy waters. Once you’re through those and in calmers waters you can right the ship, about face and point your nose right at the storm’s eye.

Shark attack survivor Brett Connellan’s main message has continued to reverberate though social channels since he uttered words something similar to ‘failure is not aiming high and missing but aiming low and hitting’. Ponder that for a moment. When a guy who was told he’d never do a lot of things ever again has achieved all of those and more says that, it’s an informed perspective.

Holly Ransom our host extraordinaire also delivered a keynote session counselling that astute leading is done through managing your energy not your time, focussing on what motivates you and remembering that our future is determined by what we do today. She discussed that we have 6 core drivers – but I can’t give all her secrets away. That wouldn’t be fair to those who paid to get such high-quality professional development.

I wouldn’t be doing justice to the various breakout session presenters and panellists by seeking to comment on their presentations because through wanting to sample each I could only get a taste for what was discussed across the various rooms.

Nonetheless I’m very grateful to all people who spent some time on stage for the investment of their time, as I am to all our sponsors and exhibitors for their financial or product investment. All for the benefit of the MEA community. No less appreciative am I to our delegates for their participation and to Janette Beedell and the behind the scenes operational team – including MEA’s ‘angels’ Claire, Christine, Jo and Lisa. It’s a had to be there thing I’m sorry.

I hold faith that Evolve 2022 delegates have walked away understanding how to build confidence through best practice – as was our intention when designing the conference

Once upon a time actor Mark Wahlberg was singer Marky Mark out front of The Funky Bunch. He had a big hit in the day with a song Good Vibrations. Those who are partial to a bit of rap or enjoy a bit of male eye candy might want to click on the YouTube link in the source reference beneath the article. In either sense it might just give your spirits a bit of a boost. But suffice to say Dennis and Mark foreshadowed Evolve 2022 way back in the 1990’s.

The vibrations good like Sunkist
Many wanna know who done this
Marky Mark and I'm here to move you
Rhymes will groove you
And I'm here to prove to you
That we can party on the positive side
And pump positive vibes
So come along for the ride
Making you feel the rhythm is my occupation
So feel the vibration
Come on, come on
Feel it, feel it
Feel the vibration

I understand that in years gone by the following year’s Evolve location has been announced at the event. Rest easy those that weren’t there because that didn’t happen this year. We did do a straw poll of the room on some ideas – and we got a sense of where people would like to go, but maybe a clearer one of where they don’t want to! What happens in Melbourne, stays in Melbourne.

Stay tuned, we’ll be announcing the destination and dates in the next couple of months, but thanks to everyone I mentioned earlier we’ve got a great launchpad to lift off from.         

Source:

Song – “Good Vibrations” 
Artist – Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch
Album – “Music for the People”