Eat Play Learn: Secrets of Successful Events like HumaNext 2010
As I was leaving Julia Roberts’ latest movie, “Eat Pray Love” it occurred to me that we can label our HumaNext 2010 event ‘Eat Play Learn”.
Successful conferences and training events must include certain ingredients without which participants will not gain much value from attending. What are the secrets of successful events? Based on our experience running our successful HumaNext events, the ingredient are “Eat, Play, and Learn”. If participants are hungry or thirsty or bored, they cannot learn.
Therefore you must first make sure participants have fresh coffee, tea, or orange juice with freshly baked cookies during the morning and afternoon sessions. In between offer them a great lunch buffet with healthy choices caped with delicious desserts. Your learning facility must be comfortable, preferably with great views of mountains, trees or rivers. This takes care of participants’ physical and aesthetic needs.
Now you have to satisfy their emotional and intellectual needs by providing them opportunities to “experience”- not just listen to- great concepts, ideas, and insights in action. Invite them to participate in activities, role-plays, discussions, and teaching opportunities. This wealth of activities must be designed to arouse the hearts and expand the minds of participants.
Your choice of the topics to be learned is important as well. Our HumaNext 2010 that is coming up October 30 to November 1 covers the transformational topics of emotional intelligence, diversity, and cultural competency. Come to experience how to eat, play, and learn in one of a kind experience with optional certification to deliver our popular workshops to your internal or exterior clients.
Read what one participant wrote about our lunches below.
Take a look at the photos of some HumaNext events below to get a glimpse of how we do it.
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Lessons from the “Eat Pray Love” Movie
I Just came back from watching “Eat Pray Love” by Julia Roberts. It’s the story of the writer, Elizabeth Gilbert, who, upon turning 30, went through an early midlife crisis. She had everything an educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want: a husband, a house, a successful career. But instead of feeling happy, she felt empty and confused. She went through a divorce, depression, another failed love, and the evaporation of everything she thought she was supposed to be.
To recover, Gilbert took a radical step. She got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world, all alone. In Rome, she learned and experienced the art of pleasure. In India was she learned the art of devotion, as she embarked on four months of spiritual exploration. In Bali, she studied the art of balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence. At the end, she still seemed to be missing something. Untill..
I will not tell you more. I don’t want to spoil the enjoyment of watching the film if you decide to do so. But I will share with you the lessons I learned:
- Change is difficult, yet is not impossible.
- To change, you need to do some hard work, on yourself.
- As Gandhi said, you must become the change you want to see in the world.
- You can learn about yourself by learning about other people, other places, and other cultures.
- There are deeper sides to pleasure, spirituality, and love than appear at first sight.
- There is nothing more important than feeling fulfilled in your relationships, in your work, and in your life.
Finally, it occurred to me that our training events, such as HumaNext 2010, can be labeled “Eat Play Learn.” Read below to learn the reasons.
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Eat, Play, Learn at HumaNext events: They All Fit Together
"I expressed most of my comments on your evaluation forms but I forgot to comment on how pleasantly surprised I was by the lunches you provided. They were truly more like dinners and I was impressed with your determination to put on a top-notch workshop (and cut into your own profits) in this way. There was no skimping there! You set a wonderful example of how to run a workshop and this attention to detail did not go unnoticed!" Lisa Blaum- HumaNext 2009 Attendee
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Why people travel so far to attend our events, and what they say afterward
Over the past few years, new and seasoned consultants and trainers have been coming to attend our HumaNext events from all over the United States, Canada, Europe, and as far away as Australia, the Philippines, India, Israel, Abu Dobie, Nigeria, and many other countries. They didn’t mind the high costs of travel because they realized that what they got in return was far more valuable: A unique learning experience that put them on the path to becoming a competent HumaNext Certified Facilitator of some of today‘s most needed workshops. They go back home to deliver these powerful workshops to their internal or external clients.
Here is a sample of what people wrote after attending HumaNext events:- Francois, Thank you so much for the wonderful class in New York, which I will never forget. It was one of the most rewarding classes that I have taken. I look forward to collaborations with the great people I met at the class and a rewarding relationship with HumanNext. - Bobbi Ball, Executive Director, Partners in Community Building, Chicago.
- “Only time will truly tell the enormous impact that you have had on my life".
- "I never shared with you how meaningful the New York experience was for me. Listening to you all and learning from you has changed the way I see the world, and helped me build a vision far greater than I’d ever imagined." - Holly McLemore, VP Learning & Development, SLS, Colorado.
- I definitely felt as though I was taking part in something very special during the last three days. I left the training inspired and energized, and looking forward to using the tools. Thank you for making the training so impactful for me. - Amy Jaffe Barzac, Co-founder, Boundless Playgrounds.
- Thank you for making this learning voyage both productive and pleasant. I have begun to consider the challenge, and opportunity the training presents in my personal life, administrative roles, and consulting practice. - George Roets, Director, Public Health Services, Watkins Glen, New York.
- You were all so impressive and inspiring, and the materials so interesting. Thank you for sharing your spirits so freely! - Rick Richard Hammett, Full Time Doctoral Student & Graduate Assistant, Texas A&M University.
- I have weaved some of the concepts (of the training) into what I am doing here at the Army... Francois leads his 'Applying Emotional Intelligence' class with a highly effective mixture of kindness, compassion and expertise. He creates and nurtures a cooperative and cohesive classroom environment, where participants are motivated to use their collective synergy to find solutions to their unique challenges." - Andy Kirkpatrick, CERDEC Executive Coaching Program Director Employee Resources Services US Army
- "This has been a great experience. I have already offered each of the workshops twice at our corporate office and they were all very well received." - Jason Dugger, Manager of Development and Retention Pitt-Ohio Express
- "I had my first run of the Applying EQ at Work seminar with the management team of Samsung (a multinational Korean firm here in the Philippine with 4000 employees). The 2 day seminar worked really fine and they all left with so many "take home benefits" from it. This was evidenced by the evaluation they had on me as the speaker and about the design of the seminar and contents." - Ging Igual, Consultant, the Philippines-
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The Transforming Power of Heart & Mind Learning
None of these people knew each other before arriving to the event. Yet just after one day of Heart & Mind Learning at HumaNext 2009 they were kidding around and taking pictures as if they were a family or close friends.
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In almost every HumaNext event, a participant will say to me: "What an amazing group of people! How do you pick them?"
I smile and say, "Of course I don't. They pick us. It must be that those who identify with HumaNext's mission, style, and offerings have things in common. Things like a spirit of humanity and community, a child-like desire to discover and grow, and a longing for creating a more caring and creative workplace for themselves and others. The promise of a learning experience that delivers this pulls people from around the world to our events. And for this I'm grateful.
Francois Basili, President, HumaNext
H u m a N e x t 2 0 0 8 E v e n t
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