The team at the Do Lectures pointed to this little quote and it’s worth remembering for our own health and sense of vitality. I’ll add a little extension to this quote … Doing things, or just doing something and starting somewhere, is the best response when the unexpected happens. When our best laid plans turn pear-shaped and we become wracked with uncertainty. When the fear of failure dominates our being – this is when letting go and doing things is the only way forward. Never know, it might even stop you from growing old and slowing down 🙂

John Hagel, author of The Power of Pull, offers a definition of serendipity: “Unexpected encounters that surprise and delight.” Here’s a screen-shot of a newsletter from a conference I am playing a part in designing and facilitating. The headline is about the musical performance and appearance by Geoffrey Gurrumul – he’s one of my favourite singers. Given my total focus on running the Aireys Open Mic Music Festival over the past fortnight, it’s both a surprise and a delight that musical richness comes together with my passion for work.

Here is another example of the type of extraordinary talent we had at the Aireys Inlet Open Mic Music Festival. This is what happens when you open stages to anyone who want to show up and play – that’s how this festival works … it’s an Open Mic. This young man’s name is Jamie Pye and he had the Aireys Foodstore in the palm of his hand for his 30 minute gig. I can hear some Micheal Hedges and touch of Leo Kottke in this one. Enjoy!  

Please watch the full 3 minute video below … you will be moved, as we’re the 1000 people watching! Once Sam get’s singing it really takes off! But first, let me set the scene with a story about Community … It’s the Monday morning after the 5th annual Aireys Open Mic Music Festival and our community has celebrated another magical festival – with the tag line “It’s All About The Music”. This festival attracts thousands of music lovers, but it’s not the numbers that’s important … the vibe and sense of community it supports is amazing. This time last year, …

I am heading to Vancouver in June to work with friends – Chris Corrigan and Steven Wright. We are currently designing a series of World Cafe conversations for the World Indigenous Housing Conference. You can read all about WHO is behind this gathering by clicking on the Conference Logo. One of the crucial parts of the design is the Invitation (Chris writes about Inivitation here and here). If an Invitation to a gathering was a small plate of nuts that needed to be cracked … then one of our key organisers has just cracked a few open! He has built …