A Collaboratory is a 90-minute workshop whose purpose is to introduce you to new ideas and practices and give you time and space to apply and personalize them to your life and work. In a Collaboratory you will also meet new people and make new friends. The twice-monthly Collaboratory cadence complements the weekly rhythm of the Monday Memo and Friday Campfire calls.
A Collaboratory follows a specific agenda that goes something like this:
- Stirring the room. We start with a series of short, quick, introductory breakouts to give people a chance to meet and greet.
- Shared purpose. We introduce a topic, idea, or provocation, along with an exercise.
- Breakouts. We break out again in small groups of three or four people, for the deep-dive group activity or conversation.
- Reflections. We gather together to share reflections and insights from the deep dive.
- Next steps. We close with feedback and ideas for improvement, and suggestions for future topics.
We record the main sessions for participants who can’t make it. But we recommend you attend live to get the full benefit of the experience. Breakout rooms are not recorded, and Collaboratories are primarily about live, face-to-face interactions with other participants.
Some Collaboratories are topic-oriented, and some are open-space Collaboratories. The open space format is designed to make space for you to propose your own topics and investigations and build momentum for your personal and collaborative projects.
Here are a few of the topics we plan to cover in 2024:
- Passion, purpose, and impact (Tuesday, January 9, 2024)
- Journaling and note-taking for personal growth.
- Creating conversations with customers.
- You as a service: Developing your offer.
What to expect in a Collaboratory?
Over the course of 2023, we experimented with a few different formats. The Collaboratory is a format that we settled on, and it seems to really work well. It gives us a way to introduce a topic, while leaving room for hands-on time to absorb, integrate, and play with a new concept or idea. It also also builds connection, community, and common ground. And sometimes, people leave with new friends, creative partners, even joint projects and collaborations.
What a Collaboratory is NOT.
A Collaboratory is NOT like a TV show or TED talk. You can’t just sit back and watch. It’s not a presentation with a few questions at the end. It’s not like a talk show or panel discussion, with experts pontificating on a stage.
And it’s definitely not a 90-minute webinar where you can log in and tune out, drink your coffee, and check your email, while you pay continuous partial attention.
You can’t be a passive recipient of information in a Collaboratory.
What a Collaboratory IS.
A Collaboratory IS a co-created, one-time, unique experience. Each Collaboratory is different, a collective discovery experience that will never be repeated. When you enter a Collaboratory, you need to bring your whole self and be ready to engage with others, because you are joining a research and discovery project as an active participant.
This doesn’t mean you need to be in a good mood! You just need to show up, and to be there, with your whole and authentic self. Bring your passion and energy to the degree that you can. Inspiring each other is part of it.
The purpose of a Collaboratory is to gather people together, to explore interesting, practical, and useful ideas, to build new habits for life and work, to get unstuck or unblocked, develop creative possibilities, projects, and collaborations, and to make new friends.
Although it is a virtual event, a Collaboratory experience is more like attending a conference or event in real life. It’s highly interactive and engaging, and will require your full attention. You will meet interesting people. You will learn about their challenges and ideas and share your own. You will engage in conversations and exercises around topics that matter to you. Together, you will build new skills and discover new ideas that will inspire you to discover what matters most to you and take steps toward the life you want.
Many thanks to Eugene Eric Kim and Kellee Franklin for the collaboratory concept.
The Collaboratory is free for School of the Possible members. If you haven’t joined yet you can sign up via the button below.