It had been 36 hours since BlogHer. I was at the airport, standing in line for coffee, when the phone rang. It was Lisa Stone. I had sanctioned myself from speaking with her or Elisa for at least 24 hours and thought against calling either of them last night. If we were all going to detox from living on our cell phones and computers and talking BlogHer I had to be respectful of boundaries.
But, hey, she called first.
"This a good time?" she asked.
I was juggling two pieces of luggage, balancing a coffee, and fishing for change to give the cashier. I sensed the people behind me were annoyed.
"Totally." I said. "What's up?"
It was time to dish, to start to process all that had gone on that Saturday, stuff that we were too busy or frazzled to actually absorb at the BlogHer conference.
"How are you feeling today?" Lisa asked, meaning, "How'd you think it went?"
"I feel amazing."
"Yeah?"
"Yep...you?"
"Me too."
As we started to discuss the day (Lisa never got a BlogHer/Google tote bag!) a theme arose. Sure, there'd be plenty of logistical details to hash out in an official post mortem (cough cough, wireless connection). But all we could think to talk about were the PEOPLE we met, the QUALITY of the discussion. It occurred to me, for all the planning to make the conference go off without a hitch, the real success was in the energy of the attendees. They generated the content, the conversations, the connections. All we had to do is make sure they had a place to do these things.
Don't get me wrong--the details were necessary, but what really differentiated the conference for me was observing this community take care of itself, entertain itself, educate itself, promote itself, and--when necessary--laugh at itself.
I've been writing about the Power of the X Chromosome, which I define as qualities unique to women that cultivate effective leadership when used to their potential. I think that these qualities--communication, connectedness, humilty--were in play all weekend. (And may I add that it was exhibited as strongly with our male BlogHers, all of whom seemed to "get"--or at the very least, be in awe of--the powerful dynamic generated in TechMart.)
Let me drill down a bit and go through my experience of the weekend, if for any other reason, before I forget it.