The Melibee Swarm on Culture, Identity and Perspective took place in Asheville, North Carolina (USA) on October 13th and 14th, 2014
Here is a photo gallery of this very experimental “conference” that took place. (I use the term loosely – it was more of a personal/professional development retreat, which we termed “Swarming.”) We invite you to scroll through the photos and to use the next/previous buttons.
Why we Swarmed.
Those first few hellos and some laughter to kick off day 1.
Hello…my name is…
Two more Melibees meet – Lisa and Ashley! (Once a bee, always a bee…)
A very warm group of people…
More getting to know you time…
Norming…
Melibee’s Tara and Lisa also met for the first time.
And they had a lot to catch up on – they normally talk via skype, email and chat.
Carrie Wagner was one of our presenters – and we had a moment to…
grab a photo together! (That me, Missy, founder of Melibee on the right.)
Chatting…
New conversations…
Old virtual friends, new face to face chats…
And new friends too…
Missy welcomes the group of Swarmers.
I was so grateful to see all of these names on a roster become real faces in the room…
Ann Lee welcomes the group with stories of her times living abroad
And encourages us to focus and relax…
Ann Lee led us through some stretching.
Ahhhhhh….
And some massage…
We got to know each other – FAST!
tap tap, loose wrists
No better way to start off day 1!
Ahhhhhh….
Then on to some networking…actually intended to be TOO fast so that we would not keep dialogue at a surface level.
It was loud…
And then we changed seats to quickly meet someone new…
And again…
Trading FAST stories…
Gabbing away…
and listening too…
Smiling…
And joking… (What’s your sign Tara?)
Observing…
Engaging…
Locals and those from outside N. Carolina…
Much to share and not enough time (intentionally, at least in this exercise!)
Wow…did you really say that?
I hear you…
A big part of our Swarm was intentional journaling.
In deep thought…
Another exercise – who the heck AM I?
Coloring – because every “conference” should include crayons!
Our “clothes line” for sharing.
Observing the “gallery.”
Swarmers explore images drawn by those in the room.
Orange balloons to remind us of the fall leaves.
More drawing/journaling.
and more…
coloring…keeping it creative.
More observations…
learning about each other through silence…
Checking out the work…
And being creative when we ran out of space.
Some of the work…
black southener…
origami…
global citizen…
compassionate at the core…
circles…
Tony (my husband) served as photographer for the day (thank you sweetie!)
Tony and John, friends from another world…
Back at our tables after another exercise.
Processing it all…
What words come to mind when we think of technology?
Some of them…
Tara Nygaard presents on authentic technology at the Melibee Swarm (2014)
Globe and speaker bios…
Tara from another angle.
Listening, reflecting…
Soaking it all in…
Balloons float above us all…
Reactions to her story as it played…
Tara shares her digital story…25 years in the making…
Tara (left) on her study abroad program in England.
and more… (I’ll give you a hint, it was not a funny story…but it is her truth…peeling back the layers.)
Glenn and Maria introduce the talking stick.
They explained how indigenous culture respects the talking stick.
We broke into 3 talking circles…
And let it unfold.
Storycircling…
Listening to only the person who had the talking stick.
Reflecting and processing…
And passes the stick…
Bernardo shares his story and reflections…
Reflecting and smiling…
Heather shares…
And passes to Lori…
Lori shares…
as does Danielle…
One of the talking circle groups.
Storycircling…
Day 2 begins with Carrie Wagner and some Village Wisdom reflections.
What is your cultural DNA?
Writing exercises with Carrie…
Much to think about…
Presenter Todd Drake participates too.
As does presenter Ann Lee…
So much to consider…
Deep in thought…
Where to begin?
Writing, writing…
Writing, reflecting…
Perspective …
Ann Lee shares…
Looking through the peep hole…
Smiling Carrie…
Tell the Story…
Capturing a selfie in NYC – what is our message when we take them?
Carrie hands it off to Todd.
Let’s talk photos…
And he gives us an activity…
We have to do selfies with someone we connected with in the space.
Selfies in action…
People sought out each other…
Figuring out our phones…
Borrowing a friend’s…
Giggling at the attempts…
Selfie in process…
Smile!
Uploading to social media #swarmselfie
Checking out our work…
Working with Todd…
More uploading…
And chatting…
Todd talks about his work with Muslims in NC (self portrait project)…
and immigrants who are undocumented.
The group…
Maria and Glenn facilitate Indigenous introductions.
Maria and Glenn
Ann – Lee listening in carefully…
paying attention…
Itiyopiya re-introduces herself in an Indigenous cultural style…
Such a fascinating background…
Grateful that she is local so I can learn more about her!
Itiyopiya, Ann-Lee and Desiree (presenter)
Desiree challenges us to think about our identity at different ages and inviting us into relationships through storytelling.
Katy re-introduces herself…
Naomi re-introduces herself too.
More journaling and reflecting…
And dialogue…
Another exercise – family expressions. Megan shares with the group.
@SwarmSelfies
Another…
Debriefing the #SwarmSelfies.
A powerful image…
Well done!
Giggles during feedback…
And more …
The subject of that gorgeous selfie, Bridget.
Describing photo tension.
A provocative image …
Carrie stands near one of the group selfies…
More smiles…observations…
Joy!
Lori shares a poem in memory of her husband.
More stretching …
BREATHE!
More journaling…
Part of Kane Smego’s presentation on spoken word.
Incredible how people don’t think they can write poetry…until they do!
Writing, writing…
Molly shares spoken word…
Julie…
Naomi…
John…
Heather…
Maria’s reaction to Glenn’s spoken word.
It brought us all joy…
I don’t think we’ll ever think of hollandaise sauce the same again! 😉
Sharing
Sharing
Sharing
Maria steals a kiss…
Curious
Puzzle.
Thoughts…
HUMAN
Memories…
Reactions…
Quotes…
Yes, they do. We did a lot of storytelling.
Todd appreciates Desiree…
Listen
Imperfectly perfect
Writing…wrapping up…
Group shot.
Silly group shot! So many people had to depart due to the rain – we’re sorry we missed you in the photo.
Swarmers (or most of them, anyway)
Some of the Melibee team, past and present
Saying goodbyes…
Gratitude all around
A fabulous tattoo – bees and honeycombs – very Swarm appropriate!
The Swarmers begin to arrive. Surreal after months of planning!
A few of the Melibees even flew into town for the gathering.
We are a virtual team – I had met Katy (L) before, but it was my first time meeting Lisa (center) and Danielle (in person)!
More arrivals…
Tara prepares to share…