Wow! I just had my first planning conversation with my Community Animator colleague Christie Nash from Deepening Community and one of our fabulous partners Anne Harvey from Edmonton. We met remotely for some planning around the upcoming Deepening Community Policies & Procedures (DCPP) event coming up this June 2016. This conversation marks the first of many as we will continue to work together towards our exciting goal.

Beginnings are so exciting; breaking the surface of the soil to plant a garden takes hardwork but it is this intentional act that will allow growth. If done well- conversations at the beginning of a collaborative project are highly creative and energizing- they lay the foundation for growth. For me, this first conversation was a powerful example of the sheer optimism and energy a small group of people can bring to a collective project. 

This first conversation also served as a reminder for how big, amazing things often start with small conversations. How incredible is it that our team is able to bring together all of these community members at such an important event? How will we do it? More conversations: inspiring ones, creative ones and challenging ones! To have successful conversations, we need hardworking people contributing together to make these amazing events happen.

It's a rewarding process and it serves as a model to how our communities are living the big ideas: we are connecting change-makers and bringing people together in community collaboration to do good work: together.

Stay tuned for more information as our conversations continue!