Happy Chinese New Year and well about a show where we explore a variety of topics, organizations, events, the people who fuel them in our city, state, country and world. I'm Winston Welch and as a disclaimer, any views or opinions expressed by me are strictly my own and not connected with any organization. Joining me back in the studio today, I am delighted to have Leilani Maxera of the Death Cafe Honolulu. Last time you remember Leilani was here with the Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center, but we're going to be talking about a really interesting and different topic today. So welcome to the show and thanks for being my guest. It's my honor to have you back here. Yeah, thank you for inviting me back. I appreciate that you enjoyed talking to me enough to have me back to talk to you again. Absolutely.  We met up at what's that round building by the university where there was. Oh, the Kivayavai Collective? Yes, the Kivayavai Collective and there was a show there and it was was that produced by the Death Cafe Honolulu? No, so I wish I could remember the date, but the event you're talking about was actually put on by Civil Beat and they have this ongoing, I guess, talk story session on different topics. They invite speakers in the community and the topic that evening was how I talk about death or how we talk about death. And so they'd invited several speakers to tell their personal stories about how death has affected their lives. And thank you so much for attending. I was lucky enough to be one of the speakers. Oh, it was super interesting and I think it's still online. People can Google that on Civil Beat and it's probably still posted up there. But yeah, it was very personal narratives of stories of how death had affected people's lives and just a very intimate sharing amongst people that were there.  And so naturally I was more curious when we were talking before, but what is a Death Cafe and what's Death Cafe Honolulu? So the Death Cafe movement started in 2011 and it actually started in Europe. And it was based on the teachings and I know I'm going to mess their name up because I can't figure out how to pronounce is Bernard Cortez, I think. It was started by John Underwood and a woman named Sue Barski Reed. And basically they wanted to find a way to have public space for people to come together to talk about death and dying. And the most important part of the setup that they created was there's no there's understanding that you cannot come to a conclusion at the end of the discussion. A lot of times people come together they think they'll find the answers to the meaning of life and death. But they knew it was important to have like a kind of a open space to talk story and people can talk about anything they want related to death and dying. And when they started 2011 it was a very small group of people that came together said we have no agenda. We all you know all they ask there's very few rules when you have a Death Cafe just that there's no agenda, no preset questions or topics. You can't sell anything at it. You can't charge for it has to be free. And it's not a it's not a grief or bereavement support group either it's just a discussion group. So if people come and they feel and you might not even know until you arrive if you have a lot of grief that might come up when you're speaking we try to have resources to refer people to. And one of the other only rules because it started in England you have to serve tea and cake. So that cafes have to have just tea and cake and so what made you decide to start one here and and how did you do that. So it's just it's not it's not exactly it's like a nonprofit franchise almost but with no costs. Well basically all they ask is is that you follow those those rules I just mentioned and that it just has to be called death cafe and then your location. So going backwards about six years ago I attended Death Cafe Sonoma in Sonoma in California and it was amazing. It was one of the most interesting experiences I've ever had because I've my background is I have a master's in public health in with an emphasis in aging. And at the time I was working for an organization in California that focused on advanced care planning and having those important conversations about what you want at the end of life. And so I'd heard of death cafes at this time they'd only been around for a few years since 2011. And it was the closest one I'd heard of happening near where I lived. And so I attended and it was an amazing conversation. Interestingly it was mostly older people. I guess that makes sense considering that usually who shows up to the death cafe is that I put on even I think people are thinking as they age or thinking a little more about the mortality. And in the topics covered the first experience with loss people had had people brought up. You know their pets dying not not knowing what to do if they if if they could keep their ashes not knowing if that was legal.  And they were sick actually had a serious illness at the time and they were too afraid to tell their family they were scared but they wanted to talk with us about it. It was a very moving experience. So shortly after I moved to Hawaii and looked up on the death cafe website which you can look up in your area where the closest death cafe was. And there wasn't one here on a Wahoo so I just decided to go ahead and start it. And we've had one here for five years now and we put on in those five years I put on 16 death cafes and then also some other like movie nights showing different movies around death and dying and having discussion groups and sponsored some other events as well. And so you end up putting on something about once a quarter or so. At first it was it was monthly and then I went back to school to get a another master's in social work. So I was working full time going to school full time. It made it a little more difficult. So now just about four or five times a year. Yeah. Okay, it's a great. It's sort of a talk story forum then I guess it's not exactly 12 step and it's not exactly a support group but it's just a place where people can come together and talk about death issues and dying issues and the whole nine yards. So you said that there's not a specific topics but do you end up having themes sometimes like maybe green burials or advanced care directors or something? It absolutely depends on who shows up where the conversation goes because all I do is set the tone and the space and then the intention for the room. And then all we do is after, you know, saying those very few rules that we have, everyone goes around introduces themselves. And the only question I ask is who, who are you tell us a little about yourself and what brought you here today?  And just depending on who's in the room, you know, that launches the conversation just based on the introduction. After everyone's done introducing themselves, I say did anybody say anything that resonated with you or is there something that you really want to comment on that someone else said or is there just a topic you really are burning to talk about tonight? And people just start talking and two hour it's two hours and it goes by like that. I bet it doesn't go two hours went by because there's very, very rarely a bowl in the conversation. And I'm sure people come out with some really meaningful connections and information and maybe some new friends out of it as well of people who are thinking about the same thing or want to want to know more or share their story. Yeah, I mean I think so there's some people who come every time. There's a few people that are that come back come back.  I've had several people come who were on vacation from other places which I found very interesting that they saw it from a friend of a friend or heard about it came just for that one off. And I was kind of like you're here on your vacation you're coming to this that's cool. So it's been it's a big it's a big mix who shows up. Well and I can imagine that a lot of people maybe they're coming in from Australia or Japan or something and they they don't have a death cafe and they're interested. What is this and maybe you've sparked them to start something else where they came from as well. I see that's the amazing thing there there's I can't remember how many cities it's in but there's been over 10,000 death cafes to date in in like over I think over 60 countries. I can't remember the exact number but it's pretty widespread at this point. Do you all get together once a year or something and share stories or how you organize your own groups or anything. No so on the death cafe website. You can register your own your death cafe on there and they have a list of rules how to help with you know suggestions for facilitation of one. The biggest support I've gotten is there's actually a Facebook group for death cafe hosts, and people post on there, you know saying this happened. How should I deal with this next time, or just sharing good stories about things that have happened. I shared on there before once I was having a really hard time finding a space. I would host it because it needs to be a free space which as you probably know is pretty difficult in Hawaii to find a place you don't have to pay to rent. So we've gone through several spaces. There was no parking issues, but the great thing now is that we have a hopefully permanent home at Temple Emanuel. They've been really great about letting us use their library for free and have been very supportive. So for now I think we're good on space. And that's up on the on the highway on new on isn't it? Yeah, right near the next to the Unitarian church. It's, you know, it's a, so if people wanted to go follow along and find out information about the organization, where can they find out stuff locally? Is there a Facebook page or do you have a website as well? Yeah, we do have a Facebook page. It's just death cafe Honolulu. I try to update it with whenever we're having an upcoming event. I update it I try to update it with other local events that are related to death and dying as well. I haven't I, you know, share things on grief. Sometimes I try to share things around the holidays, things like that. I posted something yesterday. I know that although I actually don't know anything about sports. I know that Kobe Bryant dying was a big deal for a lot of people who are big sports fans, people in California, etc.  Because right now a lot of people are glued to the news, glued to social media. And for some people it makes them feel less alone. When somebody dies, especially someone like a celebrity that they may not have known, but also it can it depends on who you are. It can also be very overwhelming to constantly being bombarded to constantly be bombarded with with that death talk. So it's different for everybody. And it's a good point because we don't really deal with death very well in our society. We don't have a lot of venues to talk about it. And we don't know what to say, think or feel. Sometimes what's right, what's not right. So this is, I'm really excited that this forum exists for people. And I'm sure if they, if it's been a while since they've had one, somebody emails you and says, hey, could we do something? You're probably amenable to that, although given your time constraints, I appreciate that as well. So this is so interesting. We're going to go over some more of this after we come back from a short break here about the issues about the Kokua Mouth Speakers Bureau, the National Home Funeral Alliance, what people are really most wanting to talk about and those types of things. But for right now we do have to take a short break. I'm Winston Welch. This is out and about on the Think Tech Live Streaming Network series. And we are delighted to be talking with Leilani Maxera of the Death Cafe, Honolulu. We'll be back in a moment for more of the story. Aloha. I'm Keisha King, host of At the Crossroads, where we have conversations that are real and relevant. We have spoken with community leaders from right here locally in Hawaii and all around the world. Won't you join us on thinktechhawaii.com or on YouTube on the Think Tech Hawaii channel. Our conversations are real, relevant, and lots of fun. I'll see you at the Crossroads. Aloha. Aloha, y'all. My name is Mitch Ewan. I'm from the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute. And I'm the host of Hawaii, the State of Clean Energy. We're on every Wednesday at four o'clock, and we hope that we have interesting guests who talk to us about various energy things that are happening in Hawaii all the way from PV to windmills to hydrogen, most of my heart, electric buses and electric vehicles. So please dial in every Wednesday at four o'clock on Hawaii, the State of Clean Energy. Aloha. Hey, we're back. We're live. I'm Winston Welton. This is out and about on the Think Tech Live Streaming Network series, talking with Leilani Maxera of the Death Cafe Honolulu. This is just right after New Year's, the year of the Metal Rat has started in 2020, and we are delighted to have Leilani back. Thanks for being here again.  You actually wrote your master's thesis, I thought was so interesting, on home funerals and the grief process. But how did you particularly get interested in this area in these topics? So to go back a while now, when I was around 25 years old, my grandmother got very sick. She had what it turned out to be pancreatic cancer, and also she had a form of dementia. And at that time, all of the deaths that I'd had in my life had been sudden deaths, so suicides or homicides, accidents. And I had no idea how to deal with a long-term illness, and it was something that most people in my personal life and family had also not dealt with yet. And it didn't go well. You know, that's a hour-long conversation there, but basically when my grandmother was sick, I had no idea how to take care of her. I had no idea what she needed. I had never heard of hospice. I had never heard of palliative care, advanced care directives. And we had a very difficult time with the hospital that we were dealing with that they never offered us information that those options existed for her. And so when she died, honestly, I had kind of a nervous breakdown, had severe depression for a really long time because I felt like I didn't do enough to take care of her. And only after she died learned more about hospice, learned more about these options. Because I don't know if you've ever been a full-time caregiver, a part-time caregiver, when you're trying to keep a job and take care of a loved one. You don't really have a lot of time to research stuff. You're just in it. So it was only after she died that I had that space and time to realize what, oh, I could have done this differently. I should have done this differently. And I got really obsessed about talking about just basically educating other people about their options in different ways with serious illness and death. So I went back to school, like I mentioned earlier about my master's in public health with emphasis in aging and focused on the intersections between serious illness, public health and death and dying. And then I've just dedicated a lot of my time ever since to volunteering, helping people do their advanced health care directives, teaching them how to have those conversations with their loved ones. Teaching people about hospice and palliative care, because there's a lot of people that actually do not know that these options exist. And just everything I can do to get people talking about these conversations and home funerals, like any aspect of it I'm down to talk about. It's so interesting. So you took a personal tragedy and made some real good use of that and it undoubtedly helped so many people in this. And I really respect you for that. And you do this as an involuntary capacity, just giving back to society. And I know people have really benefited just because they have. And I wonder if we look at some of these things here. We got a few slides to go on. This is going to prompt a couple of questions that will pop up. But I love the first one, which is you mentioned we have to have cake and tea at every death cafe. That's a great, great cake there. And so that's really great at finding people that'll decorate the cake for it. It was that locally made. Yeah, I think she got it. I'm sure that when she goes to the bakery, because the last several times she's got the cake for me, I'm sure when she goes to the bakery, they're like, okay, I'll put welcome to the death cafe on here for you. Okay, yeah, that's cake decorators get it all. So the next slide we've got is it looks like at the Unitarian Church. And it looks like Scott Foster on the right there and probably talking about some things. So you have regularly held that looks like a panel maybe about talking about something. Which may not have been the death cafe. Yeah. Yeah, that wasn't something I put on but I recall from looking at that picture that was something actually compassion and choices. Okay. I think with that on and we were we went and hung out at that but it was I think it was an open talk before they passed the law about medical aid and dying here. Okay, we had the folks on here for that as well now the next one is something that is more. Maybe it's an interesting thing and this goes to home funerals. This is a volunteer here I'm on all volunteers on the table and standing. But what's going on here. So this was taken as I think maybe that was almost five years ago more than five years ago now. I'm Jerry Grace Lyons is the woman in the blue top, and she lives on the continent in California. And she is an educator teacher and home funeral guide, basically teaching people how to take care of their own loved ones when they die, and how to have a home base vigil and funeral for them. And she'd come to Hawaii and did a very small workshop with with several of us to practice and and talk more about how to guide families in in choosing that option for a loved one if they died. What is the National Home Funeral Alliance. The National Home Funeral Alliance is an amazing organization of which I'm a volunteer and member that helps that their mission their goal is also to help support and guide families who want to choose a home funeral option. I don't realize that home funerals are legal. They're perfectly legal to some capacity in all 50 states you can have one on your own there are some states that have different laws that unfortunately, it's not uniform across the country. So, you know, for example, some states you have to have a funeral director involved in some aspect of it, whether it just be paperwork or transport. So the confurals in many other countries it's still the norm. And in the United States it was the norm up until the Civil War that we took care of our own that at home. And it was only around the time of the Civil War that it was the first time people really died farther away from home like on the battlefield. So we had to find a way to take care of the bodies, you know, they start doing embalming things like that and it really is a large funeral industry. Yeah, and that's kind of the birth of the funeral industry. Yeah. And do you work with the funeral industry as well. We have I tried to partner with local folks I've I have met some local people who are interested who are people who own like, you know, the traditional I guess you would say funeral homes that are interested in how to support families that want to have funeral, but I haven't really partnered with the local place yet that is really interested in how to support that. But there's another. There's a group here I don't know if you've heard of Pahiki caskets it's like a eco friendly casket company, and they're doing a lot of really good work in education as well and our partnering more with the funeral homes in helping people have more greener funerals as well, then home funerals are a part of that. Is it hard to have a natural death and a natural burial in Hawaii. It is harder than some other states and that's because land usage here on a Wahoo, there is not a particularly green burial space here. In Hawaii, actually, I don't know, you know, Ram Dass diet recently, and he was a part of the death store there with Bode B, and they are doing home funerals they're teaching people about home funerals, and are opening up a new space and green burial ground here. So, you know, here's a great example, Jewish burial, you need to have be one when you're buried you have to be able to go back to the earth. And there's only one Jew, I believe one place here Abraham's garden that they still are required to put the casket into a vault like a cement vault which is absolute waste because it's terrible for the environment, but they drill holes in it so that people can go back to the earth, but it's because the local legislation for that area they you know it rains a lot. So they say oh it's for safety reasons but I truly believe that we need to find a way to have more green spaces here because all of that the embalming fluid, the concrete for vaults, all of the materials that are put into like regular caskets. That's just sitting in the earth that comes that all comes back to us. And so we really need to find ways to prioritize more green space for for burial in a perfect world if I had all the money I would find a way to purchase that land here. Is there is there a green burial site that people can can go to that you that you like to to learn about different alternatives to traditional casket and ball burial. If you're a funeral consumer alliance I believe might have that I'm sorry I don't know the websites off the top of my head, and then green burial council is a really good resource for places to go. You know, and they can also talk to you about the laws in different places like for example like I mentioned I lived in California, and you can bury your family on your own property as long as it's this amount away from someone else's property of space. away of space away from like water, natural water sources things like that and they can really help you out with the laws and for every state. The Green Burial Council. Yes, I could say, what's the most rewarding thing that you find about this work. Oh, um, that's tough one because it's all honestly it's also rewarding. I think I got a couple one I think when people let me know that they finish their advanced healthcare directive and had that conversation with their loved ones about what they wanted. In case they couldn't speak for themselves and they had to make decisions towards the end of life, just knowing that you know because I suggested to people all the time I help them fill it out very rarely do people fill it out. I think it's a great time to their, you know, medical provider and follow through and so when people follow through that feels really amazing to know that they're going to get what they want at the end of life their wishes are laid out. I think, and just also when the conversations that we have at death cafes are just so rich, you know, and people there's tears sometimes there's you know people saying I've never had a talk about death with anyone in my life I'm too scared they're too scared. It's, I mean it's all pretty rewarding honestly. Well, like I can imagine that you had just some incredible experiences. I would love to have you back again and talk about this more if you'll be my guest because there's so many things we haven't talked about, like advanced care directives ethical wills and more but I recommend that people go to death cafe Honolulu on the show. And but for now I'm afraid we're going to have to wrap it up. As always, we're just out of time so I wanted to say thank you so much for being a guest on the show again, Leilani and we have been speaking with Leilani Maxera of the death cafe Honolulu. And this is Winston Welch with think tech live out and about streaming show. We thank you for tuning in. We welcome your feedback. We thank our broadcast engineer Eric Kalander and floor manager Haley Kada and J five dollar executive producer puts it all together. I'll see you here every other Monday at three for more of out and about Aloha everyone and Happy New Year.


We stand with eyes toward the east, awaiting the rising of the star, and pray that love shall become flesh and dwell among us, and that compassion shall be born in human hearts. We celebrate the discovery of fact in the garment of legend. Let every cradle be visited by the three good kings of faith, hope, and love. Sign our chalice this evening to the words of Edward Erickson. Then Christmas is with us always, and every birth is the birth of God among us, and every child is the Christ child, and every song is the song of angels. To celebrate Christmas is to attest to the power of love to remake humankind. May we be renewed in the love which can save the world. Please rise in all the ways that we do to join in singing our congregational carol number 253, oh come all ye faithful to be seated. Glory this evening comes from the work of Ashley Bryan, a nativity poem entitled Who Built the Stable? Who built the stable where baby Jesus lay? Was it built of bricks? Was it built of hay? Was it built of wooden sticks? Was it built of sod? Was it made by human hands? Was it built by God? A child built the stable. A little shepherd boy, apprenticed as a carpenter in his father's employ. He built the wooden stable for his donny, donkey, ox, and sheep. A shelter from the weather, a home at night for sleep. He watered them at sunrise where they graze and freely roam. He called to them at sunset, follow me, and led them home. Was Jesus born in Italy, Russia, Spain, Japan? No, he was born in Bethlehem, a rich and verdant land. How did Joseph and pregnant Mary find a place to stay? When they went knock, knock, knocking and were always turned away. The little shepherd saw them. For one night he saw a star and lo, it grew in brightness approaching from afar. He looked about in wonder as there came into his sight, a poor man and a woman wandering in the night. The boy asked, can I help you? Gently, Mary spoke to him. My child will soon be born, she said. There is no room at the inn. Oh, come with me, the boy exclaimed. My stable's a warm place. My animals will welcome you. I'll sweep and clear a space. He made a bin the cradle of straw and new moan hay. And when at dawn the child was born, he in the manger lay. The boy looked in the infant's eyes and in his heart he knew the babe would be a carpenter. He'd be a shepherd too. I invite you to sing in our next congregational carol, O little town of Bethlehem, number 246. You may be seated. A reading by Edward Harris entitled, A Meditation on Rudolph. What can we say about Rudolph? He was excluded by other reindeer. They did not let him play with them. We may feel confident that they made fun of him in his red nose. It is possible that they hurt Rudolph, that he was on the outside. The other reindeer had a special relationship with Santa Claus. They were the elite, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Comet, Blitzen, Fine Names, Sturdy Names, Besteking Solidarity, Stability, Education, Training, Ability, Access to the Very Best. These reindeer were strong and fast. Rudolph was smaller and his only distinctive feature was a shiny red nose. It seemed to have a glow about it and it made the young Rudolph a figure of fun. See, Rudolph the red nose, ha, ha, I'd rather be dead than red in the nose, they'd say. Still, he may have been content to be red nose by himself. He probably muttered more than once, I don't care, let them have all of the fun, I can have fun by myself. Did Rudolph wish to be excluded? We don't know. Probably he did. For it is the deepest wish of all creatures to be long and be accepted. So, what happened? On a foggy Christmas Eve, Santa realized that he could make a difference in guiding the sleigh if Rudolph would lead them through. Rudolph's special trait was his shiny red nose. It was this nose, this trait that was needed. So, Santa goes to little Rudolph and asks him to guide the sleigh actually to lead it. He would have to be in front of the other reindeer because their mission of getting Christmas to the boys and girls of the world was so important, it became necessary to rethink past practices. When Rudolph was asked, what did he say? Well, we don't really know, it's not recorded. We know he did not say, I can't, I'm too little. He certainly didn't say, me, the others always make fun of me. He didn't say, now you ask me, I've got something else to do, it isn't fair. He didn't say spitefully, get somebody else, let dancer do it. He didn't say, I hope you crash, you and all of the others. I did not write this. So, we have the classic story of the insider excluding the newcomer and making fun of his special traits. It happens all the time in school rooms, in playing fields, in classes, in society. We say they just don't have it, and if they do, well, we got here first and we have to let them in our group, our company, but we don't necessarily have to like it. He did just that, Rudolph. He led the sleigh through, he did the job, and it was a hard job, but he did it. And then the story tells us all the reindeer loved him.  What is its moral? Some possible meanings. Anybody can serve. We need everybody to be part of the team. Even the ugliest or what we label ugly in our culture, and the smallest has a special contribution to make. The mission is more important than the personalities. There are perhaps others, perhaps you can think of some. Remember them now, anytime that you hear the song. Here ends the reading. Reading for the magic of the season was a child the day after Thanksgiving was steeped in ritual. Every year, my family would travel to Chicago for the holiday festivities. Our tour was always the same. We'd tromp up and down Michigan Avenue, admiring store windows with animated mechanical dolls that served as actors for the narrated holiday story. We would wait in line for two hours to sit under the three-story tree at Marshall Fields and enjoy a formal lunch and sit on Santa's lap to discuss the finer points of our list. Then on to the burk-off for dinner. The day always held magic, mostly because of my dime-laden mittens. In the morning, my dad would give my sister and me each a handful of dimes, which I kept in my mittens so I could tinker with them as we walked in anticipation of finding another one of them. The Salvation Army Christmas buckets. Almost every corner, familiar red cans awaited. I marveled in watching my dime swirl their way to the quarter-sized slot and plunk in to rest amid the other dime-sized donations. At the time, I knew nothing about Salvation Army theology, only that they worked for the homeless and destitute. They became my symbol of generosity for the season, albeit bucket-sized. As an adult, I often felt an odd pull to ring the bell myself. One year, I gave in. I called up the lieutenant at the Salvation Army and asked enthusiastically if they were in need of any help. They were. I was given two assignments. I couldn't wait to get my hands on that little tinkly bell. The first assignment was a busy street corner with a bookstore and coffee shop on either side. I rang my ding-a-ling-y bell and ten-degree weather with Lee, stamping my feet periodically to stay warm. My smart bucket swung slightly in the breeze. It was an experience just as I had hoped. People asked me if I was warm enough. A couple bought me coffee. Many smiled and simply wished me happy holidays as they passed. I marveled at the parade of dime donors and the familiar plunk of change that followed. The second assignment was at a mall across from J.C. Penney's. Once again, I once again eager, I itched to start my ring-a-ding-ing. The lieutenant arrived to set up my buckets. My bucket, my hands reached for the bell. No bell, he explained. The mall owners have complained. No bells, only this. He handed me a sign. The sign was attached to a long dowel. On the top of the dowel, two pieces of paper were stapled together over the center of the stick. One side read ding. And the other, dong. Instead of ringing, I now had to flip a sign that read ding, dong. My little bucket instantly lost its tingling. My enthusiasm waned. I flipped in silent motion. It seemed absurd, but I went to work. People pushed past each other, admired in that Christmas hubbub that leans towards frustration and not joy. Then they'd spot me. Their faces would contort, scrunching up into laughter and that uncomfortable feeling when you're embarrassed and humored by someone at the same time. They would often throw in some dimes and say happy holidays, barely able to stifle an awkward yet justifiable smirk. I found it hard not to feel like the sign was projecting my mental status to the mall community. For four hours, I flipped. The sign, that is. Ten minutes before I was to quit, this fellow in black cowboy boots and a 10 gallon hat walked up to me and laughed. He was full out chuckles, bent over, hysterically laughing. I stood taller, flipping my sign with increased vigor. I couldn't tell where he was going with this. When he finally stood up for air, his eyes were smiling.  And then he said, I must say, I've never seen a sign like that before. Anybody that stands with a sign that says ding dong must be duly rewarded. He reached into his back pocket and retrieved his wallet. Crisp bills lay neatly in uniform order. He ran through the fives, the tens, the 20s, and got to a row of 50s. He pulled one out of 50. He neatly folded the bill and squeezed it into the bucket designed for coin donors. Nodding, he smiled right into my eyes and muttered, well, I never. Then he continued on through the mall with laughter that hung captive in the air like lingering pipe smoke. I, on the other hand, began to turn that sign with renewed vigor. I looked at each passerby with a new attitude, whether they snickered or smiled, donated or not. I now strangely felt in awe of my ding dong sign.  Waiting just to discover that this season can still thrill and surprise. Waiting for magic, only to find that red buckets held it all the time, even without the ding-a-ling. So ends the reading. In keeping with the spirit of the reading, generosity is an opportunity throughout this season for us to connect more powerfully with the underlying meaning that we would like to convey. And so tonight, we give you a particularly important opportunity to be generous. It is our tradition for the offering to go towards eviction relief here in Dane County. And so we hope that you will find within yourself that spirit of generosity to give so that people who are struggling to stay in their homes this winter are given assistance. The offering will now be given and received in such a loving and giving spirit. Our second story. In the front yard of a little house on the branches of a mighty evergreen, there lived a happy pair of cardinals, Red and Lulu, a story by Matt Tavares. Red and Lulu were happy in their tree. Their nests were always safe in its branches, its shade kept them cool on hot summer days, and its evergreen needles kept them cozy when autumn winds howled. It was the perfect place to live all year long. But their favorite time of year, by far, was winter. The family would decorate the tree with lights, and sometimes people would gather near and sing. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, thy leaves are so unchanging. Red and Lulu loved listening to the people sing about their tree. Sometimes they even sang along. One chilly morning, just as the cold months were starting again, Red went out to find some breakfast. Lulu stayed behind, tucked in the branches of their tree. And then something happened. When Red returned, he could not believe what he saw. Their tree had moved. It was on its side, strapped to the back of a big red truck. Red could hear the sweet sound of Lulu's song coming from inside the tree, and then the truck drove away. Red chirped frantically, telling Lulu to stay right where she was, telling her that he would be right there. Red flew as fast as he could for as long as he could. But the truck was just too fast. Before long, Red lost sight of the tree. Still, he kept flying, trying to catch up. Soon, he found himself in a strange place, unlike any place he had ever seen. For days, Red searched everywhere. He was tired and hungry. He wondered if he would ever see Lulu again. The snow reminded him of Lulu. He missed her very much, and he could almost hear the song they loved. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, thy leaves are so unchanging. Wait, he could hear the song they loved. Red flew toward the sound. The voices grew louder and louder, and then he turned the corner. Red chirped with glee and soared over the singing crowd. He flew right to their favorite branch. He looked around, hmm, hmm. And then Lulu, they were reunited at last. Red and Lulu, again, were happy in their tree. And they watched with pride as hundreds of thousands of people marveled at its beauty. But then, one day, the workers came and took their tree away again. This time, Red and Lulu stayed. They found a new place to make a home, in a park surrounded by trees and grass, and lots of friends. Now, every year, when the air turns cold, Red and Lulu take a special trip. And when the crowd comes to sing, they sit together, snuggled close on a snowy branch and listen. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, thy leaves are so unchanging. Sometimes they even sing along. And a hope and joy. We have come together out of the cold and the dark to fill this place with songs and stories and the warmth of people willing to share of themselves during this glorious season. As we gather, we realize that no one is ever really ready for Christmas. If we were really all prepared, if every gift we had contemplated had been obtained, if every present was beautifully bereaved, if all the goodies our friends deserve were baked and cooled and stored just so. If each and every person we love was gathered for our celebration, if we never snapped at someone we cared about nor stopped short of being all that we could be. If our minds were 100% loving and our hearts were 100% generous, we would truly be ready. And truly we would not need Christmas quite so much. So may we welcome Christmas, the most needed of seasons. May it come from the reminder that love does not depend on perfection, but on willingness to risk connection. May it enter into the unready manger of our hearts that we may feel the warmth of new life and give flesh to the promise of hope that cries to bring healing into the world. In this spirit, I invite you to prepare your candles to receive the flame, one from another, keeping the lit candle upright while the unlit candle is the one that gets turned. Welcome Christmas, welcome love, welcome hope. May all these be born in our unready hearts on this silent and holy night. Please join in singing Silent Night magic when the whole round earth turns again toward the sun. And here's a blessing, the days will be longer and brighter now, even before the winter settles in to chill us. Now is the moment of magic, when people beaten down and broken with nothing left but misery and candles and their own dear voices, kindle tiny lights and whisper secret music. And here's a blessing. The dark universe is suddenly illuminated by the lights of the menorah, suddenly ablaze with the lights of the canara and the whole world is glad and loud with winter singing. Now is the moment of magic, when an eastern star beckons the ignorant toward an unknown goal and hears a blessing. They find nothing in the end but an ordinary baby born at midnight, born in poverty and the baby's cry like bells ringing makes people wonder as they wander through their lives what human love might really look like, sound like, feel like. Now is the moment of magic and here's a blessing. We already possess all the gifts that we need. We've already received our presence, ears to hear music, eyes to behold lights, hands to hold and build true peace on earth and to hold each other tight in love. I invite you now to extinguish your candles, return them to the ushers so that we can use them at the 10 p.m. service and take your seat again for one final gift of music before we head out into the night. Good night, Merry Christmas. Peace, goodwill to all.


In what ways could I improve my CV if you take a little look at that? Just be honest, be brutal. The youth of today are facing a terrifying job market. What? Don't believe me? Take a look at how terrified this youth is. Baa! How was that, guys? Yes, it was great! Mmm. Spooky. I'm convinced. You'll probably start there thinking, it can't be that hard to get a job. I managed it. Well, that was probably back in the 50s, Grandad. When any old candy-ass down at the Five and Dime could land a gig if they didn't get caught lighting up the tilt sign. But exactly how hard is it to get employed? I've got a job interview later today to find out. Today's challenge, get myself a job. Now, before I start my journey to employment, I thought I'd take time to speak to someone with real experience in having a job. I'm speaking to Dr. Simon Fox, a dentist of over 30 years and also my dad. Hi. Hi, Dad. Hi. Hello. Can you hear me? Get a job. No, sorry, we're filming right now. I was just wondering if you've got any advice for me. Yeah, do you know what?   Well, I've lost 15 minutes and I'm no closer to securing my dream job. First thing on the agenda is to create an irresistible resume. My current one needs a touch-up. But I've come up with a sneaky plan to help me out. I'm going to hold fake job interviews for a made-up tech company and use the opportunity to just look at other people's resumes. I'm going to put the C in CV. That's not the building. It's the next one. Sorry, next one. Hey! Lovely to meet you. Lovely to meet you. What attracted you to this job, working at Meg, SuperRealLinders.com? I mean, I haven't been at intern before, but I feel like I should expand my skills and I think it would look good on my CV and obviously it's good to get... Alex, mate, can we have a black coffee in here, please? Is that your CV there? It is, yes. Let me grab it. The guy who you're replacing, he used to work here. He had a very specific job around the office. We just paid him a few extra quid an hour and what he used to do is try and catch people watching pornography on company time. I'm going to be sat here pretending to watch them porn. I want you to try and sneak up on me and catch me watching porn. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, look at them. I thought that was illegal. That's disgusting. That's disgusting. Right, I can hear you there. Can you think quick on your feet? I'd like to think so. If I were to become your boss, not saying that's happening yet, but if I were, what nicknames would you have for me? Um, Dumbled. We're going to just skip straight over that question then. That's why I've not been asking that.  Do you mind standing up and showing us a little bit of what that entailed? Sure. I would have a microphone, of course, and I would be saying good evening, everybody. Welcome to the Manor Arms. So, question one is a movie question. What film was Harrison Ford in in 1980? Blade Runner. OK, we are finished. Using some of my covert techniques, I've managed to find some key ways I can improve my CV. First of all, I'm going to need real work experience. Number two, I should get it for you, Fred. Number three, it wouldn't hurt to learn a second language. And number four, I'm going to have to lie a lot. Look at that. 2005 call, they want their picture back. Sorry, who called? For the job interview. What is your name? I'm Zach Fox. So, tell me about your work experience. Well, I've got this for you. I think you'll like what you find. Why are you naked here? Yeah, below that, just really below that. Comedian, barman, formula one diver. Gibabs, why? You're passionate about the food or what? The sauce, the taste, the flavour. They're meaty, they can be spicy, they can be creamy. OK, and when you're dealing with customer, what's a good way to deal with customer in kebab shop? Hello. I've got to order you a kebab if you want a kebab. OK, you can just... I'm f***ing so badly. I'm sorry, I've messed this up. So, what's the typical toppings would you offer on a kebab? Oh, chilli sauce boss, garlic sauce boss, cheese boss, do you want a...do you want a can of Petty Boss? Well, Jay, she'll say cheers more, Chiang. OK, that's all be all. That's what I'd say. Well, despite my best efforts, I've lost today's challenge and had to move back in with my parents. I've not lived here since 2015. Unemployment is a hot topic at the moment, but the good news is, soon, robots will be doing all the jobs so we can sit back and relax whenever they tell us we're allowed to. Oh, sweet, that's Dad. He said I did a good job.


Everything we know today and we use in the clinic to fight cancer and to cure cancer patients or prolong their life and increase their quality of life relies on years of basic research. My name is Andres Sottoriva, I'm a professor of cancer genomics and evolution and I'm the head of the Center for Computational Biology at Human Technology and I also lead a lab that works on tumor evolution and cancer genomics. In the research center for computational biology at Human Technology we study cancers from different perspectives. In my laboratory we try to understand how tumors change over time and evolve to become first aggressive and metastatic and then resistant to treatment. What's very exciting about my research is that a fundamental conceptual framework that we use to understand how tumors change over time and become resistant to treatment is evolutionary biology. So we investigate the fundamental laws of evolution that drive change in cells with the aim of designing new therapies but also combine existing therapies in a way that will prevent these emergence of resistance and basically prevent losing control of the disease of a cancer. It's a bit like a chess game, so we can't win with one single move. There is no predetermined strategy. You play with the adversary, in this case you play against the cancer a sort of chess game of strategy where you make strategic moves that down the line allow you to win the game in the long run and that's what we aim at developing in the context of oncology. We use basic research from evolutionary biology combined with computational methods to play cleverly the strategy against cancer with existing drugs that we have and also novel drugs that we have. Basic research nowadays has become a very interdisciplinary effort. It requires the collaboration and interaction of a wide variety of scientists from different disciplines, from mathematics to clinical oncology or clinical research to biology and molecular and biochemistry. It's a challenge that we take and we are tackling head-on in a human technical by combining expertise of different and different backgrounds of different scientists in the same institute. So we have different centres with very different research programmes that collaborate together and we tackle this new challenge of interdisciplinary research by putting people in the same place and make people talk to each other and develop radically new ideas that they would not be able to develop if they were in isolation.


What's up everybody, once again, this is Brandon and Shawn and we got a different little video going today. I'm doing a screen record, but what I want you really to see is this really dope marketing fan engagement strategy that I've seen from Megan D Stallion. That is D Stallion, two E's, shawty. So first and foremost, Homie actually, she sent me this Instagram post and I'm going to show you guys. There's this Instagram post called Sex Talk and the thing she said was, hey, howdy, looking for a good time, call this number right now. Here's a snippet to hear a new snippet of my single Sex Talk. So obviously you're playing off of this like phone sex hotline type theme called Sex Talk and here's the post, right? So right there is just a beat, right? So it's not anything super, super like interesting as far as like a super, you know, some lines that get you real interested or anything, but at the end of the day, you know, she knows she's drawing you in because here's the beat for the song, but how is she going to rap to it? So I'm going to go ahead and call this actual line right now and let's see what happens so y'all can see what happens. That was it. Short little snippet. That's pretty dope. You know, just the whole idea to get people engaged enough to actually call a number, right? And let's see what happens after this because actually it looks like I got like a little text message, right? And I'm going to read the text message after calling, which is dope. I assumed anyway, right? That if people do something these days where your number is involved, they're going to try to record the number. All right. It says, hey, howdy. Thanks for hitting me up. I'll put this on the screen too. I'm so hyped for sex talk to drop this Friday, so it's about to drop. Sign up for the hottie line now. Just reply hashtag yes to be in my phone. So obviously she's using something like Superphone or something like that for this, but she's even allowing you to opt in, which is dope because you know, everybody doesn't necessarily want to be in these things, even though it was a cool little reply and everything. Show what the message looks like. That's a dope installation and a dope little activation, but what's really important to consider is the way she got this, these numbers is highly contextual and she's still allowed people to opt in because people hear all these ideas right for to get a phone number or to get all these other types of information, but she made it contextually relevant or the team made it contextually relevant, whoever gets the credit, but you know, it makes sense because that song was called Sex Talk and it's playing off of the theme of like the phone hotline, the sex hotline, right? Instead of just asking or doing it for a random track and you can do things where it makes sense contextually, there's a lot of great ideas and strategies and things like that, but you can't use them all at once and all of them shouldn't be used at all times. If you can wait, you know, keep one in the back pocket and it's like, yo, it goes perfect with this song. I've been waiting to do this. Then you'll get the best results out of it. And then of course, even more important, I'm saying is like, she allowed people to still opt in because they might have wanted to hear the song. A lot of these fans aren't familiar with things like Superphone or getting, you know, people getting your numbers and things like that. So the fact that she still allowed people to opt in and told people what it is, this is my hottie hotline, then that creates a higher quality list of engaged fans because you gave these people a choice and they don't feel completely intrusive. They were probably taking it back and, you know, pleasantly surprised a lot of these fans that they got texted from Megan Thee Stallion and that's something she does so well. There's this other thing that she does called hottie cam. I haven't seen it in a while. I could have sworn I had a screen capture or something, but like she basically shares on her IG story, her fans like listening to her music or just doing certain things, right? But she branded it. It's something she's doing already. So many people share fans and stuff like that on their stories, but she branded it as the hottie cam. So she's a woman targeting woman for the most part and she calls it the hottie cam. So her fans are like, you know, I'm on the hottie cam. Branding things, realize that you can brand things that you're already doing oftentimes. So like I said, so many people are already doing this, but they aren't branding it. Once you brand it, it instantly makes it a little bit more powerful. So Megan Thee Stallion, check out this call to hotline yourself if you want to. Obviously the information's right here, but yeah, try that out. And she's one of the dopest people I've seen lately. The team, the strategies they've been doing as far as fan engagement, definitely worth checking out. Definitely somebody worth continuing to watch. Other than that, as always, if you liked this video, hit the like button. If you like your minds, we'll share it and if you're not subscribed, you know what to do. Hit that subscribe.


So, welcome to another episode of the A Jump Up Gast And welcome back Mr Baker Thank you for inviting us into your home Oh yes, this is my home We don't know where we can get them on these days We say that because we are in the Baker's arms Usually in the Baker's arms Can't move the mountain to Mojave Mojave to the mountain Mojave and the mountain, neither of them were in fucking Swindler One of my legs Probably somewhere It has been a while, guys We're checking on the way here But I think we haven't heard from you on this since Christmas time Yeah, so this is my first 2019 pub class Hopefully it won't be the last Happy New Year Happy Easter We've done that Happy Birthday on Birthday Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday to you Don't look a day under 48 I've been training this morning I've been growing a bit of beard, haven't I? I can't remember the last time I saw you King Shaving Yeah, when I see some of your publicity photos on mine I get King Shaving, I think Who is this man? I think I've changed most of them now to be it Be it focused And now I'm going to save the toilet I've got a little surprise for you on that front Oh dear That sounds better than it is You've got a beard, it's not much of a surprise It's a tiny wispy little beard A tiny wispy little one Daddy Beards, Mummy Beards Baby Beards Visual reference there for the people listening on the pub class You want to do that later? Yes What was I going to say? Start the music Party starts Walking on sunshine Sounds like it Sounds like the jukebox on What was I going to say? What was I going to say? What was I going to say? What were we drinking? Baker's Arms and Swindon What? Tell me something interesting about Baker's Arms and Swindon It's in Beechcroft Row It's in Swindon We literally picked this because it is the Baker's Arms It's got two dance boards It's got quite a foodie It's an arkles park It's Swindon based brewery I think so We don't really know anything interesting about it We just thought seeing as we were having you on and there was a Baker's Arms and Swindon We should There isn't a Baker's Arms in Swindon There's two Baker's Arms in Swindon What happened earlier on Jeff? I put in Because I'm driving today So I'm only allowed half a drink And I put into my car Take me to the Baker's Arms And it took me to the Baker's Arms But not the right Baker's Arms The closed Baker's Arms The open Baker's Arms You've done the God Arms before, haven't you? Yeah, I was in Swindon So is that like a Watt's Arms? It should be I've tried to find one To point to us to a Watt's related pub Somewhere in the UK Maybe I'm drinking Hurricane Appointed Hurricane It's very cold Really cold My drink is very cold as well My side is super cold When something is cold The taste isn't that strong Right If you put something in the fridge it doesn't taste Yeah Is that why people do that for a Watt's Arms? Because it tastes horrible Sorry Watt's Arms This is something nutty But that's all I'm getting really Lots of nuts It's quite nice Being just in a way that tastes in a different way It's warmer And you guys are drinking from a really exotic It's something very unusual to find In pubs these days It's kind of strong though Classy strong though Let me just have a quick taste I'm strong whereas it's my favourite side It's more the dry side It's dry I'm not too bad It's cold Which is the main thing Your husband has to taste it I'm fine with that Jeff offered me the strong way With dark fruit I don't want to drink that Because I'm not 12 I've never seen our last pub go What was I going to say? Do we have the same cheers To anyone today? So we've got Jamie Collins Jamie And Andy Jamie and Andy So Jamie and Andy cheers Thank you for subscribing So what percentage do I get of that lad? The jigs at the bottom Did you have a nice bonus? We're going to give it a little bit more Desperate modules on Christmas Hi There's a need to be a free Cool What's new? What's new? Well I've been to Austin Global Squung Gathering in Austin We mentioned that last time We toasted you last time I do listen to your podcast When I'm not on it To everyone I'm on I do like the slightly sarcastic put-downs That happened Thank you for that B.S. I went to the Global Squung Gathering in Austin I've got a little report for you if you're interested So by the way People on the camera will see this I've actually written this down Last time I did a report on the Gathering I forgot everything So when Jeff asked me questions Things happened So I made a few notes for myself Guys did you notice my few notes? I've only got a 35 minute profit So I'll just buckle in Buckle in So first things first We have the trainer This is where the high level certification Come together It's actually the day before the Gathering Yes on the Sunday And the one we had in Austin For the CSTs Team coaches Was actually not joking The best retreat I've ever been to I'll tell you why Because it was because of Howard and Melissa Howard's sublet Is the chief product owner I think I did For Nigel That's not going to go off He's the chief product owner of the Squung Gathering Which is the new replacement for the CEO world Oh so it is a replacement for the CEO Yeah the CEO MD's gone Now there's a product owner and Squung Master That goes into Squung Melissa Boggs I believe is the chief Squung Master And they did a A duet so to speak A double act presentation on Where they see the Squung Master going And it was just brilliant It was led by the heart It was with the work agile values and principles Which is really good because in the past We had leadership that has not been aligned With the values and principles of the world Of transforming the world of work But even better actually getting stuff done So not just talking the talk But walking the walk Actually practically getting stuff done Not just telling people what they want to hear And that really aligned the room That sense of purpose There's a load of sessions during the day On a variety of Squung Alliance things Not necessarily by them but by Squung Alliance staff On a variety of their particular topics But they top the day Just a little 10-50 minutes We're transforming the world of work We're an alliance, we're a non-profit We're in this for the people and not in this for the cash Which is That's something I've heard Howard say Time and time again at various presentations It's about impact not revenue Yeah and that's really key That aligned a lot of people But also understanding how practically to do that It's all about a good walk Talking the talk How do we help us as a community Drive that forward And help genuine change happen Things like some of the certification programs That are coming up Improving that They're making the Squung Alliance A real agile organisation Possibly the only real agile organisation on earth So that self-organising teams Are empowered Doing the work So clearing out a lot of the historical hierarchy In the alliance or in any organisation And actually getting it To a place where we're having Real empowered self-organising teams Lead on this Leading the way with people like Howard and Melissa Support them and do that What kind of teams are they? Teams like events but teams also like certification Teams like What's their own Things like audience outreach Membership teams like that But being grouped around needs Not to say grouped around skill sets So and the vast majority Of the alliance staff are completely aligned with that So the Squung Alliance has flattened This hierarchy hugely It's got real flat structure now Really pushing away forward What's interesting is they've been looking for case studies To help them move forward Looks like they're going to have to be the case study No one else is doing it like this Agile with their organisations So it's really good to see an organisation Doing what it talks about Rather than Talking but not walking So that was really interesting for me The other interesting thing for me was I did a couple of... We had an open space on the street We had an open space So there's a lot of things on a variety of subjects like this A couple that I was interested in I put one in, one Cal Certified Agile Leadership The name of it Let's talk about Cal, baby Let's talk about you and me Let's talk about all the good things All the bad things, that maybe Yes, so two people will laugh But they were the right two people Which is the correct thing That's what I was thinking about The other one I was thinking about Colour Me Bad That's I should have done that joke So a couple of people got the joke I wanted to talk about Cal Certified Agile Leadership Not about the mechanics of it Or getting that from learning objectives But actually hear people's story behind it Why are they doing it What's the narrative behind Cal Because I've been struggling to understand that a little bit What's the aim of this Why are they in this, why are we doing this So I wanted to hear other people's stories I made a few notes for myself on that What was interesting for me was We did get into the weeds quite quickly Of mechanics So a lot of people, when I said Tell me your story behind your Cal A lot of people went straight to the Mechanics Leadership, bill joiners work Spiral Dynamics Which is all like the what Aren't know the why And that got quite interesting Talking about why people are offering this So there's a few traders there Who come from a leadership background Which was quite interesting Some traders there were On a middle management journey Trying to help people Help middle managers become more practical With Agile And some people were trying to look on the journey Where are we actually going so far How do I take someone who's a middle manager And raise them to the next level To be a future potential leader That's quite interesting about that The two different tones Because that's what I was struggling a little bit with And one company were talking about how They do two versions around course One version for C level management For leaders And one version for the middle managers to aspire to If you're flattening the hierarchy Why should there be a difference I think the idea is you're trying to raise Future leaders Is Cal for future leaders A lot of graduate programs But not for graduates People graduating onto real leadership Hopefully with a flattened hierarchy There'll be less middle management positions So did you decide your own narrative Yeah, I feel when I was just talking about the room Because I'm looking to build my own Certified Agile leadership I've done a lot of work on that But I had a lot of the bits But without the overall narrative And I think I found the narrative for me Because for me the narrative is about Agile leadership And not just about leadership So I'm not really interested in doing a leadership course There's millions out there, they're quite good We mentioned about how do we bring Agile to leadership And trust me, that totally And so that could be aspiring leaders Or current leaders bringing Agile to the experience So that's what I like about that So I got a lot of value about it actually So how many people, just broadly would you say Were in that retreat, how many attendees 200 Yeah, 200 people I'd say So that's a fair number There was about 25 in Cal Maybe about 20 In the Cal one So I found that quite interesting My big way was when I was bringing together The package, it was just going to be Certified Scrum Master for leaders In a basically high level Hey, here's Scrum, I didn't want to do that There's no point in doing that But finding that extra journey in an agile aspect That would be quite useful for me Harry, there was some other stuff in there About just as an alliance How do trainers work together with alliance How do coaches and trainers interact It's quite interesting in America It's quite different than over here In America a lot of the certified trainers like ourselves Tend to be solely training And solely doing public training So running public courses In cities around America And of course this causes some strife They overbook each other People turn up in the same town the same day It causes some tension I think in Europe we don't seem to have a lot less of that I don't know about you, but I do a lot less public training And vital training And mostly in-house There was a lot of conversation on how they not like To be in trouble for each other But more interesting for me was just how do we Better communicate with each other as well So that was quite interesting In terms of trainers, how do we engage We're competitors, can be true But we also need to be agile And we're a collaborative as well We can't just treat each other as adversaries There's many things just about how to communicate Better in line to each other So you know we have a trainer message board Where sometimes the conversation can get Colourful Some people have checked out that message board Because of its colourful nature And so people are talking about how to Better communicate Online to each other In a way that is constructive It's a little challenging but constructive I thought it was quite interesting as well There was some experiments So I don't want to give too much into them here But things like forward models Where you can have group moderators We always talk about self-organising teams Needing facilitators That type of thing It's getting quite big For that community team There's quite a lot of knowledge And so having some sort of facilitation And that can be quite interesting So what I liked about that was It was the group self-organising Answers to its own complex problems Which the joke is You would expect us as agile people to do that But the amount of agile coaches I meet You don't know We're like herding cats Yeah, kind of What else is going on now Hi there There's also an interesting conference They had a CSP Certified Scrum professional The idea being a little space for Some of the more mid-level certifications So they can have some one-to-one chat If they want to mix privately A little bit of a club lounge I wasn't too sure of the idea Was it a bit exclusive? That was my work A bit exclusive But turns out Because the Scrum Alliance is not that disciplined Everyone came to the room anyway There was no bounce on the door So everyone just came in and had a chat And the people who wanted to come and have a chat did And it was quite nice having a little Off-top space I think it was labelled as the CSP lounge But we had a lounge area In London The venue didn't lend itself very well to it But with the idea of a breakout space It was more quiet in the coffee So the idea was good for one-to-one chats So a few of us went in there Had some chats for conversations Almost like an informal coaches clinic You know these gatherings, they always have the official Coaches clinic where people go and get help It was kind of an adjunct to that So we all sit down and have a chat And have a conversation So a few of us did that It was quite nice for an actual room So conference proper started Monday morning Dan Pink It's a big It's a big draw Isn't it? Surely in terms of numbers Yeah Huge draw, huge money But I think huge value Was he worth it? He brought in more people than the cost I know that So that's already paid for himself Like a top line I always think about wrestling In professional wrestling You have a card of wrestlers To put their bum on the seat every 18 inches Now some wrestlers are what they call Headlines, they bring loads of people in They may not be the greatest wrestling on earth But they bring loads of people in A good show, a box office Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan That's what Pink was He did a good stuff His content was good, really good He was really engaging, really interesting There were some sessions in the actual On the card of the gathering That were probably better He did the content These are like the wrestlers who wrestle for 30 minutes And know their stuff, but they're not headliners So Pink gets you in the door But these guys on the card Give the full content But he really added value, he wasn't just a headliner Do we think, just for the benefit Do we need to remind Or establish who Dan Pink is I'll be made an assumption then Dan Pink wrote the book Drive Which is the famous Tom Lee Marthory purpose book In New York Best Seller He's basically a great author Who takes a lot of sociology Anthropology, economics, literature And turns it into an easily digestible form For the main story He's writing for Al Gore There we go, thank you So he basically, his stuff was on about Timings, so beginnings, middles and ends Right He had the greatest bit of noise ever Which is, if ever you have a doctor's appointment Or a hospital appointment, go in the morning Because there's a range of research Showing doctors makes like Four times the mistakes in the afternoon Or four times the errors in your dentistry In the afternoon to the morning So if you take one thing in this presentation Do your doctor's appointment, your dentist And everything in the morning Is that anything to do with Dr. Cezanne Petit It's timey, it's a variety of things And so he did a lot I don't want to get too much into his detail He did a book on it, I think called When or something Yeah, fairly new It was a little bit, not too hard But the idea was The beginnings, middles and ends were quite interesting I understand that people waver at the midpoint In decisions and projects And work, how people need Endings that elevate, endings that excite Endings that close, not endings that bring them down So this is all really Really interesting stuff He also had like midpoints In all projects, basically people waste half the time Pervaricating, get to pretty much the half Where you might, it could be a two-hour project A two-year project, get to halfway The science is going again, that's when they go We need to do something about this and get going And so what was really interesting was how he lined up He was actually quite enthusiastic about Scrum To a certain extent You guys don't have this problem with how you work But many other people do He called episodes So the term I use a lot Episodes of work If you have a shorter episode You get to that wobbly midpoint In one year Two weeks split, it's one weekend That was quite interesting as well Did he do his homework on Scrum or not? He did a little bit He kind of knew what it was He mentioned things like sprints and stuff He got one week wrong too He knows about it He knows about it, he can weapons it a bit Because a lot of points he was making That you may not suffer from this actually Because X, we have closure at the end of every time box So you do that, you want endings that elevate Endings that give experiences Where I feel like you're getting somewhere Which we do all the time What are the consequences of the wobbly midpoint? Well there's three causes He said if you're miles behind And you hit the wobbly midpoint You give up If you're just in front It doesn't help If you're just behind And you hit the wobbly midpoint You like to finish better than earlier And the people are slightly in front of you Oh we got a high try So rather than Miles behind you give up He talked something about chocolate His pleasure elevates He did a bit of an instant experimentation I can't describe it now About eating chocolates If you know you're going to have five chocolates And you have the fifth one Elevation to the fifth one Oh this is my chocolate If you don't know how many chocolates you're going to have And you just stop it how the terrible You don't get the final pleasure on the bottom My daughter was eating Fish fingers and chips I know sausages are some of that There's something on her plate And she had a number of them Three on the plate I said why am I going to eat that I said why that's the best one Even though they looked completely identical There was something The last roller Dessert at the end of a meal Enough to give them your last roller That ending is an elevate thing It's actually going to make me change my course Because certified scrum master when I won it I prioritise it Highest priority first I get one leg But it doesn't elevate Who really wants to finish on the burn down challenge So I was doing that to risk reduce the cost But nothing in terms of an episode of a course Experience Maybe on an end or something that elevates Maybe some exercise or something that brings people up at the end So it's making me think that a little bit as well That was quite useful Quite like that Then what do I do So I made my notes for myself here Bo, do you put them between 59 minutes and 12 months? I'm doing a product at the end Do you do it at the end of the start of the meal I'll see them doing something like that at the end Simulation at the end So I try and finish my CSN courses On the second The final part of the exercise Where they build their product I suppose you do something similar in your leg So The thing that we finish the courses Is basically the demonstration And because they've had a previous sprint Which has never gone very well They finish on a better sprint So you're finishing with a positive experience Of completing Something which is sufficient quality That is working So trying to end A bit of a positive People leave the primary recency The effect is that people remember the first thing That they get Delivered in their time Because I was thinking about that as a coaching A lot of coaches take off, don't they? They go and they've got their 6 month gig Work, work, work, work Then at the end of the tip is the way the end dies And the contract is done I think it should be nice as a coach To have an ending that elevates So we know your ending is coming soon You try and build your crescendo at the end Of the experience I then went into Brent Bartons He did it on Entropy basically And worked down the top layer somewhere Suddenly on the lines of entropy In agile transformation So the idea that agile transformation Entropy is the rate of change You've got the degree in that haven't you I should know that Entropy is like the decaying down to a steady state Something like that So I went to that Brent was my mentor To my CSTM He was the one So after you handed me off to him He looked after me all the way through Which I remember correctly was two emails And one was after Four pops of him saying You're going to help my client Sorry but that's not true Brent But he did a really interesting one About how your agile implementation Will not survive this next reorganization So people give these agile transformations Or whatever And he says most of them are fourth or third Agile transformation They're taking two or three shots at it And every time they get going But nicely as a reorganization It collapses like a house of cards He was talking about trying to do something there And I thought it was interesting For me what I took from that session Was about changing organizations Not changed organizations There is no agile end states We're trying to go to organizations that change Like a lot of people's agile transformations Which is quite the one word anyway Transmations are trying to think of an end state Like a robot changing When in fact it needs to be a constantly manageable environment That's why I took it from this session That was cool His advice was Own it Prioritize and fund it and make it last I guess it's obvious advice really But it's really important The organization to own it So it's not an outsider word It's not going to grow is it And then make it last Try and build it into the organizational structure Oh he said another interesting one Which I quite like It wasn't really part of his presentation It was just a sidebar Which is just Is a dirty word It's just a small chain It's just a small chain It's just a small chain It couldn't be just Minimize someone's contribution The other session I did was a Judy Neha CST She did a session on Abuser stories Which I thought was quite fun Yeah use abuser stories though Negative percent As a thief I want to crash your system As a hacker I want to steal your data Which I thought was quite fun I do something similar I've never called it abuser stories though So quite like the title Refutation Is that the word? Refute something Refute Whatever that word is Refute to eat criteria So the idea of the front of the story As a hacker I want to As data when I get all your sales Then the acceptance criteria How do I stop this happening So the acceptance criteria I need to do this and this To make sure the front of the card cannot happen Of course she said she can't say cannot Impossible is impossible But make it as hard as possible to happen That was quite a nice way of making the acceptance criteria So I've done that negative percent Of the word Is that one? No Judy She's on attack Monday mingle Always good Monday mingle Always good For those of you who have never been to a gathering before Monday mingle is just a big piss up Some people don't drink But it is a big party Social gathering Social gathering of everyone So this year was fun It was in a Now for the Americans who listened to this Which I'm sure are many Dozens of Americans It was somewhere called Austin City Limits Which I've been told Some American TV shows to appear on Top of the Pops Some sort of country Used to be filmed there This is where Blah blah blah Something like that It was just a big auditorium There's some country band playing Quite good as well Barbecue food was quite nice And in the end some did karaoke Which wasn't so nice Which songs did you ruin? I enjoyed the silence People were wishing they had some silence They were very much Dave Fire Dave Fire Wanted to sing Wonderwall But he wanted some company I'll go I'll help him out I'll go and play with him And then he ran away Halfway through the evening So I ended up having to sing Wonderwall Which was not great It's just not great No What I would say What I would say Is what I make up for in Tarran What I lack in Tarran I made it up for in gusto And I started booking my voice to Eater When we So that's that really How does it go? I don't even try I don't even see it I'll do the guitar You don't buy it? No So that's day one Done You can edit this I think we'll need to 31 minutes in Day two was open space all day It went very well this year I felt A lot of people didn't know how open space works Like always They did the whole day dedicated They had a thin stream of conference sessions Running in the background Mostly Not like big speakers Not like you I spoke in the open space So On open space About 30 people took part Still 500 odd people It was a long To get the market It took a while Took a long time I did a couple I had a couple of people come up to me When I was talking And I kept saying I'm not talking Having this one off But then My ego got the better of me So I thought I'll put something in the open space We'll have a group discussion Was that your calving? No, it was about identifying agile coaches So I did all those videos I thought I'd just I'm in that volume It's called jump scares I'll keep you interested But what I would say I thought I'd just do something on that But it was very off the cuff So I didn't know any of the content It's like all these things I planned it to be a workshop We'll do a workshop together What do you think I can Mind your presentation time I felt slightly bad You sit there Let me talk Just wind him up and let him go It's free content So we had a chat about that There's a lot of actual genuine coaches in there A scrum master of Spidey B coaches Just trying to watch out for some common flaws Some people had very similar patterns they mentioned So it was quite interesting People brought up some ideas I said let's put it on the board And then as I kept talking They were like oh that's actually the idea So I lined back up with a different name Which I thought was quite interesting Can you give me an example of my little mind So things like pairing Clubs Meetup groups Things like that A scrum master community So there was one they called Intervention And I was like I don't know that one That's put up on the board And I have one later which is like Coach or Mentor Basically like a psychiatrist couch They said oh it's that So it's that shape So they had found the same pattern Just giving a different language I may even Turn that into a competition presentation At some point maybe So it seemed to work quite well So it was quite good, I made a good chat There was some other ones going I went to a few other ones I went to a few other ones about Other things that were going on in the conference Other open spaces But the people who did the open space seemed to get a lot of value from it I think they didn't A lot of people didn't quite know what it was And the windup was a bit slow And the stage on the conference About a third to two thirds wondered off Somewhere like There was no overriding visual theme For the open space I believe there was When you've got that many people It's hard to Anyway it's like there was about A third of the sessions were about Hey I didn't get a conference presentation Here's my conference presentation But they were quite good some of those About a third was My ideas on X About a third was Help me, help me, help me with Y I need some help with Y That was quite interesting as always But the people who did them got a little value out of all of them Did you go to the last keynote? No I couldn't make that The hashtag guy I got his name in Christmas scene or something I just couldn't make that There was one flight a day But I did see the scrimmage Asked some of us to mentor The sessions They're doing their first session over the conference They wanted someone who's spoken before To be obeyed with any help I helped As much as Brent helped me To e-mails She was great, I went to see her session It was good, good session Scrumming her life Using the scrum to emigrate Using the scrum to get married Quite interesting as well Iterating, I thought it was the best one Emigrating, tried to emigrate Failed and did it at the third time I had to iterate the experience Half an hour session, but fun Nice saw made to cleanse the palette At the end of the conference So in terms of trying to summarise If you were to score it Out of 10 The gathering itself A British 8 Some issues I had were room allocations Some rooms filled really quickly Room full Didn't used to They got the room size as long as some people think Some of those people Pink instant full I might get them quite early Because of the fire code There was loads of them One last thing Before you can take over We didn't know what to do Dammit, I didn't make a choice I didn't forget anything about this The final thing was lots of US government stuff Which meant nothing to me Lots of them were like You can do agile with a contract And the US government has no relevance to me In terms of all the UK government So much easier than the US There's some weird and wonderful rules over there Weird and wonderful behaviours There's going to be a huge interest in that And a huge amount of content on that Neither which I cared Anything about Could you still have a rich conference while avoiding that? Yeah, definitely And dancing around that The only one was just Open space as always doesn't get full Full attendance It only gets about a third of the people And what did the rest of the people do? Wander off, have some self-care time Chat in the corridors Do a few sessions and go do the emails If you miss out on a whole day Which is open space and you've paid a lot of money That was largely why We took a lot of stick dropping it In London last year We felt that it was the third We wanted to offer some kind of different price tickets So people could choose Opt in to the open space or not But Yeah, it's It's difficult because the people who did it Got a load out of it Their best bit of their conference But about a third, two thirds didn't do it And when you've got a third of the 1,500 people in That's a lot of people Is it more than London? It's always much bigger than London So that's Michael So how much do you As a product manager of that gathering product Aim certain slices of certain groups And how much do you know I think it'd be fine to do that if there's something there So going forward then Is there a self-organising team For the gatherers? Yes, there is in terms of squalor lines And there is in terms of volunteers You rolled off in your after London There's something similar in North America So a few people have rolled off after this one For New York, which I believe is next year So it should be quite good for New York I think we're trying to make an effort to make it work Maybe if our hostess was nice It was nice to go New York would be really cool Yeah, so they've rolled in So there we go Massively over a long session Use some of it for your bonus video But I want to make sure I missed nothing So people have got a full appreciation of how good the gathering was Because it was what they did Yeah, so I imagine that This a little bit But we'll put the full version up on the Patreon website If anybody wants to watch Because there will be video as well Watch the full and in You can see him reading a script And you can see how we How we stay engaged While he's talking So listen right to the end of this pubcast For details on how to do that But other than that Well my pint glass is empty Jeff's pint glass is empty So his is still full So we'll say cheers on this point Cheers mate Ta-da