In recent weeks I’ve been marinating on how to navigate LAA’s return to in-person gathering. Then, I popped my earpods in my ears and set out for a power-walk accompanied by Brené Brown’s recent Dare to Lead podcast episode featuring Priya Parker, author of The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters.

Eureka!

“Gathering again, including returning to work is going to be complicated and possibly uncomfortable. Naming the elephant in the room is the most powerful tool we have. We need to make the implicit explicit. Even if the elephant is just awkwardness, naming what’s happening and making it explicit allows everybody to take a breath.” - Priya Parker

So, can we name the elephant and take a breath together?

While we’ve been toggling between virtual and in-person as we’ve been able for our program sessions, the New Leaders Celebration in April was the first in-person event for general membership and the community at large since the start of the COVID crisis. It was as perfect a day as one could imagine. Perfect location, stunning weather, top notch roster of New Leaders and LAA alumni; and yet, positioned early in our reopening and surrounded by evolving health recommendations, it was laden with mixed emotions.

In many ways we can’t wait to gather together again (so many expressed pure joy at being together again in-person), and in many ways we’re scared to death (masks on? even outside? what do we even wear for in-person now?  juggling coffee and a mask...). There is a whole spectrum of comfort levels to accommodate.  Now that restrictions have eased even more, some boldly reach to shake hands in greeting (are we doing that again?); while others shift to offer an elbow. 

We weren’t out of sync for a week or two or even a month. We’re reckoning with more than a year of covid-fatigue. Before we rush back, there is an opportunity to pause and ask: What have we learned? How do we want to do this now?

As we chart the course of LAA’s return to gathering, we will be asking these questions and more. You are invited to join in the conversation as we endeavor to inspire, develop and connect our local leaders with meaningful and necessary gatherings.

The next such gathering is the Tribute to Community Leadership & Graduation, scheduled for Monday, June 21st from 5:30p - 8:00p at The Hall at Live! Casino and Hotel.

Why is this gathering necessary?  

The purpose of the Tribute event is to celebrate the newest graduating classes of community leaders. It’s about welcoming them into the broader LAA Community and Celebrating their Flagship and NLA experiences. The 2020 and 2021 Flagship and Neighborhood Leadership Academy classes leaned into their program experiences in spite of the obvious challenges the COVID-19 crisis presented. They powered through intense zoom sessions. They gathered outside when possible, masked, and sanitized. Sometimes they picked up materials and meals curbside prior to a session. Frankly, they deserve a great celebration. They’ve been there, done that with the virtual substitutes and with the full spectrum of eagerness and anxiety - they want to gather and own their unique experience. 

Tribute will celebrate the 2021 Flagship and NLA graduates and recognize the 2020 classes who graduated virtually last year. We will also recognize 2021 Excellence in Leadership and Distinguished Graduate, and Bertina Nick Scholarship Honorees.

The broader LAA community is cordially invited to join us to support and celebrate these resilient leaders. 

Not sure how you feel about attending an indoor in-person event?

That’s okay. Given graduates, honorees, LAA Board members and guests of honorees, we expect roughly 200 people in a space that can accommodate more than 800. In partnership with Live!, we will be taking every precaution to ensure a safe and uplifting in-person event. Even so, you may want to sit this one out, and that’s okay.  Or you may choose to attend, with mixed feelings. Either way, we hope you will join us in acknowledging the elephant in the living room. Post-covid in-person is awkward. But gathering in-person can provide an essential connection to wrap up a most uncommon program experience for our Flagship and NLA classes. 

And then...

Following Tribute, we will take the summer months to lean into questions about our future gatherings as we remain committed to providing relevant and meaningful in-person and virtual gatherings to inspire, develop and connect Anne Arundel County’s diverse community of leaders. 

If you are interested in exploring this terrain with us, send me a quick note and we’ll be sure to include you in the conversation.

#embracetheawkward

#meaningfulgathering

#returntogathering

#elephantinthelivingroom

#breathe