Day 1 - highlights from 2 sessions

I always gravitate towards panels and sessions related to technology. I am particularly interested in how to use technology tools to improve communication and collaboration.

The first session I went to was "Digital Video Conferencing with Bahrain and Oman". Highlights from this session were:

1. Mono and polychronic relationships with time exist on a spectrum.
2. Polychronic time relationships can mean more flexibility with time and timing.
3. The importance of NUANCE, where concepts that students learn in classes are not set in stone and the experience of actually interacting with students from other cultures in other countries can add layers of understanding to theories of communication.
4. Working VIRTUALLY can add more complexity in terms of identity and expression. The example that I thought it was particularly interesting was about how in some groups there may be one person who dominates, but that the less dominating personality types may then use social media tools to communicate later.

After the lovely lunch with an energetic talk by the brave Lara Logan, I went to a session on HR 2.0.

Shawn Volick let the natural light from all the windows in the 3^rd floor SIS room inspire the world cafe style session. He created tables for 4 with colored paper, markers, tulips and buttery butterfly cookies. He gave a succinct presentation outlining generational differences in terms of relationships with technology, as well as workplace expectations. His focus was on how to effectively work with “millenial” or “Gen Y” 1980-2000 colleagues. We then had 4 questions and rotated between tables for each question. There were multiple generations represented and we got to discuss how to navigate and communicate between the generations in the workplace. Some of the issues I discussed in my four groups were:

1. How to leverage social media tools in positive ways
2. How to effectively innovate while also honoring useful existing tools
3. Finding ways to motivate millenials (ie modifying training and having more immediate and tangible reasons for the training).

I was interested to hear from some Peace Corps workers about challenges they face in communicating with the large youth population in the field, where they would like to provide more feedback and support, but are limited in what they can provide. The layers of the discussion in this session included generational culture, as well as how to then leverage differences to strengthen an organization.