LaidOffCamp

I attended my first LaidOffCamp here in Fort Collins this morning. I participated both to learn how a LaidOffCamp functions, and to get my brain around how a concept such as an Unconference can actually accomplish anything.

I could tell pretty fast that an "Unconference" concept was a paradigm shift for many in the room (including me)—you mean we don’t just sit here and be lectured to? You, you up front, you mean you don’t instruct me on my next step in life, job, home, etc., expecting me to treat you like a guru. I suppose many (most) of the attendees were over 45, and we’ve spent our lives being lectured to. LaidOffCamp doesn’t lecture.

This is how LaidOffCamp works:

LaidOffCamp is considered an Unconference. It’s about the participants, about the community. If you decide to attend, you become a participant, not an attendee. You come prepared to share what you know, to list what you want to know, to facilitate what others want to learn.

1. The first half-hour is spent learning what an Unconference is.
2. Participants walk up to the white boards and write down what they want to learn and/or what they can offer as a session.
3. Lead participants take 15 minutes to organize the sessions based on what the participants want to learn, name a facilitator for each session, and time the sessions.
4. Sessions take place--usually 30 minutes each--either in the session room(s), or a discussion between 2 participants can take place in the hallway.

Participating is as simple as asking a question, taking notes and sharing them, or sharing a specialty. Everyone in that room this morning had something to share—an expertise, a specialty, an experience, a career-changing tidbit. The responsibility for sharing this or learning from another participant is up to each person. For example, I suggested a session on researching new opportunities. My session was about career and job change, and business start-up resources available at the local library.

During the morning, I ran into two women (separately) who both happened to have worked in theater. I wanted to get them together, talk local theater—both had experience in costuming and theater design (what's the chance of that in such a gathering?). There's a void in Northern Colorado for a costume/theater prop rental business. Unfortunately, the atmosphere was not conducive to this sort of networking, or in the end, was it conducive to sharing such experiences. For the next LaidOffCamp, I'll suggest (write down) a session where everyone just talks about what they’ve done as jobs and what they’ve done as a passion, then facilitate connections for freelance business opportunities.

LaidOffCamp started in San Francisco when 400 “creatively employed” or unemployed people came together for an open Unconference to share their experience, expertise, and stories, with the goal of helping each other through the tough times. Kevin Beucher and Nick Armstrong, two local entrepreneurs, brought LaidOffCamp to Fort Collins a year ago. The sessions take place in the Larimer County building and are sponsored by the Larimer County Workforce Center, and various local businesses.

If you want (need) to connect with creative, friendly and helpful people; if you’re seeking employment or are recently laid off; if you’re looking for creative ways to supplement your income or change your career; if you’re running your own business, a freelancer, solo entrepreneur or startup company, LaidOffCamp will be a welcome respite for you.

I’ll be oarticipating in as many LaidOffCamps I can in the next year. I found the experience/concept interesting, new, different--refreshing, a breath of fresh air. In fact, it will be very difficult to sit through my five regular-style conferences this year—two writers conferences, two Irish Studies conferences and one Library conference. Lots of daydreaming and brain-writing ahead.

Baby Boomers as Entrepreneurs

I’m a bit late in posting this blog, like the entire winter—but trips to Glasgow, Scotland; an 8-week Irish Studies course; lots of SBDC and Tech Incubator research kept me busier than expected. But I have been pulling articles, watching for interesting trends, waiting for the next top story.

I ran across a Kauffman Foundation report on entrepreneurial activity that seems to turn entrepreneurial myths upside down. The belief is (and this is certainly not a myth) that as we recover from this recession, the best determinant of our growth rate is in our level of entrepreneurial activity. The myth is that as we become an aging country, with the baby boom generation moving into retirement, we will become a sluggish society, not an entrepreneurial one. Or will we?

Kauffman Foundation research shows that the country might be heading toward an entrepreneurial boom, and not in spite of the aging population but because of it. Over the past decade, the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity belongs to the 55-64 age group; the 20-34 age group has the lowest. Here are the findings:

· In every single year from 1996-2007, Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 had a higher rate of entrepreneurial activity than those aged 20-34.
· For the entire period, the 55-64 age group averaged a rate of entrepreneurial activity roughly one-third larger than their youngest counterparts.
· These trends seem likely to persist; in the Kauffman Firm Survey, a longitudinal survey of nearly 5,000 companies that began in 2004, two-thirds of firm founders are between the ages of 35 and 54.
· Additionally, Kauffman research has revealed that the average age of the founders of technology companies in the U.S. is a surprisingly high 39—with twice as many over age 50 as under age 25.

Of course, there could be an increase in entrepreneurial activity among those under 30 during these times of deep employment cuts by large firms, but as the study notes, “a steady increase in life expectancy also means that Americans are not only living longer but also living healthier longer, suggesting that those entrepreneurial 60-year-olds could be 2020’s entrepreneurial 70-year-olds.” (Source: Dane Stangler, “The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom,” Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, June 2009 www.kauffmanfoundation.org )

But that’s not all I’ve run across about the Baby Boomer population. In a July-August 2009 article in Harvard Business Review, the authors note that two large surveys of college graduates reveal remarkable similarities in workplace preferences between Baby Boomers and Generation Y – the oldest and the youngest groups in our emerging workplace. Both Boomers and Gen Y’s want to contribute to society through their labor; seek flexible working arrangements; value social connections at work and loyalty to a company; put stock in mentoring and generation-jumping, prize other rewards of employment over monetary compensation; and are drawn to opportunities that allow time out to explore passions, hobbies and good works. For the Gen Y’s, the order of compensation is, high quality colleagues; flexible work schedules; prospects for advancement; recognition from one’s company or boss; a steady rate of advancement and promotion; access to new experiences and challenges. The order of compensation for Boomers is, high quality colleagues; an intellectually stimulating workplace; autonomy regarding work tasks; flexible work arrangements; access to new experiences and challenges; giving back to the world through work; and recognition from one’s company or boss. (Source: Hewlett, Sylvia Ann, Laura Sherbin, Karen Sumberg, “How Gen Y & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda,” in Harvard Business Review July-August 2009, p. 71-76 www.hbr.org.)

Hmmmm…interesting.

By the way...did you know that Richard Cantillon (1680–1734), an Irishman with a Spanish name, is considered the first great economic theorist? Cantillon developed a two-sector general equilibrium system from which he obtained a theory of price (determined by costs of production) and a theory of output (determined by factor inputs and technology). This…the result of my Irish Studies courses out of NUI Galway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cantillon