CCMA Is Magic

(Or Why I was 2 hours late to dinner)

I got the chicken fajitas. Eventually that is.

On day one of CCMA, the breakout sessions ended for the day at 5pm. After drafting and posting the daily conference recap, the Garlic and Roses crew walked over to the rotunda where a short reception was being held until 6pm. Cooperators gathered in the bright sunlight that entered through a ring of windows at the peak of the space and began to share in each other's company. This to me, is the real magic of CCMA.

Our minds were each working overdrive to process the things we had learned during the morning's keynote session and three rounds of breakouts. Ideas were flowing fast, and the din of conversation in the large space continued unabated. The circles of discussions expanded and contracted like blowfish as new participants came and left. What session did you go to? Does your co-op have a plan for ICE? What's your member discount percentage? Every point of inquiry invites an infinite number of new directions for the conversation to flow.

At 6pm, the bartenders behind rolling carts of soda and beer announced last call. The lines for beverages died down, but the chit-chat did not. As I began to discuss entrepreneurship with a co-op board chair, LeAnna asked about dinner plans. We agreed on a spot a 10-minute walk from the hotel down towards the water. I returned to conversation, having fulfilled my part in the decision-making obligation around nourishment.

LeAnna left and the rest of us continued in discussion. Entrepreneurship led to board development which led to how to support a GM. Staff members from FCI and Seven Roots joined the dialogue and gave input. There was no shortage of interesting perspectives on every topic.

According to detailed text message records from the night in question, LeAnna asked Jeremy and I where we were at 6:37. We responded that we hadn't even left the rotunda yet.

Shortly thereafter staff from CCMA, quite understandably, ushered us out of the space and back towards the hotel. Leaving the rotunda required walking out into a 40-yard open air walkway before entering the conference hotel. Earlier in the day, the walkway had featured sprinkles of Pacific NW rainfall, which felt like going to New Orleans and getting beignets. If we're here, we might as well experience what they're famous for.

Wish that I could say we followed LeAnna's directives to head towards the restaurant, but we barely made it 20-yards. Jeremy and I stopped in the middle of the sunny walkway and struck up a conversation with the team from Equal Exchange. We talked about co-op conferences, acquaintances we had in common, and the logistics of breaking down cardboard boxes. After about 25 minutes, another 'where are you?!?!' text prompted us to wrap up our jaw-session and move along.

We walked into the hotel, firmly intent on strolling out the exit door and on to meet our waiting dining companions. Fate had other plans. At the bottom of the grand staircase, we ran into Jon Steinman. Jon had finished the first day of his new Dialogue Studio sessions along with Laura King, and we couldn't help but inquire as to how they went. Various cooperators from the lobby joined our chat as we talked about executive leadership, travel, business expansion and cooperative journalism.

In an hour and forty minutes, we had made it about 80-yards from the inside of the rotunda to the hotel lobby. I stopped looking at my phone, knowing by that point I couldn't pull myself away from these conversations to worry about feeding myself. I was already nourishing my mind, my body would simply have to wait.

Finally as the group split up Jeremy and I concluded it was indeed time to join our party at dinner. We strolled into the restaurant a full two-hours after we had promised to meet. I got the chicken fajitas.