Bonfire: Launch Day + All Rise Training
Before the first training, you are asked to create a short video introducing yourself. The instructions are simple and straightforward; making a video of yourself in home lighting is a different story. Our introductory four hour session was on Zoom (as the rest of the fellowship is likely to be). Since the session was online, it took some of the pressure away. In-person events with more than 50 people can be.. disorienting.
Each session comes with pre-work (warm up), the actual session, and the cool down. There is a monthly newsletter called Embers. The platform which houses the materials is easy to use and intuitive (although I would benefit greatly from having dates associated with each segment). I like that there is pre-work: it brings home the fact that a lot you can get out of a program depends on what you put into it. There are also office hours at a later date with each speaker who speaks at the program, which I think is a neat way of facilitating more personalized interaction for busy people on both sides. We started with introductions of the founders, and quick hellos from the rest of the Bonfire team. This was followed by a quick chat with some of the alumna of the program (including from my organization), which I appreciated -- knowing about the experiences of other participants is important to me, especially given how new the program is.
I am also fortunate to have a close colleague participating in this program at the same time. Since we know each other from before, having some of the difficult conversations and expressing our reactions, from good to bad, is easier. A little after the session ended, we received emails introducing us to our small groups - this for me is proving to be a robust platform which allows for authentic discussion, if you want that. Our group is named Lucille from the show I Love Lucy, and we have seven members, and an alumna facilitator. We meet twice a month, and our conversations range from structured with materials from the sessions to open-ended chats. Leaving the setting of the balance between structure and free play to the small group is a wise choice, and I imagine an intentional one.
This wraps up day 1 of our training. The program is for one year, and I plan to gather the bits and pieces of my experiences and reactions here. Even if I never visit it again, the act of writing it down helps me process it in a way that conversations about an experience can't always. Till later!