There is magic among us......we just need to find it!

Have you ever wondered what you miss when you blink? On average, human beings blink approximately 15,000 times per day. Each blink lasts between 300 and 400 milliseconds (1000 milliseconds equals 1 second). I believe that in those mere milliseconds, those moments when our eyes are closed, we may miss out on magic!

During the 2012 GMIC Sustainable Meetings Conference, attendees were given the opportunity to participate in a new and innovative presentation format called Bl!nk™

What is 

Bl!nk™?

 An individual Bl!nk™ Presentation lasts for a minimum of 2 minutes and a maximum of 5 minutes. These are rapid-fire presentations meant to keep the audience engaged. High energy and fast moving!

The Bl!nk™ Presentations were “introduced so that we can get to know one another in different, meaningful ways and as a result, find connections that we didn’t know existed. These presentations are about what we miss, about discovering the magic among us”.

Created by Judy Kucharuk, Green Meeting Specialist & Sustainability Consultant with Footprint Management Systems Inc. and Elizabeth Henderson, Chief Sustainability Strategist with Meeting Change, Bl!nk™ was developed as a way to engage Association membership in an exciting new way.

Kucharuk believes that, “through the passage of time, Associations may become predictable with their conference content and the membership can disengage”. Bl!nk™ was developed to:

·   Engage new members

·   Curate content

·   Discover connections

Engage New Members: Bl!nk™ provides an opportunity for new members to introduce themselves in a unique manner which may assist them with building relationships within the Association or Organization.

Curate Content: A Bl!nk™ presentation can become a way to curate new content for future conferences and education. Through the introduction of Bl!nk™ presentations, conference organizers can see which content creates the most buzz, the most conversation, the most “retweets”, providing valuable data when moving forward with future conferences or planning educational opportunities.

Discover Connections: A famous saying is, “we don’t know, what we don’t know” and Bl!nk™ presentations can assist with discovering connections that we didn’t know were there. There is magic among us!

At the 2012 GMIC Sustainable Meetings Conference, the Bl!nk™ presentation format was introduced to the membership.

I would like to thank the following individuals who came forward with funny, engaging, inspirational and informative Bl!nk™ presentations. My deepest gratitude.

• Danielle Adams @DNACSR: “Sustainable You”
• Adrian Segar @ASegar: “Torn About Tech”
• Mariela McIlwraith @meetingchange: “Germaphobe”
• Greg Ruby @gregruby: “Things that make me go hmmmmm”
• Julie Baylor @JulieBaylor: “Sustainability comes in all shapes & sizes”
• Wendy Scott: “The Dirty Laundry of Sustainable Site Selection”
• Mitchell Beer @mitchellbeer: Standards – The Aha Moment
• Elizabeth Henderson @ehenderson: “Ode on a Bedbug”

Thank you!


Judy