There are two local festivals I enjoy the most of Vancouver’s myriad cultural offerings: Public Dream’s Illuminares and the Powell St. Festival.

After last night’s Illuminares I was reflecting on what exactly I find so satisfying about a simple lantern festival in a local park.

It is not the thing / topic itself – lanterns last night, Japanese culture in two weeks on Powell Street – but the fact that they are social in nature. They are put on for us – both events are organized and curated by wonderful organizations – but they are enhanced by us. For every Public Dreams lantern there were 100 planned, crafted, cobbled together by the local community who wanted to co-create the experience.

This is the secret – to make events, projects, opportunities truly social. In my work and research inside the social workplace, this same confluence of us and them is a dominant reason for the success of a project: some schema or project plan by dedicated resources or so-called experts; aided and abetted by the mad skills of those in one’s community, perhaps unidentified, certainly unexpected, giddily appreciated.

The Cluetrain Manifesto said: “All markets are conversations.” Events too. Projects too. Perhaps, success too. What public dreams might I unlock at work this week?

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