Kick-off meeting

Our group Kick Off meeting was held at the Hub in Berlin during the Summer of 2009. With representatives from each partner present, this was an unique opportunity to get to know each other better and truly move our ideas for cooperation forward. In a nutshell, we used our time together to brainstorm various ideas and then used the principles of facilitation to choose specific projects and then break them down into doable action plans. Our first day focused on breaking the ice and warming up to the task before us. It finished with a major brainstorming session during which all ideas were collected and noted. We then had time to reflect on all of these proposals before beginning to sift through them the next day.

The following day focused on using open space technology to define which ideas and topics were related to each other and how we could best transform them into viable projects, that different working groups would focus on. We then spent time in groups and held break out sessions that would move our ideas forward and put define the goals and milestones of the working groups. There was a lot of productive and sometimes heated discussion but we left Berlin feeling that we had not only a clear vision but a path that we want to follow.

Our closing session was facilitated by Anna who focused on collecting specific action points and led us to agree on our next steps. The hardest part was focusing an the administrative aspects. This didn't come naturally for everyone as most of us prefer to focus on the creative work but we all knew that setting up communication lines and documentation rules was critical to the success of the project.  So to sum up: we now know who is going to do what and with whom and it's all systems go for our project!