Mighty Summit

Events

Last year, after the Broad Summit, the organizers got on the phone to talk about whether we wanted to do it again. We all had a great time, but of course it was a lot of work. Even though the event was a success none of us were sure we wanted to re-up.

We got to talking about why, because it didn’t make much sense, until we realized there had been no real intention behind the Broad Summit. We mostly just wanted to see if we could do it. Personally, I wanted to check “organize a retreat” off my Mighty Life List, provide a fun weekend for girls who have given each other lots of support through the years, and find out whether we could plan something on that scale without losing our shirts in the process (first-year events tend to lose money). Once the event was over, the general feeling among the organizers was sort of, “Check. Did it.”

We realized that if we were going to do the Summit again, we needed a stronger reason. At the time, my new emphasis was on my Mighty Life List — building my site around it, making my living from living my dreams, helping other people start thinking the same way. So we decided to change the name to Mighty Summit, and use the event as a way to encourage attendees to dream bigger.

We wanted to make the concept of goals explicit in the event to make it more meaningful for everyone. Boy did it ever.

This year, we asked attendees to write life lists and made sure everyone had copies of all the lists before they arrived. On the first day, I said that I’d had an amazing outpouring of support from all of you when I first posted my list. Many of you asked how you could help, offered to let me stay with you while I traveled, or to loan me something I needed to make my dreams go.

That experience made me realize how often our grandest dreams are someone else’s day to day life. You want to write a book? I’m a publisher! You want to go on a cruise? I’m the publicity director for a cruise line! At the Summit, we asked everyone to talk to one another about their lists, and see where we could help each other. Everyone got started on the little stuff right away.

Danielle taught Laura to knit.

Helen Jane taught us how to saber open a champagne bottle with a knife. (Holy crap, that is easy, you guys. Margaret made a video, so go watch and try it with a $5 bottle of Cava. You will feel superhuman.)

And lots of us posed for Karen‘s 1,000 portraits project.

On the third day, after we’d had a chance to get to know one another, we did a group meditation on our life lists over lunch. We asked everyone to choose five things they thought they could accomplish in the next year, and choose one area where they needed help.

We asked for little things, like help learning to use our cameras.

And huge things, like help starting foundations.

We had a chance to be vulnerable with each other.

To offer our own talents, and to lift each other up.

We talked about how all boats rise together in the tide, and what we could do to make that tide a little stronger.

As for me, I went into this year wondering if I wanted to do the Mighty Summit at all, and came out of it planning for next year before we’d even hugged everyone goodbye.

I made some great new friends, and learned a little bit about how powerful it can be to ask for help. And now I think it’s time to ask for help from all of you.

I will always love the intimacy of the Summit, but for me the Life List concept is much bigger than 14-room hotel. For a long time, I’ve been wanting a place for all of us to share our lists and help each other cross things off, but I’ve been a little perfectionist about it (imagine!), and needing things “just so” is keeping me from doing anything at all. Here are the three things I’m committing to:

1. Starting a real community.

I want: A place on Facebook where we can all start talking about what’s going on with our lists. What’s on them, what we need help with, how we can find each other geographically and start planning meetups.

I need help with: Advice on the best way to do this. I’m kind of stumbly with Facebook to say the least.

2. Giving everyone a simple way to track their Life Lists.

I want: A Facebook app that would give us an easy way to write our lists, cross things off, and link out to the info we’ve posted online — just like I do with my own list. I have some really specific ideas of how I want it to look and what I want it to do.

I need help with: The contact info for a smart app developer who has done this kind of thing with Facebook before.

3. A space for everyone.

I want: Sometime in the next year or so, I’d like to have a campout/meetup/conference open to everyone where we do the same kinds of things we do at the Summit, but on a larger, more-inclusive scale. The downside will be no free massages, the upside will be that everyone will be there.

I need help with: Getting you there. You should come.

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146 thoughts on “Mighty Summit”

  3. I’m not much help with the first 2, but I’m ready to be there! I read about the Mighty Summit on A Practical Wedding and now on here, and it sounds like an amazing, inspiring, empowering, life-changing event. I may have to put attending onto my life list…
    Kudos on putting together such a fantastic summit. You are an inspiration, Maggie!

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  7. I love what this has done, and I found myself even more envious after reading all the accounts of the awesomeness. While I’m no Facebook wizard, I do use it professionally as part of my job, and I would love to help. As far as the getting me there, I’d definitely be interested! I’m not too far from you. Seriously, let me know if I can help.

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  8. you are Superwoman, I am convinced. unfortunately I’m not at all tech-savvy, but would absolutely love to attend #3. you name the time, place, and whether or not I need to bring my fishing pole.

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  11. You did not mention that we get to see Hank in action in that video! That kid is the anti-birth control right there. In human form.

    In other news, I have read your website for so long, and it’s been so inspiring to see you do your thing, and inspiring others (including me) to do ours. Just – thank you. I can’t wait to see how this turns out.

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  13. I’m all over facebook! You would just need to create a page for “Mighty Life Lists” and start inviting people to “Like” it. Once you like it, it shows up in your news feed with posts, and you can go to the page and see what everyone is doing. You would be an admin and I believe you can approve other people to admin as well if you needed help. And an app for the lists is such an amazing idea, but alas, I am not an app developer. I can’t wait to see what comes of this!

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  14. Maggie, you are such an inspiration! My Life List has totally, well… changed my life. I recently got together with someone I’d never met before to help her cross off one of her tasks, and it was such a great experience. I am ready to do it again! We pretty much talked the whole time about the positive impact our lists have had on our lives, and what a role model you’ve been to us both, even though we’ve never met you. I really hope #3 happens, because I would LOVE to be a part of it.

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  15. I’m so excited you are planning something more inclusive. I am all over the be there part.
    I love that you’ve created a community where like minded people have been able to come together and find one another.

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  17. I have to say, Boo!!! to the Facebook idea. Or at least, boo to that being the only place you’re going to spend energy pulling any of this together. I cannot be the only person in the world who is anti-Facebook (and all of that “social networking” sort of internet suchlike) and there is absolutely nothing in the world, no matter how spectacular, that could convince me to give in and have a Facebook account. Surely there must be other internet options for this kind of thing that don’t involve having to succumb to using Facebook (or things of that ilk). No?

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  18. my suggestion for the next year, everyone can come style meet-up? when you have it on the coasts, there’s a whole lot of us “in the middle” that have to spend lots and lots of money to get there. having it somewhere in the middle (even if that middle isn’t Omaha, like i’d love) might make it easier for more of us to not have to spend tons to get there.

    example? when i’ve looked into flying to the BlogHer conferences, unless they’re in Chicago i have to spend upwards of $600 to get a flight from Omaha to NYC or San Fran due to all the plane changes, etc.

    my 2 cents, before i say that this event will be a blasty-blast no matter what, and it’s my goal to be there!

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  19. i forgot to say – anyone that will want to learn to knit as part of their life lists? i’ll help them. in person at the next MS event, online via e-mail, in person here in Omaha. knitters rule!

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  20. I came home from last year’s Broad Summit feeling inspired; reading about this year’s Mighty Summit has me inspired all over again.

    Thanks, Maggie. So much.

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  22. Dana, where do you even get an ostrich egg?

    Amy, and Tori, I’ll send you guys notes.

    As for Facebook sucking, that’s why I’ve been avoiding it. But right now we’re doing things quick and dirty instead of obsessing about how much more perfect they could be. Because I could do that as an Olympic event if required.

    Kristen, I’d like it to do more than broadcast from the mount, I can already do that on the blog. Is it possible to organize it so that anyone can post, more like a message board?

    Katie Jane, I love it when people get together to help each other. I’d like to hear more when that happens. Send me a note and tell me what you guys did, it would be cool to tell everyone.

    Susan! Hi you.

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  23. An inspiring weekend, by the sounds of it! And I intend to master the art of sabering champagne in time for my best friend’s hen party next January.

    In the spirit of inclusivity, though, I’ve got to agree with the anti-Facebook commenter above. I’d rather see something like this set up on the open web. I do love the TeuxDeux app – perhaps worth chatting to Tina at SwissMiss about a community version? Or the 43 Things folks?

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  24. Well I can help getting people there, for one. Obviously getting *me* there is such a non-issue it’s not worth mentioning 😉 But earlier this week my ladies were talking about rolling up mini Mighty Summits into their regular book club meetups and helping each other with goals and support. What? I did not suggest this, for the record, that was all your inspiration boiling over.

    I kind of second the maybe-not-on-facebook idea. I’ve been running big groups for APW on Facebook, and it gets sort of tough. You have a really limited number of tools to use, and with too many people and too many ideas flowing, it gets really muddled and hard to find things. I’d push for an online forum, that you can tweak to your needs. Something like Ning, maybe. You could always have a Facebook page as well, or a Facebook page while you’re building something else. I just think another platform could be customized to be more functional. And if you need help with that, I’m there. I can’t program, but I’m a great project manager. Of course. 😉

    Plus, not to be all obvious, but you could monetize a private forum better… which means more money to make more dreams possible. Which is a very good thing.

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  25. No to Facebook! It’s just not private enough. I have participated in a ning community and it is great! You basically create your own social network.

    http://www.ning.com/

    In fast, talk to Andrea Scher (superhero designs) about how she uses it for her and Jen Lemon’s Mondo Beyondo classes/community. ( I think she was at the Summit?)

    I;d be happy to beta test things for you as well if you go that route.

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  28. Man, I wanted to go to NYC to meet up with you and get inspired, but I didn’t have the balls to pull the trigger on that one. I’ll be coming to this for sure!

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  29. You should check out what a beautiful job Mondo Beyondo did using Ning. it might be a much better option than Facebook, and there’s a ton of room for forums and keeping track of each other (I use Ning for NaBloPoMo, too).

    I’d definitely come to an open Summit. I like this new direction a lot.

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  30. I heard it’s impossible to get legacy info off of Ning if you ever want the community to live anywhere else. True? Also, maybe the same is true of Facebook?

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  32. Maggie-
    Talk to Ariel. She has the OBB Bride forum on Ning. I’m sure she’d be more than happy to give you the scoop. I’m pretty sure there is no way to get legacy stuff of Facebook. It’s, achem, not the best tool, achem.

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  33. While an all-inclusive Mighty Summit sounds great, I’d be a LOT more likely to attend some kind of Mini Mighty Summit. I’m imagining a whole bunch of little Mighty Summits all taking place on the same day in various cities across the country (or hey – around the world). I’d go to a Mini Mighty Summit: Philadelphia in a heartbeat.

    I’ve also tossed around the idea in my head of starting some kind of Mighty Group or Mighty Circle — a very local group of 6-8 people who can meet regularly throughout the year for encouragement, help, inspiration, etc with their life lists in hand. It would be a set, committed group, not a hey-whoever-wants-to-show-up kind of thing.

    And as much as I love and use Facebook, I’m squarely in the don’t-use-Facebook-please-use-Ning-or-something-better camp for idea #1. I know you’re wanting to do this quick and dirty, but I’d be more excited about a Mighty Forum that felt like a part of MightyGirl, not Facebook.

    And all this from someone who hasn’t even written her life list yet! Oops.

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  36. I have been working on my life list since stumbling on your blog. I can’t believe how HARD it has been to create. It got me really thinking about things in a deep way. (Occupational hazard….I’m a therapist). I am so inspired by others, but when it comes to my own life list, it just feels flat. I’d love any opportunity to work on that. I think about it a lot now!
    It looks like you and some of my other favorite blog authors had an awesome time.
    Best,
    Tina

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  38. I love Erin’s face in the champagne photo! I also love the idea of being able to track things together on Facebook + an app? Awesome.

    & here’s to getting my shizz together to come next year.

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  39. I am coming to nth the “there’s gotta be a better place that Facebook” sentiment and suggest Ning. I did the Mondo Beyondo course, and while Ning isn’t perfect, it’s way way better (and way less evil-y) than Facebook.

    But I get it. If you want Just Do Something Already, and Facebook is the easiest place to get going, then rock on with it sister.

    Also, I’ve been waiting for you to announce a) a Life List online community, and b) a conference. It always seemed like these were the most logical next steps. As someone who is not a blogger, but has been so inspired by this life listyness, I am jumping up and down excited about the chance to finally be a part of the community.

    In short. I will be there. Oh yes I will.

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  40. I was just thinking yesterday about how it would be neat if you could see everyone’s lists in one place (rather than in silos on individual blogs), and I thought of a 43 Things-type application, too, so if you put something on your list, you could immediately connect with people anywhere who also want to do those things. Or, if you had help to offer, you could search for goals you could help with.

    By the way, I can’t help with any of the above (technology @#$@)! But just thought I’d share.

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  42. Maggie, I work for Arc90 in NYC and we’re a web design and development shop. (Actually, we did work with Bryan on Typekit for Readability earlier this year- weird!)

    We’d be more than happy to talk about how to get the FB tech side off the ground!

    Jen 🙂

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  43. As to #1, I’d also like to help. And you *can* set it up so anyone can post, or you can activate discussion boards. Facebook is dastardly, I’ll admit, but it’s effective as hell. If you want this to be bigger, and quick, that’ll do it.

    I don’t do #2, but I know peeps who do. There may be a more direct path through the peeps you already know, but my network’s yours if you need it.

    As to #3, helping you = crossing the added-yesterday “Attend a Mighty Summit” off my Life List. So, yay!

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  46. I was at one of the meet ups that Meg mentioned (hi, Meg!) and can confirm that the idea was organic so yes, even beyond the Mighty ladies who read the blog, the idea is there and I’m very excited about it.

    As for Facebook and Ning you’re right Maggie there isn’t a way to get info for individual users off of them. I work in the nonprofit sector and this is always a problem. But, it sounds like these might just be temporary solutions and if so, then Facebook the – free and easy option – might be the way to go. Especially since as JenG mentioned it has scale like crazy.

    Sorry not much info from me, but I’m more than willing to help in anyway possible. Oh and of course I would most definitely come to a summit!

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  47. It’s courageous to publicly share your goals, even more so to openly ask for help. You are changing people’s lives in mighty ways, Maggie! Awesome to behold.

    So glad the summit was wonderful. Of course it was.

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  48. love the new direction! inclusive is a good thing. i second the idea of having it somewhere in the middle – Chicago might be a good medium. People can usually find reasonable airfares to there from anywhere. Now that I live near Cleveland, I’m so much more conscientous about how much it costs to fly when you don’t live near any hubs!

    Keep us posted on the public Mighty Summit, I’d love to attend – and I have a few skills to offer other life listers! 🙂

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  49. I can’t really help in any way, shape, or form, but I second all the excitement about the possibility of an inclusive gathering! I would be there in a heartbeat!

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  50. Hearing about this amazing summit actually brought happy tears to my eyes. I’m adding #3 to my life list pronto. I love the idea R@chel had about small Mighty Life groups in the style of a reading group. If anyone is interested in starting one with me in the DC area, let me know. (jaeelle72 at gmail)

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