IS: Three Spaces + Stats
Upcoming open events:
- Friday, March 22: Office Hours (membership orientation)
our seasonal holiday lines up with Easter, with activity in all three IS spaces (see below) resuming in April
all start times 1pm Pacific Time (4pm Eastern, 8pm UTC)
Seasonal Stats
(nerd alert here. Skip to the next section for exciting future stuff)
Yesterday I sent out a wrap-up email to the 98 people that signed up for our recently-concluded Practice Series. 65 different people attended at least one session, with 30 attending once, 27 attending 2-8 times, and 8 determined people managing to participate in all 9 sessions. Max attendance was 41 at the kickoff (83% of the 60 signups at that time), minimum 18, with an average of 25.4. Most people started within the first two weeks, but 14 additional people started in a later session.
I share these numbers not to say "big = good", but I do value sense-making of the quantitative on a seasonal/quarterly basis. My big takeaway is that the shape and distribution of these numbers look almost exactly as one would expect from taking the prior year's IS Seasonal attendance and just scaling it up by about 35% overall. This tells me that "opening up" this series (by removing the orientation call requirement) did not significantly change the attendance patterns! (One could plausibly say there were about 5 "extra" one-time-visitors at the start.)
Membership participation, on the other hand, was down from last season. This makes sense! There were fewer member meetings, they varied between Saturdays and Sundays, and the "arrhythmic heartbeat" felt, in my personal experience story, like it didn't have a strong enough momentum or direction. The prominence of the Practice Series and lack of orientation calls also combined to reduced membership inflow, as the open sessions really didn't mention membership at all — which was a choice I made in order to avoid any feeling of "now that you're here, selling you a second thing" in that space, though with a critical eye looking backward I think that was in part an excuse for my continued discomfort with my own allergy to modern marketing.
Three Spaces of IS
After the last two weeks of messy gesticulation toward future intentions, I think I can make a more clear and compelling description of what Intentional Society looks like for next season. Let me paint a picture, briefly, of three spaces:
Practice Dojo
With open front doors, the Practice Dojo welcomes novices and experts alike to train in the varied arts of relational-developmental practices. It invisibly held the Practice Series of the last three months, and now as the content within shifts (from our Core set to Exploratory, new-to-us practices) we can more clearly see the frame holding this training space. This season we welcome six expert guest teachers to expand our kit of awareness, relating, and embodiment tools. It is ordered, tidy, and hosted with skill and pride. The Dojo now meets on Saturdays. Sign up for access here.
Community Commons
Those seeking deeper connection and community enter an expansive grassy commons space. There's a large community center for weekly gatherings, and around it are scattered a variety of smaller buildings and art installations made and used by small groups. It is a space of relationship, belonging, acceptance, play, and exploration. It is emergent, messy, and full of laughter and tenderness. The weekly meetings are once again consistent on Sundays, with smaller activities at various times. Read more and apply here. (existing members do not need to renew)
Venture Workshop
At the boundary between the Commons and the world beyond, a Workshop space gathers a core group of artisans and adventurers, energized to create an economic ecology supporting aligned livelihoods and human-scale value. Skills of rationality, relationality, and metamastery (term TBD) braid together to enable a collective organism that outcompetes game-A market world while holding internal integrity of deep collaboration and interdependence. An incubator-ish legal entity flows resources to emerging ventures, who then flow success back into the expanding ecosystem. Balancing learning and earning, this space is audacious, adaptive, and lean. The Workshop is calling its creators and spinning up core loops this season. Invitation only, but don't let that stop you from asking for an invitation.
Intentional Society is the I/we/world that we want more of, that we want to head towards, becoming who and how we want to be. Intentional Society is playing the infinite game of growing our wisdom capacity enough to hold our power, in service of surviving and thriving humanity. Intentional Society is more conscious collective life. Intentional Society IS.
If this calls to you, if your energy rises to meet ours, join us! On Friday (today by the time you read this), or in April, or reply to this email to make contact.
Cheers,
James