Powerful Play at Toronto Change Days 2022

This November saw the return of the fifth annual Toronto Change Days. I was excited to see 2022 celebrated with a to an in-person event, yet still reflect the virtual connectivity across many elements. Exploring “The Power of Play” as this year’s theme brought many diverse discussions and of course we had amazing workshops and a very energized keynote!

Toronto Change Days is a really energizing opportunity for all involved. It feels like a real community coming together yet each time we meet, over half of the attendees are new to the experience. It is unusual to have that sort of vibe and yet, we always attract folks that just get the nature of the event, focused on learning but guided experience and totally facilitated versus instructional or typical corporate conference style.

We had some great virtual interactions going either side of the in-person weekend. I was really pleased to see conversations around playfulness in these virtual conversation and people interacting with elements to influence the whole event and reflect back upon the live weekend.

With a theme that includes play – no surprises we included Lego in the experience and even some workshops that employed Lego Serious Play practices. In fact, we even had a facilitated “Playzone” room that allowed people to experiment and learn about card games and toys that can be used in supporting change events. It was a slow start for people attending this room – probably not wanting to miss out on the amazing workshops but  by the end of the weekend we had over 12 folks discovering the power of integrating playfulness within their change events.

I want to give a huge shout our to Leonard Nacke who provided the keynote. He gave one of the most energetic and enthusiastic performances for a key speaker, I’ve had the privilege to experience. He actually did a cartwheel, got chased around the room and let someone else take over the presentation – all in the name of playful gaming and understanding the benefits of such things being included in organizational development.

I could turn this post into a raft of superlatives, it felt just so good to be back at the amazing Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre doing the think that we all love and connecting at a level that is phenomenal. We didn’t get so much of our international supporters this year, but I look forward to welcoming them back next year.

If you are interested in joining us for Toronto Change Days 2023 you can grab an extremely Earlybird ticket now at https://tcd2023.eventbrite.ca