The Open Space event in Seattle (BarCampBankSeattle) ended today. You will be reading posts now and in the following days that will attempt to bring to words the unique experiences we all shared. And it was unanimous – the event exceeded expectations.
Why was it so good? As William has pointed out, all of us have been writing about the financial industry, sharing thoughts, comments and dialogue about how we felt concerning all aspects of the banking business. This really set the stage. We were ready and willing to move this social media to the next plateau – face to face discussions. The Open Source method of meeting was the perfect type of venue to do this. Everyone contributed to the debates from the start with no need for much of personal introductions. There were no name tags, as in most instances we already “knew” the person. The passion and energy was as much as part of the experience as anything else.
The PBWiki has all the notes so take a look there to see what was discussed. Most agreed it was one of the best meetings that any of us has attended. It could not have been planned better. It was the ‘Wisdom of Crowds’ in action. It was the start for some to put old dreams into action. It was just flippin’ great.
Tinfoiling 
AGREED! It’s kinda hard being back at work today and explaining it to my peers. Hard to be in such an inspiring mindset and then come back to burning fires and deadlines. Ah, such is life.
That would be Open Space. Open Source is good stuff, just not the format we used for the conference. It was great to have you there, Gene, and I know we’ll see you at the next one!
What specific actions items came out of the meetings?
Denise really needs to update her picture on her Web site. She looks nothing like what she has posted on her site. Remember….it has to be real.
Whoops. Changed Open Source to Open Space.
You have inspired me. Thank you very much. Good luck with your site