Building Community
Just about 5000 people have stepped into Monday with an extra pep in their step after attending Dr. Jody Carrington’s STAYLIT2021. Parents, teachers, administrators others from all regions of Canada from Nova Scotia to Powell River, British Columbia attended. I have been following Dr. Jody Carrington for a while, and when this conference came up, I jumped at the opportunity. I really enjoyed her book Kids These Days, and thought it might be a nice diversion for a rainy January Saturday.
The conference was an all-day, virtual, Covid friendly event featuring George Couros, Shelley Moore, Jesse Thistle, Jesse Lipscombe, Jessica Janzen and Ronnie Olstad and Laurie Mcintosh. It was to start at 9:00 B.C. time. At 9:00am, all 5000 of us were waiting at the other ends of our laptops, phones, iMacs and tablets. Over 5000 people, with coffee ready, a clean t shirt on, waited. And waited. And waited. What was happening, is every teachers’, administrators’ and presenters worst nightmare; the technology failed! Over the course of the next hour and half, Dr. Jody would come to IG and Facebook gently updating us that they were working on technical difficulties and they would be online soon. Those of us who have been in this situation were just thanking the almighty gods of technology that it wasn’t us in this position! But, for the grace of God, as they say.
So, we busied ourselves, tidied, wrote, and waited. After the hour and a half, Dr. Jody burst through the virtual door with relief and excitement and probably exhaustion. What struck me most that day was that not one of the 5000 viewers quit, dropped out or asked for their money back. Pretty remarkable. The community that surrounds the Dr. Jody Carrington machine is dynamic, diverse, and from many geographic regions. How has she built this community? Jody, as she is known to her faithful followers, swears like a trucker requiring a disclaimer at the top of any of her online videos. Her Newfoundland accents gets stronger as her intensity of conversation increases. Her laughter is in your face, hilarious and side splitting. She is exactly who she presents. She speaks from the heart. She is authentic, honest about her flaws and failures, errors and genuine in her desire to learn better, to be better and to share her message with the world.