Two days after Feminine Uprising LIVE, and I’m still flying high. After holding space for 70 women for three days, I expected to crash hard and need some major decompression time. But instead, I feel more filled up, turned on and energized than ever before.
This was hands down the best event I have ever created. I’m not saying this to brag, but to share what’s possible when we embody the new model of feminine leadership.
To give you an idea, out of 46 feedback forms, the participants rated the event 96 out of 100.
I’ve been reflecting on why it exceeded expectations and what contributed to the success so I can pass along some of my secrets to empower you in your circle leadership.
I really believe that part of the foundation of success was my intention to dismantle the patriarchy and do things differently than your typical status quo weekend workshop.
Secret #1: Creating connection – dismantling the pedestal to keep leader and participants separate
My husband Brent suggested a few months ago that I start doing welcome calls for our Facilitator Tribe membership and after brainstorming with a friend of mine on creating an amazing event, decided I would call every woman coming to Feminine Uprising who I didn’t know (about 40). By the time we started on Friday morning, I had spoken to 30 women. In today’s age of automated emails, this is unheard of in the personal development industry. While I didn’t reach everyone, it made a huge impact. I knew almost everyone’s name. I felt like I really knew everyone. I felt connected. This contributed to building a container to immediately dive in and go deep. I will continue to do this no matter how big the event gets.
Secret #2: Magical manifestation – dismantling the industry standard hotel venue
The story behind doing the event on a ship is pure magic using the law of attraction and manifestation. I made a list of my requirements for a venue which included being on the water, restaurants within walking distance, hotel rooms under $200 and less expensive than the year before. I found the Bahia, one of the oldest hotels in San Diego right before Christmas. They were eager to make a sell before the end of the year and I was back and forth between the Bahia and another hotel down the street. They took the hold off the meeting space without telling me and booked another group. Yikes! Just when I thought I had made a major mistake, they offered to put us on their steam boat with more than double the space at the same price. The caveat: I did not have a 24 hour hold, which meant I had to tear down and set up each morning. I also was not allowed to have a stage. For some reason, I just knew everything would work out. So I let go and trusted my intuition, despite my husband freaking out about the amount of work it would take to tear down every evening. Two weeks before the event, they told us no one booked the boat for the evening so we had a 24 hour hold plus we could fit a stage. Talk about miracle! This is what happens when you ask for what you want and hold your vision as a done deal. Everyone RAVED about the ship … it was the embodiment of the feminine being on the water with the most gorgeous stained glass ceiling. Surreal.
Secret #3: Honoring sovereignty – dismantling the typical sales pitch
No one wants to go to an event with a high pressure icky sales pitch and I definitely didn’t want to make one that felt gross. So this year, I decided to do something different; I would give everyone a choice to stay during the lunch break to hear about our Mastery of Circle Leadership program. Everyone who stayed got pizza and salad. This was a major risk according to the old paradigm sales model. But I wasn’t interested in selling anything. I have an amazing program that is an opportunity to go deeper in the work we were doing and I trust the sovereignty in each woman to choose what’s best for her. Not convince, force, pressure or coerce. This felt amazing and was very well received.
Secret #4: Pushing edges – dismantling what’s considered politically correct content
If we are talking about feminine leadership and reclaiming our power as women, we have to talk about the portal of life, aka our “pussies” as Mama Gena invites us to call this sacred part of our bodies. This felt extremely edgy to go there and yet I knew we needed to. So I mustered up the courage and invited my dear friend Sierra Sullivan to lead a section on reclamation. While I would say that the major of women were scared to talk about this vulnerable subject, we did and the energy climaxed. We blew the ship out of the water. This is the last thing anyone would expect to cover at a 3-day “conference” but if we are going to disrupt the patriarchy, we must go there as individuals and as a collective sisterhood.
Secret #5: Experiential learning – dismantling the talking head lecture model
I could easily get up there and talk for 3 days straight; I’ve got more than enough content and stamina. But honestly, that’s boring. And that’s not circle. Circle leadership is not about being a guru and having all the answers. It’s about co-creating an experience together. That’s where the transformation lies; in receiving each other’s medicine. So I invited co-creation into the space. I had all of our Mastery students facilitate a section. We did tons of exercises. And I brought in a powerful tool, what we called Energy Check-ins, to monitor the space and practice presence, one of the most important distinctions of facilitation. Everyone walked away with the embodied knowing that leading circle can be very simple and that you don’t have to do it alone.
There is so much more I can share, but I think this gives you the essence of this extraordinary event. I’ll be doing a Facebook LIVE tomorrow at 12:30pm in our Sistership Circle group about the top 3 lessons I learned to make it even better next year.
I’d love to hear from you … which secret resonates with you the most. What did you learn? Do you want to host circles and events?
