Washington, DC
October 29-30, 2022
“One of the best formats and most unforgettable experiences you can find in the Agile space.”
“If you have been in one, you know how amazing and enriching it is. You’ll want to attend more!”
PROGRAM
Connection | Networking
Fri. 28, 6 pm – 9 pm
. . .
Camp Sessions
Saturday 29, 8:30 am – 5:30 pm
Sunday 30, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm
VENUE
2300 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 600
Arlington, VA 2220
INCLUDED
- Two books
- Camp sessions
- Connection event
- Sat-Sun Breakfast
- Sat-Sun Lunch
designed to
learn
connect
share
thought for
coaches
practitioners
team leaders
created as
open space
unconference
agendaless
set to be
intimate
unforgettable
fun
OVERVIEW
The Agile Coach Camp North America is the a designated Camp for Agile Coaches to connect, share, learn, and network with others from around the continent.
Although it is an agendaless event at its core, it is a well-structured, well-planed event. The topics emerge from the coaches’ needs and curiosity, which adds deeper learning onto that experience.
Since there are not prebuilt agendas, sponsored talks, formal presentations or dry lectures, the emergent and participatory sessions become a great opportunity for attendees to explore specific topics, find support, help each other, build skills, ask questions, share experiences, test new ideas, vent if needed and make deep connections.
The first Camp in 2008 was organized by Naresh Jain and Deb Hartmann-Preuss and brought together a number of coaches from around the world. Since then, the Agile Alliance has supported regional events through its Agile Coach Camp Initiative led by Paul Boos.
The intended audience is a diverse set of coaches, team facilitators, scrum masters, developers, trainers, and managers interested in exploring new ideas and approaches when working with other people, teams and organizations.
Some attendees come as explorers to create new ideas, others as shoppers for techniques, and some others as visitors to network, see old friends and make new ones.
Attendees do not need to be experts in coaching nor come with anything more than a question they may want to explore. Often these questions turn out to be some of the most powerful sessions as people explore answers to it and related topics.
Sometimes we see people from other related domains in academia and consulting. Sociologists, designers/UX specialists, entrepreneurs, students, organizational design consultants, change management experts, and learning game developers all have joined Camps prior. They usually come trying to learn more about how we approach teams and organizations.
BOOK 1: UNTAPPED AGILITY – Seven Leadership Moves to Take Your Transformation to the Next Level
Agile transformations are supposed to make organizations modern, competitive, and relevant. But in the well-intentioned effort to move into the future, change leaders find themselves frustrated by pushback, limited impact, poor practices, and unfair criticism. What’s going on?
BOOK 2: EXTRAORDINARILY BADASS AGILE COACHING – The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond
Being an Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coach is not easy, quick, or for the faint of heart. It takes lots of hard work and dedication. It also requires a map to point you in the right direction. This book maps to coaching badassery, personal growth, and client service.
SIGNING BOOK SESSIONS: Jesee Fewel
Saturday morning and late afternoon. Check more about Jesee and his book here!
PROGRAM
08:30 am – 09:30 am – Breakfast finger foods, fruit and coffee
During breakfast, Jesse Fewell will be signing copies of his book and answering questions!
09:30 am – 10:00 am – Welcome | Ground rules | Acknowledgments
10:00 am – 11:00 am – Opening Circle | Populate Marketplace for the day
11:00 am – 01:00 pm – Open Space sessions
01:00 am – 02:00 pm – Lunch served
01:30 pm – 02:00 pm – Meet the Author! Talk on “Coaching Transformations”
02:00 pm – 05:00 pm – Open Space sessions
05:00 pm – 05:30 pm – Reconvene | Highlights | Evening news
05:30 pm – 05:45 pm – Quick Clean-up
Before closing, Jesse Fewell will be signing more copies of his book and answering questions!
6:00 pm – 9:30 pm – CONNECTIONS and NETWORKING
We will get together to break the ice, say hello to old friends in the community, and start new connections.
Hors d’oeuvre and drinks will be provided.
Bring your favorite game –we might be playing some and figure out their application to Agile.
09:00 am – 10:00 am – Coffee, fruit, and breakfast snacks served
10:00 am – 11:00 am – Reconvene in Circle | Populate Marketplace for the day
11:00 am – 01:00 pm – Open Space sessions
01:00 pm – 02:00 pm – Lunch served
02:00 pm – 04:00 pm – Open Space sessions
04:00 pm – 04:30 pm – Closing Circle | Announcements
04:30 pm – 04:40 pm – Data Collection for Retrospective
04:40 pm – 04:45 pm – Clean and Pack-up
FORMAT: OPEN SPACE
The basics of holding an Open Space are simple, yet powerful.
The overall event starts with the Opening Circle. It is conducted by a single facilitator, who reviews the following principles:
– “Whoever comes are the right people.”
– “Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.”
– “When it starts is the right time.”
– “It’s over when it’s over.”
The Facilitator also reviews the “law of two feet” or “law of mobility”: “If you are not learning or contributing, feel free to move to a place where you can learn or contribute.”
Once the rules an dynamics are clear, people come together around high-level topics or needs and create their own agenda.
Whoever is interested or curious about a topic, a need or an idea, have the opportunity to deliver a 30-60 second pitch, write its title on a sticky note, and choose a time window and meeting room.
The resulting chart, with time windows in one axis and meeting rooms in the other, is known as the Marketplace. Each day of the camp has its own Marketplace.
Once the Marketplace is populated, for the rest of the day people gather into smaller groups to brainstorm, debate, or otherwise discuss the topics proposed on the agenda.
People generally attend the entire length of time set aside for a session. At the end of the time window, some people will continue on that topic with others who are passionately interested in further conversation. Others will move to the next session of their choice.
Additionally, some people will go from session to session cross-pollinating ideas between groups (known as bumble bees), while others still will flit and listen in as their fancy takes them (known as butterflies). All of these are OK and encouraged. This is what makes open space wonderful.
As you register, prepare yourself to experience the most out of the Agile Coach Camp: think about what you are passionately wanting to learn, explore, and share.
Be prepared to discuss this, but do not plan to have an agenda to lecture folks on a subject. You need to be open to dialog; as you propose topics for the Marketplace, you are basically agreeing to hold a space and facilitate a discussion on the topic at hand. There is no expectation that you are an expert in that area and often these topics are coaches are looking for insights.
Some times, some people simply throw a topic they are interested in. As other people stop by the assigned meeting room, the proponent has the opportunity to collect tips, insights and experiences that enrich their knowledge. Prepare to be surprised!
PROTOCOLS
1. Be kind to others.
2. Behave professionally.
Agile Coach Camp is a safe, welcoming and accepting space!
We want to keep it that way, as such we will not tolerate any unacceptable behavior or harassment that threatens that safety. In that sense, we have adopted the Agile Alliance’s Code of Conduct.
Unacceptable behavior includes intimidating, harassing, abusive, discriminatory, derogatory or demeaning conduct by any participant at our events or online communities including Slack and other online media.
This does not mean there has agreement on topics; Open Space encourages the potential for debate, even heated ones. What will not be tolerated is when this drops into name-calling, intimidation, abuse, or anything that attempts to demean or discriminate against another.
Harassment includes offensive verbal comments related to gender, age, sexual orientation, race religion, disability, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of sessions, inappropriate physical contact and unwelcome sexual attention.
If a Camp participant engages in behavior that violates this code of conduct, the organizers will take the appropriate action, including warning or expulsion from the Camp with no refund.
If participants have any concerns, inform a member of the Camp Team who will offer support in contacting the appropriate security and ensure required assistance is given.
Your registration is an agreement with the following protocols established for all “official” events of the Camp: the Friday Networking event and the Saturday and Sunday Camp itself.
If you cannot or do not wish to comply with these or feel they are inadequate, please refrain from register ––we might not be able to process refunds.
1. You agree to follow the Code of Ethical Conduct for Agile Coaching, specifically: a) Navigating conflicts of interest: I will be transparent about any potential conflicts of interest with all who might be affected; b) Upholding social responsibility, diversity and inclusion: I will strive to leave society better than I found it, by my action or inaction; c) Responsibility to the profession: I will enhance and uplift the reputation of the Agile Coaching profession.
2. You agree to identify your comfort level and respect other’s comfort levels in closeness and/or mask preference. We will do this using dot stickers on your name tag: a) Green = I feel comfortable enough that I am willing to receive a hug; b) Yellow = I am uncomfortable in general with contact; I will accept a fist pump as a greeting though. c) Red = I would prefer to keep as socially distanced as the space will allow. We expect that masks may be desired with folks that are indicating themselves with Yellow or Red. You are welcome to readjust your comfort level during the event as we realize this may be the first time some people are getting together. We will have some masks and hand sanitizer available.
3. You agree to refrain from promoting and/or advertising products and services. Sales pitches, marketing presentations and merchandise distribution are prohibited.
Organizing an Agile Coach Camp involves fix and variable expenses. The most substantial are venue rental for the connection/happy-hour event (including food and drinks), breakfasts and gourmet lunches, snacks, coffee and soft drinks, supplies, and additional perks offered to attendees. Usually these types of events barely reach breakeven.
Although the ACC North America 2022 is a not-for-profit event, it might be possible that it yields some proceeds. If that were the case, the resulting balance will be used to support either…
— THE EMERGING ECONOMIES INITIATIVE’S EVENT IN COSTA RICA
The Agile Alliance Emerging Economies’ initiative was created to spread the word of Agile to underserved communities and minority groups (single parents, women, the young, low-income groups, IT students, technology entrepreneurs) located in developing countries.
Through events such as conferences, hackathons, and immersion-days, the Initiative reaches those communities who otherwise might have never had access to this type of experience and knowledge.
A group of volunteers is planning an event to spread the word of Agile principles and values to minority groups in San Jose, Costa Rica. Women, low-income IT students, and college teachers who have never had experienced a world-class conference or have had access to this type of knowledge.
If all of the pieces fall into place (venue, speaker willing to donate his/her time, flight tickets, 80-100 lunches, and supplies), on November 3th an international speaker will flight to San Jose. On November 4 and 5 he/she will conduct two sessions of the activity called “Immersion Day in Agile”: simulations, activities and talks to share knowledge, pique curiosity, expand horizons and encourage attendees to explore and learn further after the event.
The event will be free for attendees and will not have sponsors, commercial offerings, and/or marketing tights.
— THE NEXT AGILE COACH CAMP
The second largest risk that Agile Coach Camp organizers face is related to the venue.
Usually, venue owners require reservations and payments in advance –sometimes several months before the event. To make the situation more challenging, refund polices are very rare.
Since Coach Camps are run by volunteers, it might be useful, healthy and fair to have a fund to help cover part of this expense for future events.
If the first option does not take place and the Coach Camp yields proceeds, those will be held by the organizers and be used used towards the venue cost of the next Agile Coach Camp.
— NOTE: If any attendee have concerns, questions, or want to learn more about the options proposed, simply contact us by email before the Coach Camp or in-person during the event.
TRAVEL INFO
Excella’s Headquarters
2300 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 600
Arlington, VA 22201
10-min drive from The White House
Excella’s offices are only 0.1 mile –one-minute walk– from the Court House Metro Station (Orange Line).
Metro’s hours:
– Friday: 5:00 a.m. until 1:00 a.m.
– Saturday: 7:00 a.m. until 1:00 a.m.
– Sunday: 7:00 a.m. until 12:00 a.m.
Excella’s headquarters area is surrounded by convenient street parking. Coins, credit/debit card and mobile app are accepted.
– Friday and Saturday: $1.75/hour
– Sunday: Free
Just across the street from Excella (2200 Clarendon Boulevard. Arlington, VA 22201) there is a building with plenty of parking:
– Saturday: Free
– Sunday: Free.
To make things easier, a few days before the event, we might create a group/system for attendees to ask for and offer carpooling. Stay tuned!
There are plenty of options in the area, from hotels to AirBNB.
Please have in mind that, on Sunday, October 30th, the US Marine Corps is conducting the Annual Marathon in Arlington. Although the marathon route starts in Crystal City and goes to Downtown Washington, transportation might not be affected during the regular hours of the Agile Coach Camp.
However, since the event draws thousands of people to the city, hotels might get booked by early or mid-October. Please plan for that and secure accommodation as soon as possible.
CONTACT US
POWERED BY
VENUE SPONSOR
Solve for Today.
Evolve for Tomorrow.
Agile Transformation | Modernization| DevOps | Artificial Intelligence | Service Delivery
Excellians are passionate thinkers, big dreamers and dedicated problem-solvers.
ORGANIZERS
Kadidra McCloud
Core team member of Agile In Color ⧫ Solutions Manager/Agile Delivery Lead ⧫ 10+ years in IT Project Management ⧫ Passionate about empowering teams to reach their next level of productivity and output
Ricardo Abella
Enterprise Agile Coach ⧫ Passionate about human behavior and systems thinking ⧫ Journey through finance, retail, energy, engineering and utilities ⧫ Strong believer in the power of communities and giving back
Rocio Briceño
Agile IT Delivery Lead ⧫ Focused on Cybersecurity and Product Management ⧫ Costa Rican living in DC ⧫ Ph.D. candidate ⧫ Passionate about bringing agility to non-traditional sectors to achieve social impact