I purchased a one-way ticket to Phoenix, primarily to attend a conference. The conference has come and gone and here I reside with the rarity of 5 days between ventures. I don’t have to be anywhere until next Tuesday where I’ll be leading a Certification training class at Microsoft in Virginia.
Phoenix, Arizona. It’s beautiful here. I forgot how beautiful it is.
I arrived in the afternoon on Saturday and tried to finalize my intro presentation for the event that began on Sunday morning, however the window of my room was literally vibrating with bass from an extremely loud pool party that was going on at the hotel/resort/casino/paradise. I worked for a minute, then figured that this was perfect case of “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” and headed down to the pool myself to see what all that racket was about. The DJ had his fair share of EDM/trance music, although overall, he did play some pretty good tunes.
My travels brought me to Phoenix for the Global Scrum Gathering. The conference itself was sold out at more than 700 people and I was asked to facilitate the retreat for the CSTs (Certified Scrum Trainers) and CSCs (Certified Scrum Coaches) that began on Sunday. Facilitating a room of facilitators may seem like an intimidating feat, however I decided that I was up for the challenge. It went really well and it was a really great day. To have Maria facilitate your next event, contact her here: https://mariamatarelli.com/contact
At the gathering itself, I reunited with my good friends and fellow trainers, Dave Prior, Richard Cheng, Dhaval Panchel, and Tom Perry. I’ve been at the conferences where this crowd runs up to twice a year since 2009. We have formed a podcast called the “Agilistocrats” and provided a summary of presentations, previews, and highlights throughout the event.
SGPHX Podcast 1 includes a summary of Maria Matarelli leading the CST/CSC Training and Coaching Retreat and Conference Selections for Day 1: http://bit.ly/1IjpyA3
SGPHX Podcast 2 includes a summary of Day 1 and Selections for Sessions to attend on Day 2: http://bit.ly/1Ed3YHg
While at the event, I was interviewed by Aakash Srinivasan and Vivek Angires, awesome Agile trainers and coaches from the D.C. area. We discussed how to become a trainer, training experiences and motivations behind training. To schedule an interview with Maria, contact her here: https://mariamatarelli.com/contact
It was great to catch up at dinner with good friends and fellow Agilistas.
I facilitated an Open Space session on Sustainable Pace, discussing challenges, current state, definition, and specific, actionable steps to take to get past the challenges. To hire Maria to speak at your organization or next event, you can contact her here: https://mariamatarelli.com/contact
It is always great to see good friends and Agile legends, Ron Jeffries and Chet Hendrickson.
I was interviewed by Alan Dayley on the Trainer’s retreat, facilitating an Open Space on Sustainable Pace, and my Workaholic book.
I hosted a topic at the Open Space and presenting it to the group at the closing of the day.
Carsten Jakobsen, the Senior Process Improvement Manager at Systematic in Denmark, pulled together a great group for dinner to include Rob Carstons, Dan Greening, Stacey Louie, and Alex Brown. Lots of great discussion on Agile transitions and journeys.
I had another interview with the Scrum Alliance while at the Gathering. As one of only 180 Certified Scrum Trainers in the World, it is great to be a part of this community. To learn more about Agile solutions and training that Maria and her team offer, visit http://formulaink.com/agiletraining
My Workaholic Book made quite a few appearances at the event! Covering the walls of twitter by many far and wide! To get your copy, visit www.WorkaholicBook.com
At the close of the last day of the event, I spent the evening with the Scrum Alliance staff, board members, conference chairs, and other contributors as we celebrated the closing of a successful, sold out event! Fifteen floors up overlooking the mountains was absolutely breathtaking, though I kept wanting to dive into the infinity pool…
After the gathering concluded, I figured I would ride out my one-way ticket a bit longer and took the next day to relax and also co-hosted two webinars with Greig Wells. The first one was on Business Mastery on LinkedIn. Greig is an expert on LinkedIn and gave away so many incredible techniques, it was huge value for everyone that attended!
The next webinar we held was on how to apply Agile skills to develop your career. With Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) as one of the highest paying certifications in 2015, many people are finding great success in their career in learning and applying this approach.
Now that the event is over and I finished my online presentations, it is time to relax 🙂 Meeting up with some friends in Phoenix today and will venture out to enjoy the environment. Still haven’t booked my ticket out of Phoenix yet, will see how the day unfolds. I just have to make it to Virginia by Tuesday for the next adventure.