Impressions from the Regional Scrum Gathering

#RSGGhent24

Last week (June 6-7, 2024), I had the pleasure of attending the Regional Scrum Gathering in Ghent, an Agile conference. My colleague, Stijn Van Durme, and I were scheduled to give a talk, and we had been eagerly anticipating the event for several weeks.

The Business Trip

As a proponent of sustainable travel, I opted for my foldable bike and train to get to Ghent. I booked a hotel close to the venue so I could enjoy the BBQ in the evening and arrive early next morning to prepare for our marketing activities.

Packing for this business trip was unique: I added about 2kg of chocolate to my hiking backpack along with my clothes, toiletries, and presentation materials. Fortunately, the weather was favourable, making the journey relaxed and enjoyable. The evening BBQ was delightful, and since I didn’t have to drive, I could indulge in a well-deserved glass of wine.

I chose an atypical accommodation—a boat near the event site. It had everything to make the stay remarkable.

The following morning, I woke up to a sunny day and enjoyed breakfast on the deck of the boat. The serene atmosphere and beautiful view made for a perfect start to the day. However, my leisure time was cut short as I had to get to the venue early to promote our session.

Sessions That Stood Out

From a content perspective, I prefer topics that challenge me, push boundaries, or enrich me as a coach. Three sessions, in particular, stood out:

1. Mindful Product Leadership by Geoff Watts: This session focused on understanding and changing limiting beliefs, particularly ‘life scripts’. It was insightful and valuable for everyone.
2. Constellation Coaching by Cherie Silas: Similar to how Kanban boards visualise work, constellations make parts of a system visible. I was pleased to realise I had already used linear constellations during check-ins. It’s easier than you think.
3. Unveiling Changing Failing Scaling by Nigel Baker: This session was pure publicity for his latest training, but it was fantastically entertaining.

Our Session

“Who came to support us?” A few hands went up.
“Who came because of the topic?” Some more hands.
“Who came for the chocolate?” Laughter and lots of hands.

Our marketing efforts paid off! During the session selection process, someone suggested bringing chocolates to the venue—a winning idea.

Our session followed Nigel’s, which increased the pressure to entertain the audience. Luckily, we had a lovely and warm crowd of over 40 participants. We had meticulously prepared the flow of our 30-minute presentation to ensure we could finish on time, allowing for a brief Q&A before lunch.

For both Stijn and me, this was our first time presenting in such a setting. We were proud of our delivery and grateful for the positive feedback. One participant remarked, “You know Maarten, although I work for a software company, I felt more similarities with Barry Callebaut than with many other IT organisations here.”

Maaike was clever enough to ask the audience for a group photo at the end.

Networking

Networking is a crucial part of such events, offering opportunities to meet like-minded individuals and potential collaborators. As an introvert, networking can be challenging for me. Els Van Hecke nicely captured this sentiment in her LinkedIn article after her session “Facilitation Circus: Juggling Introverts & Extraverts”. (Although I missed her session due to attending the constellation session)

Being a speaker made networking easier.

“Hi Maarten” (reading my name from the name tag) “I see you’re speaking. What’s your topic?”
“It’s the chocolate one.”
“Oh yeah, we saw the video…” And with that, the hardest part of the conversation was over.

I also found that helping at the photo booth was a great way to meet people, like Erik Collard and Dana Garcia 😅.

Many of my iLean colleagues also attended.

I’ve never met so many new people in such a short time span. It was exciting, interesting, but also quite tiring.

Closing Thoughts

The entire experience was fabulous. The catering was excellent, there were plenty of networking opportunities, and the evening BBQ was delightful with lovely weather. The atmosphere was positive, fun, and respectful.

This event was 100% worth my time. A big thank you to the organisers for making this happen. 🙏🏽

Lastly, I want to thank Maaike, Stijn, and the team at Barry Callebaut for the great journey together. Chocolate rocks and so do you!