Spark A Change of Plans (and a Chat) - When I Grow Up

Spark A Change of Plans (and a Chat) - When I Grow Up I dont have the bestest of news, but I do have a way to deliver it in the most honest of ways. Because of low sign-ups, the co-founders of Spark (which I was going to speak at) decided to cancel the April retreat. They posted this to break the news, and Im just so proud of them (and to be associated with them) that I had to repost it here (with their permission, of course). Want more honesty, more vulnerability, and more integrity on the Internet? Here you are. It is with agonizing reluctance that we are announcing that we are cancelling Spark 2013. We can’t call it anything other than disappointing, and we three met this weekend to talk everything through. We had feedback: Spark, this year, was too expensive, too long, and focused in too many directions. We crunched and re-crunched numbers, imagining different scenarios where we might be able to lower the registration fees. We stepped through what we might have done differentlyâ€"and could shiftâ€"on a grand, image-of-the-event kind of scale. We strategized on how, then, to reach people who might have been thinking about Spark, but were on the fence, and to others who might not have heard of us already. But when it comes right down to it, we have less than two weeks before needing to get our final numbers and full payment to the retreat venue. And that doesn’t feel like the kind of time it takes to re-price, re-jig, re-communicate, and find another dozen (or more) of our right people. We tried. When we chose this year’s theme (or it chose us), we thought, “YEAH. Spark and Step Up.” And we did. However, where we think we missed the mark is in (what came to be) our blurry definition of “Step up.” We thought it might mean to “go big.” And we did. We chose the best leaders we could find, matching them up talent-for-talent, knowing that they were each number one, kick-ass, world-changers. We also made the retreat longer than it was last year, and while this made the retreat ‘bigger’, it did not necessarily reflect your desires and needs. To them, and to you, we apologize for not quite hitting the mark. As we dig deeper and step up into our roles as creators of this unique event, we see that what we created wasn’t exactly what we wanted. Somehow, we lost sight of you, the women who we most want to serve. It started to not feel right: we want Spark to be an authentic reflection of who we are and what we want to give others, and this piece, while originating in heart-centered goodness, became askew as we walked further down the Spark path. Because of this, we think that there was a disconnect between us, our people, and the retreat itself. We are calling off Spark in 2013. But not forever. After our discussions this weekend, our thoughts are more focused. We three are planning to meet in person this spring to really get down to the heart of Spark, including what we did last year that made it work, and what we did this year that didn’t. We need to focus, and solidify who we are and what we are all about. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite have things right on our end this year, and it is our promise to turn that around. We are sincerely grateful for all of the time, effort, and love that our leaders have put into trying to make this work. We adore each of our fans and supporters, and are ready to hear your kind feedback on where we went astray. Know that our hearts are raw and that this decision came with great reluctance. However, it feels better to be honest all around with where we are, and we know the work that we have in front of us to make Spark fly in the future. We hope that you’ll be with us along the way. With great love, gratitude, a little bit of sadness, and trust that this is the right thing to do, Tania, Deanna, and Lori. Before the announcement, I got interviewed by Deanna, and I just hafta share it here. Its too good not to!