This quote by Werner Erhard encapsulates what the course is about.
A little about the course:
-There were approximately 250 people in the course and of that there were over 150 people from Iran
-There are 3 leaders plus back of the room leaders and we need to take care of them so that they are free to deliver the course. We had a team of four whose job it was to make sure these people were taken care of.
-There was a team of 9 from Iran to help translate and help to generally put on the course.
-People are expected to do a lot of pre-course work and need to come to the course with a project that looks too big for them to handle.
-Integrity is one of four foundation principles. And integrity by itself in an organization/business can increase results/productivity 100%...CEO of Reebok says it improved his company's results 500%(from the book "Three Laws of Performance").
My main job was as the main greeter (the first person participants see when they enter the course room). I also made sure to open and close the course room doors as needed. I made sure everyone who entered the room had a name tag on. During the last few days I learned how to say good morning, good afternoon and welcome in Farsi. The participants loved it, laughing at my pronunciation and women came up to kissed and hug me. I was also the shopper during the course. I would go out to the giant super store to buy things either needed for the course or for the leaders. I also filled in helping with name tags, room set up or whatever was needed.
If you've done a Landmark Course you will recognize this table:
-There were approximately 250 people in the course and of that there were over 150 people from Iran
-There are 3 leaders plus back of the room leaders and we need to take care of them so that they are free to deliver the course. We had a team of four whose job it was to make sure these people were taken care of.
-There was a team of 9 from Iran to help translate and help to generally put on the course.
-People are expected to do a lot of pre-course work and need to come to the course with a project that looks too big for them to handle.
-Integrity is one of four foundation principles. And integrity by itself in an organization/business can increase results/productivity 100%...CEO of Reebok says it improved his company's results 500%(from the book "Three Laws of Performance").
If you've done a Landmark Course you will recognize this table:
Zack is photo bombing my picture of the name tag table.
The black items under some name tags are the translation devices.
They use these to listen in Farsi to what was presented in English.
As you can imagine with English speakers printing the Farsi name tags there were a number of changes to spelling and which was a first name and which was a last name. There were at least 18 Mohammed as either first or last names.
Fatima and Nassim were the two translators for the entire course.
Here they are in the translation booth-very hot as you can imagine.
Another view into the translation booth. They had the slides that are shown in English in front of the room that had been translated into Farsi. This course is a culmination of a year's work for the Iranians on the production team...registering people, translating all the material, reworking the translations so they said exactly what was meant, holding introductions for people to find out about the course...
A little about how we got here: Last year there was a course in Dubai sponsored by one of the Universities there. Out of that course a group of participants from Iran took a stand to fill the next course(this one) with Iranians. As well as the 150+ Iranians, there were also about 50 from the US, and a huge list of people from other countries: Cuba, Spain, India, Australia, New Zealand, England, Canada....too many to list here.
The team putting the course on had time at the end of the day to have dinner together. Mohammed, a successful business from Iran had planned to retire last year before he did the course. However, after the course he saw how he could make a difference in Iran and decided it wasn't time to retire. He was very key to getting some highly influential Iranians into this year's course.
Here is Mohammed (left) at dinner, acknowledging the team for what it took for everyone to get to Abu Dhabi. From his conversations with participants they were expressing that they were getting enormous value from their participation. A summary of what he said through his son-in-law who translated for him: " I want to let you know what I have heard from some of the participants in the course. They are really engaged and looking for themselves at integrity, responsibility, how they listen to others and how that stops them from moving forward.You may not know but some of the participants are government officials and leaders in Iran. We are all aware that Iran because of where it is located has a lot of influence on peace in this region. He declared that we would be able to visibly see a positive impact from this course in Iran. I will keep you posted.
Looking into the course room from inside the translation booth.
Here is Mohammed (left) at dinner, acknowledging the team for what it took for everyone to get to Abu Dhabi. From his conversations with participants they were expressing that they were getting enormous value from their participation. A summary of what he said through his son-in-law who translated for him: " I want to let you know what I have heard from some of the participants in the course. They are really engaged and looking for themselves at integrity, responsibility, how they listen to others and how that stops them from moving forward.You may not know but some of the participants are government officials and leaders in Iran. We are all aware that Iran because of where it is located has a lot of influence on peace in this region. He declared that we would be able to visibly see a positive impact from this course in Iran. I will keep you posted.
Part of our wonderful team at the back of the room.
We communicated with each other using Skype messenger.
One of the best things I got from the course was my friendships with these amazing Iranians on the production team. They taught me so much.
At the final dinner and party. With the full moon in the background.
They tolerated all my ridiculous and uneducated questions about traditions and culture in Iran.
They were so willing to share personally about their lives, their families and their country.
Stay tuned... just because the course is done doesn't mean we are done here in Abu Dhabi.
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