Things I Accidentally Taught Myself This Week #17

This week, I hosted my first Flow Room Zoom, a live gathering for my paid community.

I came with a plan, a solid outline, and had even rehearsed where the mute-all button lived. Then the call started; I lost the button and set down the outline.

I went in prepared to lead a Zoom and came out having learned a few things I hadn’t planned on.

Here’s what I taught myself this week— accidentally, of course.

1. Rehearsal and the real thing are meant to be different.
I can prepare for what I think will happen, but I can’t prepare for what actually will.
Some things you can only learn live.

2. I’ve been managing my expectations a little too well.
75 people showed up, while I had mentally prepared myself for far fewer.
Apparently, the Universe wasn’t managing its expectations.

3. You cannot lead and read at the same time.
Conversations were flying by in the chat, but reading them meant leaving the conversation I was actually in.
Presence is a full-time commitment, and apparently, so is reading the chat.

4. The best communities eventually stop needing you at the center.
People were finding each other in the chat and DMs, rooting for one another without any help from me.
I was the host, but they were already home.

5. Sometimes the person holding the room is being held too.
A couple of friends showed up, my sister’s face popped onto the screen, and people called afterward to help me debrief.
You think you’re doing it alone until you look up and realize you too are being held.

The Flow Room series will be back next Sunday.

Until then, I’ll be over here finally finding the mute button.

Again.