My 5 Days at Camp Lur'ning

Day 4

The day of reckoning for our group. We've had a grand time sleuthing and learning, but now it's time to present a customer-oriented plan on FP&L to 400 XBSers. The group is a little nervous.

It helps that we've joined with the other FP&L groups to give a joint presentation. When we realize that 50 people will be together on stage, no one is as nervous. We make the courageous and original decision to present how we learned to learn about FP&L rather than just present the customer case itself. The result is a round-robin-style report that involves simply saying a few words about what each of us decided to do. The group is especially proud of our decision to pool resources, and we make sure to lead our presentation with that.

The actual reports are something of an anticlimax. It turns out that everyone else has done exactly the same thing. We hear report after report about pooling resources, networking, and using the Internet. By the time our group gets up to speak, it's all been said several times. I begin to think that the week's been a bust.

Then I realize that I'm missing the essential point: all these people are reporting that they've learned how to learn in the Brave New World of unlimited digitized information and fast-moving telecommunications. And that's precisely what Camp Lur'ning is all about. XBS long-timers, who might never have thought to network at their own job sites, or use the Internet, or reach out to their colleagues across the world, have now had a concrete experience in each of these learning styles and tools. Ordinary people have actually taught themselves how to do extraordinary things.

Day 5

We all gather in the auditorium on Friday morning to see a brief video made on the spot about our week at camp. Shots of campers, smiling and hugging, are shown over a soundtrack of the climactic song from "Les Mis." It's corny, but it works. Camp Lur'ning has worked its magic on XBS.

Chris Turner has a final thought for me: "Your environment has to reflect what you espouse. That's what we're trying to get right here." Camper after camper tells me that they have promised to spread the word back on the job site. The goal, it seems, isn't to bring people to camp to teach them what they need at work -- it's to inspire them to take camp back to where they work.

Nicholas Morgan (nfrodom@aol.com), a business writer, speech coach, and playwright, works from the second floor of a silo in New Hope, Pennsylvania.