You have 48 hours to change the world…
Around this time last week, I was counting down the time to 6 pm.
I was very nervous with butterflies in my stomach and all.
My old colleague and friend Angie Negret asked me to join her in trying something new! She asked me to help her co-host the Miami Service Jam — Global Service Jam.
At first, I thought, what the heck is Global Service Jam? I had never heard of it and never participated, let alone how could I help her co-host?
What are Service Jams?
Well, you have 48 hours to change the world. What? Are we superheroes?
After further digging and per the Global Service Jam website, the “Service Jam brings people interested in service and customer experience no matter their background from all over the world together. Teams will have less than 48 hours to develop and prototype completely new services, products, or initiatives inspired by a shared theme. At the end of the Jam, their collection of brand-new insights and prototypes will be published to the world.”
Miami did not have a Jam, so we could not just participate and join the fun. We had to be the ones to host it!
My first thoughts were, how do I let Angie down easy? Lucky for her and ME, I was reading the book POKE THE BOX and, it inspired me enough to take the plunge and say YES!
Let’s do it! We only had less than a week to organize it, promote it and get people to join us. With the challenges we all face with Covid, of course, our event had to be virtual. And we needed people to commit to 48 hours.
Who does not love a challenge?
Luck was on our side as 11 people signed up! Although only 6 of those joined us, it was enough to get our first Jam going. Full of excitement, we were going to make the best of it, quality over quantity. We had a diverse group ranging in different ages, backgrounds and not all of them in Miami.
That made the event even more gratifying. One of the aspects of the Jam is also connecting people from all over. And in the spirit of connecting, we were able to participate in a twin jam! Two jams from different locations meeting at the same time. We got some insights and heard from the jammers from the Turkey Service Jam. What a brilliant experience it was to connect and hear from them. Not just for us but our jammers as well.
We also had the honor of having two mentors join us, Marina Terteryan, Service Design Director at the why lab, Los Angeles, USA, and Michaela Stetiarova, Designer at Kiwi.com, Prague, Czech Republic. Their guidance and prowess were invaluable.
All this in March, the month of women!
Two women hosting the Miami Service Jam. Two women on board as mentors for our jammers. Especially with this year’s International Women’s day theme being choose to challenge. A memorable touch to the event. Women, supporting women. Talk about empowering.
Overall, co-hosting the jam was nerve-racking and sublime.
Getting to see first-hand the teams come together, interact, and create something new to finalize their ideas and prototypes was enthralling.
I hope to continue co-hosting Miami Service Jams and participate in others as well. Hoping we can continue to serve our community, connect with others and learn.
After all, learning is a life-long journey! If you feel there is something out there you want to toil with, do it. Embark on the initiative path and create something new.
You never know the impact you can make in your community or the world.
I’m glad I took the plunge and Poked The Box.
See you at the next Miami Service Jam!
