One year ago, at Lift08 in Geneva, I opened this blog coached by Stephanie Booth, but not really knowing exactly where this would lead me to.

Some things were clear, though: first, I had to dive into that field, would it be only for professional purposes. Actually, how could I ever be able to counsel, roll out general marketing strategies without even having tested a slight, but important part, of social media? I knew part of the theory, time had come to go on to practice! Secondly, I also wanted to experiment that playground to express a personal point of view agregating personal and professional interests. A kind of convergence, that lead naturally to “Convergent Tracks”.

So now, one year later, about to starting Lift09 (my third consecutive year), I take this opportunity to make the point, see a bit of what happened during this past year and how it lead to a personal convergence.

My mind broadened at Lift 08. It is hard to explain, I know I’m not the only one, but after having heard people like Genevieve Bell or Paul Dourish, I felt I could’nt just stay on the side of the road. I had to ride my engine and start off!
Freedom, breaking limits, thinking out of the box: a track was born! Internal.

Then, another intimate event happened: my uncle’s passaway. He was a visionair. A missionnair. His death acted on me like a trigger and, sadly, but happily at the same time (it’s in concordance with his spirit), brought me to my first post. The idea of converging tracks.
Convergence, yes. Ok. But where? To what?

At that time, I started to analyze plethora of blogs, news, and others. I already related that part here, the Mad Link, and From Conversation to Conversion. I started creating public profiles, a Twitter account, linking to like-minded people, linking all these links together, commenting and so on. Always genuily. Following my personal moral code.
The contacts springing out of this were nice, warmful and inspireful, helpful and open. The idea of converging tracks. Again. Slightly more on the public side.
But I also started to integrate the company I work for (and with and in) into my social/public flows. Another convergent track, yet.

Then, a personal “event” happend: the jump into the 40’s!
Short before: plenty of questions, doubts, hesitations.
Then, the birthday. Yes, I think the word “Birthday” has its full meaning, here.
If I could have had any unrevealed dreams, they all happened at that moment! (or close)
At that very moment, in the middle of all the people I so preciously loved, I felt totally INTEGRATED! My inner “me” was integrated.

My past, my origins, my aborted dreams, my friends, my family, my choices, my passions, all had become fully integrated!

The counsciousness of this opened for me an unlimited space of freedom.
Integrating this feeling to what I had learned and experimented during one year lead me to now: A FULL CONVERGENCE, from Lift 08 to Lift 09, from intimate to global convergence.

So, it is with wide open eyes that I am going to first day of Lift09.

What’s next?

Image: by my friend, Lats Kladny, CEO of http://www.inox.com (you know, the guys that make Uma Thurman say: “What are you made of?, for Tag Heuer” Or Eva Herzigova, for Chopard, Luxury Jewels..?
Follow me on Twitter @claudiafalt for realtime LIFT09 ideas, news, insights…