As you've probably heard, Orange Island will be closing this week. This is a personal loss for me as I've spent many enjoyable hours there at workshops, events, showings and more. I've learned a lot, laughed a lot and got to know some really interesting people from all over the world.
The image at the top of this post is from their blog - if you go to that site and click on it you'll discover that it is a collage of photos from the two years that Orange Island has been operating.
The official closing party/session will be on Tuesday, September 29th at 11:00 am SLT in the lower plaza auditorium. Before they announce some of their learnings allow me to share what I think other organizations should learn from them.
- Have a really good team. Orange's team of Fab Outlander, Eric Arkright, Sarn Aska, Nick Rhodes, Yesterday Demain, Natty Foggarty and Jade Lily is knowledgeable, friendly, multi-lingual, talented, helpful and incredibly fun. They have also been public, available and approachable.
- Play well with others. Orange has had ongoing relationships with Metanomics, MadPea and Koinup that seem to have benefited all parties and provided value to us, the visitors, as well.
- Reach out to the community. Orange was always soliciting input and ideas and welcoming the involvement of the community it wanted to support. Those efforts helped grow the community and created a sense of belonging.
- Look outside your organization for talent and skills. Orange looked for creative people around SL and gave them a venue to share their knowledge with the rest of us. One of my favourite memories is the workshop that Raul Crimson did in the Photo Gallery on creating poses.
- Have some class! I've never seen or heard of an instance when Orange took a shot at SL or anybody in it. They aren't leaving in a fog of acrimony and they haven't created any drama that I'm aware of.
I'm going to miss Orange Island and the people associated with it. I have very fond memories and I will cross my fingers and hope that they decide to return someday.
4 comments:
Hey Honour, it was a real pleasure to meet you. Thanks a lot for always participating to the sessions and being so helpful.
See you on Tuesday :)
I will see you on Tuesday. However, I feel it's only fair to warn you that I will cry. :)
Orange has always been one of those things on the grid that I intended to take a closer look at sometime. I think I've been to a couple of interesting seminars there (although I'm seldom sure just where I am).
My impression, from the margins, has always been that they are a very professional group, staying well clear of the silliness and drama. A good model for anyone.
I'm really sad about the closing of Orange Island, and i'm really grateful you enjoyed so much that workshop. Thanks a lot, Honour.
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