THIS WEEKEND, SOME PEOPLE WENT OUT WITH FAMILY OR FRIENDS, OTHERS JUST STAY WARMLY AT HOME. FOR US, WE RECEIVED A LAST MINUTE INVITATION TO A BRAND NEW KIND OF EVENT. THE MONTREAL #FAILCAMP.
No it is not a fail contest, although it would be a good event idea … No, indeed, even if the event is held under the humorous tone, the meeting was intended for primarily instructive reasons. This is about de-dramatizing failures mentioned by different stakeholders to learn real lessons from it.
A very entertaining content
Smiles, casual outfit and bottles of water , since our first steps on the scene of the event, located in the premises of BusBud, we had an early glimpse of a beautiful afternoon of relaxation. Although we did not know anyone , we were immediately greeted and presented to Gabrielle Madé and Rami Sayar, two of the three organizers, who gave us a brief presentation of the event before inviting us to sit .
The presentation started a few minutes later, with Francis Gosselin, the third organizer, and the tone was set right in the introduction , with a few jokes, some taunting, but also some technical facts . We laugh at monumental failures Microsoft had known in its infancy , along with employees of the famous company of course ! We listened to each of the protagonists tell their personal failures intersecting each intervention by the hilarious minutes of fail presented by the imposing co -founder of FailWatching, Jevto Dedijer.
The event appeared to be a giant laugh therapy . It was not to make fun of others, but rather to learn from them , the people with the most fail are often the most successful.
Formative testimony
Beyond the fun, there was real lesson. Something appear clear after some conferences, we cannot laugh at everything. That’s what we realised when the speakers adressed the failures wich led to a living hell.
So if there is a lesson we have to remember is that a professional fail could come from a personnal fail.Poor work-life balance , poor attitude , poor knowledge or misplaced pride ( we exaggerate a little, here), all speakers have had (very) high and (very) low, thanks to (or because of) their own characteristics pushed to the extreme . And all , without exception, have seen their lives change once they were able to question themselves.
It is quite uncommon for entrepreneurs to achieve success at the first attempt , and when this is the case, it does not guarantee the success of the next project. All contractors present have repeated it again and again, failure is a part of the game, and the fear of failure can remove all chances of success! But how not to being affraid of failure? Just think outside the box
It’ll probably fail, but who cares! We’ll learn a lot along the way.
– Austin Hill, entrepreneur and financial angel
Being willing to fail and profit from it, that’s wht make a successfull entrepreneur. It’s not just about making money, but also to create a long term vision always says JS Cournoyer, another entrepreneur and financial angel. The main lesson we learned was; Succeeding is failling 9 times but trying 10 times.
This Fail Camp was very inspiring. Laughter , emotions and a lot of sharing, this event was an opportunity to learn a lot as it is for the curious, the future entrepreneurs, or even current entrepreneurs.
If you have comments or suggestions, please share them with us . Would you go to these events ?