I went to the 2010 Ultra Music Festival this year – the culmination of the Miami Winter Music Conference that runs for a week every March. The Ultra runs for the last 2 days of the week with the focus on heavy dance music, club DJ’s and electronica. The top attractions for me this year were Faithless, Groove Armada, Orbit and Dutch DJ Tiesto amongst others.
The average age of the audience was probably around 20 but there was a good smattering of grey hair amongst the 100,000 plus crowd. I didn’t feel too out of place! Why did I go? Well, since my early teens I have always loved dance music. Maybe I don’t dance too well and my joints are a little stiff after 24 hours of it but it still makes me feel very alive. I read a quote in a copy of The Week today, (13th March 2010), by Howard Jacobson, (a great British novelist who wrote wonderful books including The Making of Henry), that went, “This is perhaps the most shocking thing about getting old, that everywhere except the body you aren’t”. Well I don’t see myself as getting old yet but maybe that’s his point.
With all great experiences, I try and take something from them. For me, the Ultra was a great lesson in the power of leadership. How is it that a man standing in front of an array of complex electronic kit, synching dance tracks on his Apple Mac and accompanied by amazing visual effects and lights can quite literally co-ordinate tens of thousands of people to behave in the same way. They all chant, raise their arms and move in fantastic synchronization. He applauds them and they applaud back. Together, they seem to be in total bliss.
Coming back to the rather more sober world of employee behavior, there are some lessons here on how we communicate with our people. Make them familiar with the message, (all of the DJ’s crowd new the tracks he was playing), be consistent in the way it’s delivered and communicate it in a way that is memorable and you have a good chance that they will come with you. Above all though, keep it simple and make it fun.
My favorite performance from the festival, if you’re interested? Groove Armada’s “Paper Romance”
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