What happens when we get together? Meet the Ohana Meetup.

From Rome to Bilbao and back: the story of 5 years of passion and responsibility.

Published in

Cocoon Pro

5 min readMay 23, 2022

The Ohana Meetup is an ecosystem enabler we’re offering to the whole Ohana. Stay tuned at: http://www.ohanameetup.party/
If you want to know more about it or have any idea or feedback you deem useful let’s get in touch: ohanameetup@cocoon-pro.com
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Back in 2011 in Cocoon Pro we were moving the first baby steps into the unknown, determined to give shape to our impossible dream of a more lively way of conceiving and organizing work. That’s when we serendipitously started to come across incredible people animated by the same passion and full of visionary deeds to share.

And we began to wonder: what would happen if all the people that really care about a better world (of work) realize that we are a tribe that is actually changing the world? What happens if these people get together?

That’s how, a few years later — in 2018 — the Ohana Meetup was born.

But reality is, none of it would exist without the Ohana.

You already know what it is about and don’t want to miss the next edition? Join us in Rome in June!

If you are now getting curious about how the OM was born and why it could matter to you, please keep reading.

Meet the Ohana

We’ve been working in the evolution of work long and deep enough to know that nobody owns it. It belongs to all of us. To all of us who care about it.

This is the soil where the Ohana Meetup stemmed from, our passion to nurture the evolution of work and catalyze this passion around us, acknowledging that we are a living ecosystem. Even more, we recognize that we have a bond and we are responsible for one another. We are our Ohana.

That’s why from the very beginning it was important to create a space where we could rhythmically get together, to engage each other in emergent collaboration, cocreating value and direction and opening up to meaningful conversations.

We symbolically chose the spring equinox to mark the pace of our yearly encounters, to keep the rhythm of the revolution beating.

“I trust only in the love that comes from feeling part of something greater, something special, something alive and transformative: an Ohana.”
— from Ohana out of time (and sleep)

From Rome to Bilbao: 4 years of passion and responsibility

We organized the first edition of the Ohana Meetup in Rome at the end of March 2018, in our headquarters. We set the date and spread the voice through the tam tam of our closer circle of friends, partners and colleagues. Frankly speaking we didn’t know what to expect…But the enthusiastic response we received stoked us, and generated the energy to keep meeting and sharing, each year in a different city chosen following the provenance of participants. From Barcelona to Bilbao, passing through a fully remote edition (party included!) in the darkest moments of 2020, when meeting seemed impossible and yet so much needed.

Because the Ohana Meetup is about sharing knowledge and ideas, as well as doubts and dreams, fears and values and projects to nurture, fostered by truly powerful conversations. Energy flows all along a 2-day journey that makes up the Meetup, but continues well beyond through the bonds we create by being together.

We never ever set an agenda upfront to make that happen. People with their passion about the evolution of the world of work, and their responsibility to be the change they want to see — enabled by the principles of Open Space Technology — are actually the indispensable and sufficient ingredients that make the magic of game-changing conversations happen.

“This is what can happen when we truly get together. The changes that we wish to see in the world suddenly become actual reality, in a fractal of the whole that it’s us and the way we shape the bond that brings us together.”
— from When we truly get together

A Revolution (and the Party)

There is a change going on in the world of work, and beyond the buzzwords and the marketing around it, there are people that are already sprouting and living a revolution.

The Ohana Meetup comes out of the realization that, if these people come together, things deemed impossible can actually happen. This is even more true in this era of transition, a time to really walk the talk, so that a better world of work could become a common reality, for all.

That’s why the party is part of the equation. You cannot have a true revolution without a party. But to really know what we mean, well, you have to feel it yourself and join in person!

Back where we started: Rome 2022

Anthropologist Margaret Mead is quoted to say that you should never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world, because, indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. We don’t know if she actually got to say it exactly like that, but we strongly agree, anyway.

So, if you have got to read up to this point, you may wonder what’s next. Here we go, back where it all started, to close a cycle so that a new one can sprout. The Ohana Meetup will be back in Rome, on June 24–25.

If any of the above resonated with you: you are welcome.

Your passion and experience are the only things you need to bring along. Just come and let your energy blend with that of many other passionate people, and feel free to invite anyone who you think should belong to this space too.

It’s going to be a blast!

Join the OM22 in Rome, grab your ticket here.

“I will call this, what we have started and continue, whatever you prefer to call it … evolution, or revolution, or a new word we don’t have yet: my meaning (in this moment) our radical craving for something different, a movement towards new ways that dissipate the old ones that have held us back from nurturing ourselves and others. You, Ohana, help me to give voice to the thoughts I have kept close and private for decades.”
— from My Love Letter to Ohana