Last week, I drove with friends and colleagues from Indianapolis to Cincinnati to attend the three-dayConnecting for Communities(C4C)conference, a powerful gathering of master and apprentice change agents and social entrepreneurs across sectors and communities, from around the world.

I came for many reasons and with many feelings. I was excited to see elders and friends who have shaped my thinking and my growth throughout the years, includingJohn McKnight,Peter Blockand my friends Caitlin, Terri and Cheri, who doincredible work around inclusion and community organizingin Georgia. (SeeList of Speakers here) I was eager to meet new folks in the field and hear their stories.

I came to see, as someone passionate about convening people myself, how these particular rockstars-in-the-field crafted our coming together.I also came to get a sense of whats newnew learning, new challenges, new opportunities to shift the systems around us to more citizen-centered, bottom-up, effective ways of living and structuring our approaches to the problems we see around us. I came to be refreshed in a way that only these things can refresh mefinding solace, camaraderie, a community of my own among people who, unlike most of society, understand what I do without the need for a 1-hour explanation.

Finally, I came with a question and a doubt: going to yet another conference about community-building, was I going to learn the same old things? Was this going to be worth it?

On all fronts, I was not disappointed.