As the end of 2025 draws near, we’re planning a gathering for the CSCCE community that recognizes the ups and downs of the last 12 months, and offers an opportunity for community connection and care.
As in years past, the call will be roughly divided into three “courses,” with participants encouraged to “bring a dish to share” – in other words, our collective contributions will create a unique gathering, which you can expect to include reflection prompts, gentle activities, and opportunities to discuss and set intentions for the year ahead. We’ve included an outline of our plans for facilitating this year’s event below, but we’re always open to your suggestions, so please reach out to Lou, Katie, or info@cscce.org if there’s something you’d particularly like to talk about or share.
This call is for:
- Members of the CSCCE community of practice – current and future! (if you’re not already a member of our free Slack-based community of practice, you can request to join here)
- Anyone working in STEM and adjacent fields whose role involves collaboration or community building
- Anyone who would appreciate a community space in which to mark the end-of-year transition in an intentional way
Date: Tuesday, 16 December 2025 (please note the day – CSCCE community calls have historically taken place on a Wednesday, but due to conflicting client work, we’ll be meeting on a Tuesday for this session!)
Time: 11am EST / 4pm UTC
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88123402630?pwd=wAWBFiikRLnFyZIAj6b3KwRvUxdwRb.1
Add to calendar (or contact us at info@cscce.org to be automatically added to CSCCE calendar updates)
About CSCCE potlucks
This will be our seventh annual end-of-year community potluck. The idea is that the call is split into three “courses,” l, with each course inviting participation from everyone present, potluck style (if you’re unfamiliar, a potluck is a gathering where everyone brings one dish to share). You know we love metaphors!
Over the years, our courses have looked a little different, but generally involve a mixture of reflection, discussion, and short lightning talks. The main course tends to be the most structured, with CSCCE staff scaffolding an activity or inviting community members to present, and the appetizer and dessert courses tend to involve personal reflections and group discussion.
This year’s potluck courses
Appetizer: Ground and center
Setting new year’s intentions (or resolutions) can be an exciting opportunity to reset; to inspire yourself to try something or accomplish something that matters. They can also feel a little intimidating! Either way, before you can realistically figure out where you want to go in 2026, you need to reflect on where you are now. Planning a journey involves knowing the destination, of course, but you also need to be able to accurately plot your point of origin or the directions won’t make sense. We’ll start this year’s potluck with an opportunity to reflect on where you are now, and consider the things you’re most proud of from this year, challenges you overcame, and/or things you’d like to leave in 2025.
Main: Identify your zone of genius
In The 15 commitments of conscious leadership: A paradigm for sustainable success by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Warner Klem, the authors name “excelling in your zone of genius” (and supporting others in excelling in theirs) as the eighth commitment. In other words, professional “success” is at least in part dependent on you doing the work that you are uniquely passionate about doing AND that has a positive and meaningful impact.
For this year’s main course, we’ll scaffold a template for you to identify your areas of unique competence, and then map them to the needs of your team and/or project to support you in defining, your zone of genius. If this year’s appetizer is about starting your journey into the new year, our main course is your compass.
Dessert: Inspiring your intentions for 2026
To close out this year’s call, we invite you to share something that inspired you in some way over the last 12 months, with a view to co-creating a collection of materials for the community. Some suggestions for what to bring include:
- A book or article
- A podcast series or episode
- A poem, quote, or song lyric
- A piece of music or new (to you!) artist
- A TV show or movie
- A recipe
- A painting
We’ll go around the “room,” so you’ll have the opportunity to tell us a bit about why you chose your inspiration as you “add it to the table.” And then, we’ll close with a few moments for quiet intention setting – which you’re welcome to continue on your own – there’s no rush!
December’s call
Abstract
Join December’s community call to:
- Reflect on your 2025 and define where you are now
- Look ahead to the next 12 months and consider how you might navigate the next 12 months for yourself and your community
- Be inspired by the other members of this community as you set an intention for 2026
How to join
December’s call will take place on Tuesday, 16 December 2025, at 11am EST / 4pm UTC
Our calls are hosted in Zoom – click here and we’ll see you in the webinar.
Video or not? You’re welcome to turn on your webcam if you like but fine if you prefer just to use audio.
Our community calls generally last 90 minutes to allow time for discussion, however we anticipate this month’s call will last no more than 60 minutes. We understand that virtual meetings have a tendency to overrun and overlap, so please don’t feel sheepish about arriving late or leaving early. We’d love to see you either way!
Please note: We won’t be recording this month’s call to respect everyone’s ability to show up authentically in the virtual room and reflect on the good and the bad bits of their role, without worrying about who will potentially see a recording.
Additional information about our community calls
Our community calls usually take place on the third Wednesday of every month at 11am Eastern, but occasionally times and dates vary depending on speaker availability so please check our calendar of events.
Wonder what we’ve talked about in previous calls? The archive listings can be found here, with select recordings available on YouTube.
Not yet in our Slack group? Request to join here.
Further resources
We curate a growing collection of resources for community managers on our website. If you have any questions about our work, or are interested in partnering with us on a future project or call, please contact info@cscce.org.