A Great Teachers Seminar is an organic model of learning and unlearning. Participants come and go. Ideas change. Community college (or university) culture continually shape-shifts. College faculty evolve.
The oral history dimension of the NGTM is critical in creating the "ground story" of the past in as much as it allows for the present moment to materialize when participants are gathered together. The void that emerges from that minimal structure is cosmic, ethereal, and profound. Therein lies the true beauty and purpose of a Great Seminar.