Planning an anti-conference is easy compared to a normal conference, right?
Wrong.
I’ve organised a few similar events over the years. Same number of people. Book a room. Line up some speakers. Organise food. Find funding to pay for the food. This was not like that…
In fact, we originally planned to hold the event in January. In November, we had one of those meetings where we looked at the timeline, all that needed doing and the progress we had made to date. We were trying to finalise the details for the “save the date” comms, and realised that a few days later we would need to send out the “apply to attend” comms. And so, we made the difficult decision to move the day to June.
Why does planning an anti-conference take so long?
Well, by its nature everything is up for grabs. By being the opposite of a typical conference, this means that it isn’t pushed into one solution space, but a multiplicity of solution spaces. We were into the classic divergent thinking space. And divergent thinking, which then needs to lead to convergent thinking, takes time.
In the spirit of reverse engineering, I am going to claim that when we were asking the big, divergent, questions, we were being conscious of the four aims of the regenerative design process[1]:
- Aim to re-establish interconnection
- Aim to build symbiosis
- Aim to enhance capacity to self-organise
- Aim higher in the system
And in hindsight I think we got there. But it wasn’t a straightforward path.
Let’s look at some of these in more detail and reflect on the decisions we made to enable this.
1. Aim to re-establish interconnection
At the heart of this aim is an acknowledgement that we have lost connection with people, place and nature. And so how can we create the space and opportunity to re-connect? Originally the event was going to be for educators only. But as people started applying we had such a rich mix of educators and practitioners that it seemed important to bring all of these people together. As a result we had an incredible diversity of different disciplines in the room, and different relationships with education. From mentors, to lecturers, to school teachers, to community workshop organisers. The aim was to bring as wide a mix of educators together as possible.
Another connection we wanted to consider was that of place. We wanted to hold the event in a place that embodied the principles of regenerative design. We wanted people to connect with a practice. In Bristol we are very fortunate to have a number of locations where we could have held this event, each embodying regenerative practice in different ways, but for this event we used Sparks[2], the “Department Store With a Difference”. We hired their wonderfully titled Department of Imagination. A huge open space, filled with beautiful art, second use furniture, and with the left-over mirrors of its previous incarnation as a Marks and Spencer’s. Sparks is a meanwhile space[3], which is being used in a variety of creative ways to enhance Bristol’s city centre.
2. Aim to build symbiosis
In many ways the whole point of the anti-conference was to create the conditions for symbiosis. To connect practitioners and educators who could encourage and nourish each other. But we wanted to go beyond this. One way was to think about the catering at the event. Rather than just opt for the easiest catering option we wanted to bring in a catering service who, themselves, are working to do good. It turns out that this is harder than it first appears.
I had an organisation in mind, who had provided catering at a previous event, but following multiple attempts to contact them I concluded they were no longer operating. So I dug deep into the internet and came across Bristol Hospitality Network, an organisation who embody hospitality in many ways, with a focus on welcoming and supporting asylum seekers. We needed catering, they make delicious food, and they do good work. By sharing in their food we were also able to make the participants aware of their work. A win-win-win.
[Photo courtesy of Max Campbell, Engineers Without Borders UK]
3. Aim to enhance capacity to self-organise
When we were planning the event we initially wanted to have a few “big names” to run workshops and provide credibility. Due to a number of factors none of these workshops came to be. In their place we had workshops offered by the participants, either before the event (my comfort zone) or on the day (not at all in any way my comfort zone!). Our event therefore was very much self-organised. We created a skeleton structure, and people filled it in.
This is maybe best captured by a comment on LinkedIn after the event:
Have you ever been to a conference where you’ve arrived without anxiety, where everyone is treated equally, where people left nourished rather than fatigued, and which creates a safe and supportive space, enabling you to facilitate a workshop that you’ve never done before?
This was my experience at the regenerative anti-conference yesterday. Regenerative design wasn’t simply the topic of the conference, it was the essence and heart of it. It was participatory, inclusive, open, honest, agile and meaningful.”
Ian Poole, Innovative Lead and Environmental Steward at Elliot Wood[4]
4. Aim higher in the system
We hope that this event would aim higher in the system, that it would enable systems change. This could happen in a variety of ways, from participants inspired by the space now considering their own meanwhile spaces:
“Big thanks to Kathryn Chiswell Jones and everyone at Sparks Bristol for hosting us so generously (Now casually hunting for derelict department stores in Worcestershire…watch this space).”
Beth Wolff, Naked Innovations[5]
To new collaborations
Two big goals were to – consider how best to teach regenerative design – Nick Francis has summarised his reflections[6] – and to enable others to run their own regenerative design anti-conferences going forward.
And so, with lots of meetings, lots of conversations, lots of lists of actions, lot’s of minutes, lot’s of emails, we planned an anti-conference.
But there is no point planning a conference if no-one knows it’s happening. So next week we will share how we marketed it and why we choose the approach we did.
Thank you to the University of Bristol Engineering Education Research Group for sponsoring this event.
[1] Taken from The Regenerative Structural Engineer, IStructE, 2024, Broadbent O. and Norman J.
[2] https://sparksbristol.co.uk/
[3] For more information on meanwhile spaces see https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/may/02/meanwhile-spaces-the-empty-shops-becoming-a-creative-force-across-the-country
[4] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ian-poole-12aa4162_have-you-ever-been-to-a-conference-where-activity-7344264434669764610-2bh_?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAtF-rIBaTmt5Fv3dkJvqblNNV7rk486AO0
[5] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7344394374429962241-xC2v?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAtF-rIBaTmt5Fv3dkJvqblNNV7rk486AO0
[6] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/regenerative-design-what-we-should-teaching-how-nick-francis-hotye/?trackingId=l4AJnxmBQAKA7m1k2UNaPA%3D%3D
