“Yesterday I attended the most enriching conference ever! Only, it was actually an anti-conference… 🤘🏼” – Bethany Hall, GKN Aerospace^[1]

So what is an anti-conference anyway?

To answer that question we need to rewind a couple of years to a woodland outside of Salisbury and a group of industry and academics trying to engage in a conversation about regenerative design and the policy space.

This was part of the Regenerative Design Lab (cohort 3), an 8 month long programme where you explore regenerative design through experimenting, exploring and reflecting^[2]. As an educator looking at the policy space I was exploring questions about regenerative design education. And I was thinking “where are all the regenerative design educators?” So I decided to find out.

I wanted to organise an event straight away, but, following the principles of regenerative design first I needed to spend some time observing the space. So, I did some online research and found a few institutions that were active in this space, and a few online groups and online conferences. Next, I reached out to those who were already active in this space, to discuss what was already happening. The resounding response seemed to be that my inability to find anything in person was not down to the fact I wasn’t a real regenerative person, as I had feared, but was instead because there wasn’t one, or not that others knew about. What did exist was online events where you could hear practitioners talk about what they do, so I attended (logged in) to a couple.

I came away uninspired.

And so I assembled a team of education focussed regen labers from across the first three cohorts to organise an event. Emma Crichton, Nick Francis, Carla-Leanne Washbourne, Gavin Knowles, and Ciaran Malik. Max Campbell then joined us to help with pretty much everything but especially the coms.

And this event was to be an anti-conference.

So what is an anti-conference. I’d like to say that at the point we decided it would be an anti-conference we knew. But I’ll be honest, it was only in doing the anti-conference I worked out what it really was. And that definition is still evolving. When we agreed it would be an anti-conference we just wanted to emphasise that this would be different.

An anti-conference is not a conference – but it does gather people like a conference.

It’s not a unconference, which is it’s own thing^[3], but it does encourage participants to co-create the event.

“Q. What is an anti-conference? A. Not sure! Even the organisers didn’t know what it is, just that it isn’t a conference or even an “un-conference”, and that’s ok. What was important is that they provided a space (physical, in time, mental, emotional) for conversations, investigation, sharing and learning.” Alastair Mant, Freelance Sustainability Consultant^[4]

I think, what I’ve worked out, through running the event, is that an anti-conference is the complete opposite of an online conference. An anti-online-conference (shortened to anti-conference).

1. It doesn’t have any talks (except for the welcome and to tell people about the venue and where the toilets are and that there is no fire drills expected on the day etc)

2. It meets in person, not online, and the location matters, it embodies the very essence of the conference.

3. There are no anonymous Q&A sessions and no breakout rooms, instead the day is carefully designed to create spaces for connection and meaningful interaction.

4. You get to choose how the event works out. Both in terms of offering up workshops, but also if you want to take some time out, or have a chat with someone over a game of bio composite top trumps.

5. There is food, and that food also embodies the very essence of the conference.

6. There is laughter, and when people laugh others can hear it. In fact, there are lots of emotions; joy, grief, disbelief, overwhelm, hope. And all of them are shared and held together, by others.

7. The event is emergent. It responds to the people and place. As a result it is unique to the time and place in which it occurs. Whilst this may be true of online conferences, I am sure we have all sat on our laptops feeling overwhelmingly bored^[5] by the format. 

Over the course of the next few weeks I would love to share with you how we planned, marketed, ran (both before and on the day) our anti-conference and what lessons we might take from it with regards the future of education.

One more thing, this will not be a how to. The anti-conference is, obviously, anti anti-conference how to’s. Instead we would encourage you to think about what is present at your event, and how do you get there. Try and avoid the trap of thinking we must do this, or we can’t have that, instead keep coming back to your brief. For another example see https://theconversation.com/the-anti-conference-a-collaborative-way-to-create-innovative-teaching-methods-190504.

Thank you to the University of Bristol Engineering Education Research Group for sponsoring this event.

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^[1] Note: All quotes taken from Linkedin posts which are publicly available. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bethanyhall18_regenanticonference-regenanticonference-activity-7344422547192471552-roeR?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAtF-rIBaTmt5Fv3dkJvqblNNV7rk486AO0

^[2] https://constructivist.co.uk/regenerative-design-lab/

^[3] https://www.theconciergeclub.com/blog/what-is-an-unconference#:~:text=An%20unconference%20is%20a%20participant,agenda%2C%20schedule%2C%20or%20speakers.

^[4] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/regenerative-we-need-nature-connected-alastair-mant-hzixe/?trackingId=1YUkKO%2FaS%2FKxSA5jG89CCw%3D%3D

^[5] Sorry, just read Thomas Heatherwicks “Humanise” where he talks about boring buildings, and I think the same word applies here. That is not to say that the content is not fantastic, but the format makes it so hard to stay engaged.