Breathe Now, It Is Done...
The conference finished over a week ago, and yet I am still attending, in more ways than one.
Designed to be a model conference that could be replicated, some things quickly jumped out that could be improved. Other items to improve are coming in more slowly.
Part of the challenge, of course, is designing a conference for a particular audience. This is always an issue when teaching anything. We try to first figure out where the students are in their own learning, and then take them forward from there.
In the case of the conference, the intended audience were those uninitiated to all of the issues, the generic everyman audience. The conference focused lots of time on explaining energy, peak oil, gas prices, climate change, biodiversity loss, money and other themes that are outside of basic mainstream knowledge. After doing this refresher, then it was time to get down to the business of looking for solutions, or paths to sustainability.
For those who already knew most of the material, the opportunity was to go deeper, to learn a new way to think or say something, and a chance to network with others who were also interested. In this case, as in all cases, each person was on their own, to direct their own thoughts, in a way that they would learn and gain the most for themselves.
Other goals for the conference, both written and unwritten, were met, to one degree or another. As I think over the list, and over the conference itself, success and failure both come to mind.
As an observer from the outside, or from the vocal majority of the participants, the conference was a major success. Rough around the edges, to be sure, but successful, particularly with the amount of information plus the number and quality of the speakers.
On the other hand, as a perfectionist, I can also see it as a failure. It failed to bring peak oil to the forefront of the worldwide news debate. It probably failed to give participants a clear mental image of what to do in their own lives given this new knowledge about the future. It failed to successfully articulate the common value system, which most participants already shared, and show how all education movements are connected parts within this value system.
Perhaps I set my sights too high.
...
The conference lives on in me, in a number of ways.
A summer task is to watch, rewatch, and rewatch again, each talk, again and again, as I prepare them for publication (for free) to the conference web site. THIS project may take a while, as there are about fifty hours of video, and just publishing one 40-minute talk takes about ten times as long.
Another summer goal is to help support those who attended the conference; helping them to connect; and helping them to prepare for the future.
And, of course, there is the writing, for without writing, I am unable to learn. Putting things down in writing are like having a conversation with a close friend, one who is there only to listen, and who helps me think beyond my mental horizons. Yes, much writing is long overdue.
But for now, I am tired.
One would think that the conclusion of my school year, earlier today, would give me tons of energy, but instead, it is time for me to again transition to an entirely different routine, and this summer promises to be a very different indeed.
Designed to be a model conference that could be replicated, some things quickly jumped out that could be improved. Other items to improve are coming in more slowly.
Part of the challenge, of course, is designing a conference for a particular audience. This is always an issue when teaching anything. We try to first figure out where the students are in their own learning, and then take them forward from there.
In the case of the conference, the intended audience were those uninitiated to all of the issues, the generic everyman audience. The conference focused lots of time on explaining energy, peak oil, gas prices, climate change, biodiversity loss, money and other themes that are outside of basic mainstream knowledge. After doing this refresher, then it was time to get down to the business of looking for solutions, or paths to sustainability.
For those who already knew most of the material, the opportunity was to go deeper, to learn a new way to think or say something, and a chance to network with others who were also interested. In this case, as in all cases, each person was on their own, to direct their own thoughts, in a way that they would learn and gain the most for themselves.
Other goals for the conference, both written and unwritten, were met, to one degree or another. As I think over the list, and over the conference itself, success and failure both come to mind.
As an observer from the outside, or from the vocal majority of the participants, the conference was a major success. Rough around the edges, to be sure, but successful, particularly with the amount of information plus the number and quality of the speakers.
On the other hand, as a perfectionist, I can also see it as a failure. It failed to bring peak oil to the forefront of the worldwide news debate. It probably failed to give participants a clear mental image of what to do in their own lives given this new knowledge about the future. It failed to successfully articulate the common value system, which most participants already shared, and show how all education movements are connected parts within this value system.
Perhaps I set my sights too high.
...
The conference lives on in me, in a number of ways.
A summer task is to watch, rewatch, and rewatch again, each talk, again and again, as I prepare them for publication (for free) to the conference web site. THIS project may take a while, as there are about fifty hours of video, and just publishing one 40-minute talk takes about ten times as long.
Another summer goal is to help support those who attended the conference; helping them to connect; and helping them to prepare for the future.
And, of course, there is the writing, for without writing, I am unable to learn. Putting things down in writing are like having a conversation with a close friend, one who is there only to listen, and who helps me think beyond my mental horizons. Yes, much writing is long overdue.
But for now, I am tired.
One would think that the conclusion of my school year, earlier today, would give me tons of energy, but instead, it is time for me to again transition to an entirely different routine, and this summer promises to be a very different indeed.