Welcome to the second fireside.rs newsletter where we focus on ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively.’
1,437 years ago Dewi Sant, patron saint of Wales said, apparently on his death bed, “gwnewch y pethau bychain” (do the little things).
It’s in the small stuff where caring is demonstrated.
Caring to embed playfulness and joy into activations as part of a larger learning experience (such as having kittens at a TEDxWellington I produced to offset a heavy speaker session).
Caring to understand the elements needed in creative facilitation beyond just booking the room and sending round a meeting invite (see Creative Ideation Workshop | Facilitating Inspiration (aka Herding Cats).
Caring to design avenues and mediums to enable all voices are heard when holding a stakeholder engagement experience (so not just the loud Henry’s speak the most and why I prompt clients to think about other layers of engagement like movement—see me facilitating an activation at CLNZ19 to get attendees into the interactive and exploration mindset for upcoming the masterclasses).
Caring about variety and quality not just quantity as you lead a city-wide activation project which delivered over 200 events in 14 months (see Collidering On | Refocussing On The Creative Purpose)
Caring about devoting to a decade-long volunteering endeavour which amplifies others as a generator of hope which reverberates beyond the event in question:
Caring to make intimacy a factor in bringing 100 people together to participate in a totally unique conversational experience (see Wrapping Up Creative Welly | A Study In Human Intimacy, a three year journey in creating something beautiful).
Caring to hold space for people to meet before opinions harden (taken from this months podcast—listen below).
It’s in these little things where saintly outcomes occur—Happy St David’s Day / Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant!
Thanks for your time / attention / curiosity,
DK
fireside.rs Founder and Creative Gatherer
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST
Where we feature, celebrate and learn from those who craft spaces for humans to actively belong and be, introducing:
Ignacio Packer, Executive Director of the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation (IofC)
*apologies for my sound in this one, there was a raging storm going on during the time of the recording.
SHOW NOTES & PULL QUOTES
- Ignacio’s Linkedin
- Caux Insititue of Change Foundation (website + forums / programmes / work)
- Caux Palace (website)
- Montreux (Wikipedia article)
- Belle Epoque (Wikipedia article)
- Lac Léman / Lake Geneva (Wikipedia article)
- Dens du Midi (Wikipedia article)
- Kastner train (Wikipedia article)
- Oxford Group (Wikipedia article)
- Moral Re-Armament (MRA) (Wikipedia article)
- Track II diplomacy (Wikipedia article)
- Inner Development Goals (website) vs Sustainable Development Goals (website)
- My write-up from attending HATCH Europe at the Caux Palace: HATCH Europe 2023 | The Analogue Trust Factory
1.18: “And the goal is and has always been the same, to help humans meet before positions harden.”
2.20: “…crises are rarely caused only by lack of resources, they’re really caused by lack of trust.”
10.30: “Because brick and mortar doesn’t change life. You have to put light in it. And it’s the combination of the two that offers the space to work on trust, to work on dialogue. One of the fundamental elements, and it’s not new.”
20.52: “Because transformation, and that transformation for deep hope, without hope being something naive, it happens when identity becomes safe. And people would not open their minds until they feel their dignity is safe.”
21.49: “…well, the dialogue is cognitive, but the encounter becomes emotional and reconciliation is relational. Working in the humanitarian field and on resolution of conflicts, I have not had much success in working by Zoom. It is once you sit around a table and share a meal. It is once you manage to look at the other in the eyes or just look at and discover the humanity and recognize the humanity of the other, that the connections can be made.”
Podcast music attribution: All I Did Was Wait For You: The Upbeat and Positive Track for Podcast or YouTube by kjartan_abel — https://freesound.org/s/543781/ — License: Attribution 4.0
CURATED
Some creativity, productivity and gathering related content for the brain / heart:
“Created by the Inner Development Goals Foundation, this updated Guide draws on insights from over 21,000 people in 165 countries, and was curated by 25 research teams around the world. We offer it as a companion on the journey — a guide to collective human wisdom, ancient and emerging, that empowers us to shape a more compassionate, sustainable, and thriving future. We are a global community promoting the human capacity for wisdom, compassion, and collective action for a better world.”
Check out the new Inner Development Goals in this pdf – Google Drive
“Think of storytelling as peeling back layers to reveal what’s most meaningful:
– Layer One: The Raw Experience. This is where we start—unfiltered truth, a messy, personal experience we feel compelled to share;
– Layer Two: The Crafted Narrative. Here, we refine. We curate, find meaning, and decide what stays. We elevate the story beyond personal catharsis to something valuable for others;
– Layer Three: The Universal Theme. The final layer is the essence—the emotion, lesson, or truth that resonates with anyone who hears it.”
How to Tell Stories That Move Mountains | Psychology Today
““A factor of 10 is an enormous difference, and this is what happens when you look at a reproduction compared to a real work,” said Martine Gosselink, director of the Mauritshuis, on Wednesday. “You become [mentally] richer when you see things, whether you are conscious of it or not, because you make connections in your brain.” Gosselink said she had been convinced of the power of the real before the study but had wanted her hunch to be formally investigated. “We all feel the difference – but is it measurable, is it real?” she said she had asked her colleagues a year ago. “Now, today we can really say that it is true.””
Real art in museums stimulates brain much more than reprints, study finds | Neuroscience | The Guardian
30 minutes with a stranger is a wonderful visual essay illustrating the results of a research project in which they brought two people who didn’t know each other together for a conversation.
✱ dori the giant ✱: 13 Animals Made From 13 Circles—delightful and super-imaginative.
Thank you again and please do get in touch with any ideas / comments / insights / suggestions etc. plus encourage others who care about ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively’ to subscribe also: