Welcome to the seventh newsletter from fireside.rs, ‘unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively.’
A couple of weeks ago I was in Leeds, UK delivering a closing keynote entitled ‘Dynamic Models for Connecting Together’ at the AMA Conference 2026: Together conference to 600 humans (with an extra 150 online)—sharing for the first time in presentation form the multi-year research gathering models findings, insights from the four workshops already completed, lessons curated from the podcasts guests plus my current / future thinking on the fireside.rs venture.
As part of the presentation, I shared some seasoned conditional elements which are often overlooked in building collaborative settings (like breath, furniture use / arrangement, evident time constraints, cultural and historical considerations, light / dark, biophilia):
Designing with and strategically applying the above I have found to directly impact on the conditions for gathering participants to feel safe, to be playful, to focus, to be included, to participate, to be bold, to just sit and be.
“Working with DK is always a joy. His keynote for the AMA Conference 2026 was brilliant; well-pitched, engaging and perfectly on theme. DK always brings creativity, energy and great knowledge to his work. After sharing his work on gathering humans effectively, our delegates were left energised and with a lot of food for thought – the perfect mix before moving onto a night of socialising. It is always a pleasure working with DK and I’m already looking forward to the next time.”
Cath Hume, CEO – Arts Marketing Association
Truly cherished the opportunity to articulate current thinking and experience, and very much looking forward to future opportunities to ignite curiousity in others on the subject of unlocking creative productivity by gathering humans effectively.
And finally, very excited to announce the next fireside.rs workshop will be back in Wellington, 18th August 2026, early evening, hosted by TED-Style Talks & Discussions—limited spaces available so sign up now and hope to see you there!
If you’re interested in bringing this unique learning experience to your community whilst it’s still a ‘no-fee’ workshop experience (just cover my expenses), please do get in touch and I look forward in collaborating with you in the future,
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:
SHOW NOTES & PULL QUOTES
- Elysa Fenenbock LinkedIn
- Elysa Fenenbock Website
- Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (d.school)
- The School of Psychedelic Design / Courses / CASE STUDY: Reimagining Ibogaine Treatment for Veterans
6.37: “So I’ve been teaching the d.school since the dawn of time. And I have taught many different kinds of courses there. One of which is one of the longest standing courses at the d.school is Design for Play. So using play science as a tool and activator for innovation, creativity, performance, happiness, joy, and just like great team building.”
8.34: “…play is integral to my approach to everything. So even in the psychedelics course, we’re, we’re playing a lot and, and it becomes a really important tool in having difficult conversations.”
12.29: “And we used to joke about in the play class, we would set the bar low early. So with that, it just, you know, even us as instructors, willing to look silly, to play, to show there is no right or wrong answer. And even having some of the activities be kind of ridiculous on purpose.”
14.18: “There is no failing. They’re just prototypes. And I think that’s the real, I mean, yes, Silicon Valley talks about failures all the time, but really a design mindset is never failing. It’s learning from every experiment.Why didn’t it work? And on to the next.”
15.56: “…this is part of the play science is that when you’re in a state of play, you have a whole cascade of neurochemistry is released in your body, endorphins, dopamine, oxytocin, like all of the happy, joyful hormones are released, and that enables neuroplasticity, enables you to have new connections form in your brain, which helps with creativity and performance and, you know, team, a sense of belonging and all of those create the conditions, the literal physical embodied conditions for great teams to do great work.”
20.14: “And then the school too exists to help advise folks who are really trying to build in these spaces and in the psychedelic world, yes. And also just in the general wellness transformation space, because I think psychedelics are really just one tool in the toolbox around human potential and transformation.”
23.25: “And with like, just a somewhat superficial understanding of this medicine, in just a couple of weeks with a designer’s mindset, we’re able to create prototypes and work that made it in front of the Department of Health and Human Services. That says a lot when the work that comes out of designers’ hands makes visible the opportunities and the needs for what the system really needs to look like to be designed that was not yet in dialogue in those places.”
30.04: “We can’t measure. We don’t understand. We don’t get it. But like there is there is other there are other known wisdoms and those known wisdoms meeting like a scientific measure measurable space is a big tension.”
33.43: “I feel like design is then the tool to help you come up with new blueprints and new other paths forward. You don’t want it like this. You don’t want it like that. Design helps us imagine new possibilities. And so like if psychedelics expand consciousness, then design expands possibilities.”
36.43: “And right now I’m writing a book called Creativity is Medicine. And so that’s my North Star is both like continuing to work in these spaces where like we get to use our innate human capacity, our creative genius to help, you know, make the world a better place.”
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
Some creativity, productivity and gathering related content for the brain / heart:
“To the modern ear, illeism can sound a little silly or pompous – and we may even deride famous people who choose to talk in this way. Yet recent psychological research suggests that illeism can bring some real cognitive benefits. If we are trying to make a difficult decision, speaking about ourselves in the third person can help to neutralise the emotions that could lead our thinking astray, allowing us to find a wiser solution to our problem.”
An ancient trick to think more wisely
“What’s Viagra? What are Post-it notes? What is Slack? If you answered “a medically induced erection, little slips of paper you can stick onto surfaces, and a team communications platform” (or anything along those lines), sorry bud, you bombed the quiz. Viagra is actually a failed heart medication. Post-it notes are failed industrial adhesives. And Slack is a failed video game.”
An Ode To Giving Up
Just use GPS when you’re abroad with CoMaps to explore / adventure with privacy and offline.
Nearly 4,000 castles, fortresses and palaces for you to explore in this interactive map across 131 countries: Castlemap.
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:
