Key Messages from the Edge

What's the story of the conference? Hard to see when you're in the midst of the action. Last year Stoneleigh's talk on the financial crisis burst upon the scene and shocked us into looking at the future as a unified group. This year the strands are many and subtle and require time for unpicking, remembering, letting rise to the surface. So I'll sketch out some themes and fill them out tomorrow. One common response to a weekend of full on networking and activities and celebrations was the need for key core messages so here are a few:

MOOD OF THE MOMENT Calm. Focused. Mature. Engaged were the key words from Ben Brangwyn, Peter Lipman and Rob Hopkins of the Network. A willingness to get engaged at a deeper and more committed level. A lot of the discussion is happening at the edges. Like the conversation about livelihoods, the national hubs getting together and organising themselves as networks, the people from Barcelona and Madrid talking about Transition in the squares of Spain. Here's Rob with the book of the conference, David Fleming's, Lean Logic - A Dictionary of the Future and How to Survive It.

A WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT CHALLENGES The Big Group Process took two hours yesterday in the chapel and food court. Walk if this question means something to you, called out Jo. Stay where you are if not. Have you experienced conflict in your imitative? Everyone was walking . . . and laughing ruefully. Walk if this has brought rewards. We kept walking . . .

WHAT KIND OF CULTURE DO YOU WANT TO CREATE? Question posed by Nick Osborne (Glastonbury) talking about the invisible beliefs and structures that shape our conversations in groups. How much are we prepared to go beyond the superficial. The courageous people who bring the debate into a deeper and more authentic space. Here is an interview with David on a workshop he held later on Group Dynamics:



COMMUNICATIONS Jamming about editorial with many groups. Showing our community blog on a workshop about websites. Meeting (and recruiting) social reporters and guest editors. Discussing communications strategy for the network. Resources for initiatives. Collating key messages particularly to do with the economic recession. What we want to say. What we need to say at this point in time.

ENGAGING YOUNGER PEOPLE Another hot topic was the dynamic between self-organisation and control and how younger people break the crystallised structures of older generations. Is Transition getting too set in its ways was the question asked by one of the Social Reporting crew, Caroline Jackson (Lancaster) in her conference blog, Move Over.

This was the first conference that included children. Samadi will be the youngest blogger on the block when the Social Reporting pilot kicks off in September (and a great drummer too). Here he is discussing websites with Ed on Saturday.

Meanwhile the last workshops are now taking place and the final plenary about to begin. I've just been the cameraman for a really interesting interview with Ben Brangwyn about this year's themes which I'll upload tomorrow. Check out the Transition Conference blog if you have time.

Hasta la vista!

Poster by Transition Barcelona; Rob Hopkins by Mike Grenville; interview by David Wilcox; Cartoon to demonstate the communcations strategy by Chris Wells; Samadi and Ed