Designing a Forum on Canada's Futures
It’s been just over two weeks since #Imagining2080 and my mind is still buzzing about the ideas, provocations, and connections that were made. I am so grateful for those who have shared their reflections so far. As one of the organizers, it’s such a gift to be able to learn about the impact of the forum, and how people experienced it. So far my reflections are more focused on the process that got us there, as I still continue to wrap my head around the magic that happened.
Working on the Forum has been one of the most fascinating, daunting, exciting and challenging projects that we’ve ever taken on at Creative Futures. Perhaps because we are not typically conference organizers, but mostly because tackling a topic as vast and complex as the futures of this place known as Canada is, well, formidable.
Understanding the privilege and momentousness of this task, we approached this project as we would with most - by talking to people. We spent months asking people what would compel them to attend a forum on Canada’s futures, what they might hope to get out of it, and what we should avoid doing. We also asked them about the best conference they’d ever attended, and what made it so great. From there we developed several prototypes (a completely youth-run and focused forum, an entirely land-based forum, a Three Horizons-based forum, a forum focused on 2100 vs 2080, and SO many more), followed by a round of testing with many of the same people we initially engaged, as well as some new folks. This helped us narrow it down to a final concept that eventually became the event 150 of us experienced in Hamilton earlier this month.
If you were one of the 50+ people we consulted on the design of this forum - THANK YOU! As the three days rolled by, I can honestly say we did our absolute best to activate your input.
A project like this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I am forever grateful for being involved. I personally had the absolute pleasure of curating a speaker series designed to explore a variety of different visions of Canada’s futures. I am eternally thankful to Raïsa M., Jayne Engle, Julius Lindsay (he/him), Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel, Jackie Chi Kit Cheung, Vasiliki (Vass) B., Michael Morden and Samantha Matters for accepting this invitation, as it was not a simple task. Weeks later I’m still reflecting on the ideas shared and grateful for the time and care they each took in preparing and delivering their visions.
Other personal highlights include a zoom call with Jesse Wente when we asked him to be our closing keynote speaker (#starstruck), a call with Adam Kahane when he emphasized the importance of our theory of change, writing speculative party menus for 2079, sampling the field trips from the future (curated by Heather Russek), connecting and reconnecting with old and new friends, clearing my mind on Day 2 while hiking through McMaster’s forest and planting* a tree, designing and facilitating a scenario development game to support narrative development on Day 3, and so many more. Looking at this list, it’s no wonder I’m still struggling to articulate my own reflections from the event.
But I will say this - I will be forever thankful that Ann Elisabeth Samson invited us to work with her on this AMAZING, once-in-a-lifetime project. We didn’t do it perfectly, but I can honestly say we did our very best. I also want to acknowledge the other amazing humans we worked with on this: Kaleigh Wisman who was always 3 steps ahead of us with her questions, Habon Ali who brought amazing ideas, energy, and support, Jess Thomson for her creation of a brilliant look and feel, Carina D'Angelo who essentially saved us in the final days, and of course my professional better half Heather Russek for leading this project on our end. Additionally a huge thank you to Jen Rae, Dr. Syrus Marcus Ware, Ayana Webb, and Kelly Kornet Weber for facilitating sessions, and to the many folks who hand-raised and led an Ideas Forum session.
And lastly, a HUGE thank you to the 150 delegates who attended Imagining 2080. I hope attending helped you reflect on where you hope the world will be in 2080, and your own role in helping us get there. If not, I hope you made a new friend, learned something interesting, and enjoyed visiting Hamilton. If you know me, you know I think Hamilton is one of the best cities to live in, so it won't come as a surprise when I say, come back soon!
(*by planting I mean attempting to plant a tree, only to be saved by Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel because apparently my upper body isn’t as strong as I once thought…)