Breaking Bread With MATTER
Sharing, storytelling… and schnitzel
One of the things I like most about running MATTER is the close connection we have with our readers and Members. In traditional media, you’re often very distanced from the people who actually read what you work on: you might see the comments they leave, you might talk with them on Twitter, you might get a few emails or even field the occasional phone call. Or, just as often, you might never know who they are at all.
We take a very different approach. It started out with our Kickstarter campaign, which got us going in the early days, but it continues with everything we try to do: trying to be transparent about our decision-making, letting readers ask complex questions of writers and editors, offering up power to our Editorial Board.
Here’s another example: off the back of our Kickstarter campaign, where we committed to taking higher-level backers out for a meal, we’ve started running MATTER dinners all over the world. Over the last couple of weeks we’ve invited a handful readers, contributors and friends out to meals in San Francisco, London, Berlin and New York.
I was there in both London and Berlin last week, which were both great fun (even if Berlin was a Saturday lunchtime, which meant everyone was a little bit worse for wear).
In London, we gathered together an elite group of Kickstarter supporters in Matt Haworth, Chris Green and James Holloway, and readers Andrea Nastase and Mun-Keat Looi, as well as two of our writers: Jo Marchant (In the Name of the King) and Will Storr (Bad Blood). The topics ranged all over the place — Shakespeare, animal testing, journalism, and the military were all subjects that came up, as well as some great tips on ways to make MATTER better (some of which we’ve already started putting into action).
In Berlin, I was joined by Kickstarter backer Kati Krause, and readers Igor Schwarzmann, Johannes Kleske and Martin Spindler, as well as Nerys Hudson, who works with us on publicity from the German capital. There were a lot of publishing folk in town ahead of the Frankfurt Book Fair, and we enjoyed schnitzel along with discussion of drones, the German language and Russian oligarchs.
On both occasions I took the opportunity to document the cast with a bit of old school technology (a Polaroid camera) which was amusing. But more than just gathering people together for a quick snap, it was really a great chance to remind myself of the amazing, intelligent and inquisitive community we’re building.
As I wrote on the train home from the London dinner:
If you want to join us at future events, just let us know @readmatter — and if you’ve got any other ideas about how we might help you meet up with other MATTER readers in your area.
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