Newkind: A new kind of conference
With a new approach to change making
To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” George Orwell
The refugee crisis, climate change, wage stagnation, job automation, inequality, species collapse, indigenous rights. It isn’t hard to feel daunted at the enormity of tackling just one of these.
At Newkind, I spent the best part of a week with people who are doing precisely that.
Set in the Falls Festival site in the magical Marion Bay, just north of Hobart Tasmania, Newkind is a new kind of event experience. Like a cross between a conference, a retreat and multi-day camping music festival, it is a bold vision of what the world needs to do to fix the vast, knotted problems that we face as communities, nations and a planet.
The days started waking up for a swim in the pristine (and bracing) Tasman Sea, followed by a communal meal together and packed schedule of talks, workshops and activities. Each day narratives shifted, prejudices shattered, connections established, visions coalesced, and plans were hatched. Spoken word and music performances on the Falls Festival main stage capped each evening before everyone retired to their tents to start the next day afresh.
Newkind gathered 400-odd change agents, economists, activists, marketers, entrepreneurs, artists and concerned citizens into an immersive experience that was in turns challenging, disorienting and calming. It went both deep and wide, and facilitated a space where people could discuss big complex issues with nuance, empathy and clarity.
It was an antidote to the polarisation and tribalism perpetuated by our politics and online platforms.
I was humbled to share the stage on a panel about designing campaigns for social change with Brad Chilcott, Shankar Kasynathan and Laura Hamilton. However, it was during our ‘Tools for Powerful Messaging’ workshop that I held with good mate, top bloke and 101 Token’s founder Benny Wallington where I had my own personal a-ha moment.
We had the smallest workshop venue that had an incredible view across Marion Bay. It packed out, and we soon had to turn people away. We were workshopping a new workshop and learned that it needed to be longer in duration and should be limited to 20 people instead of the 60 that attended. Those who did, were attentive, patient and engaged — for which we were both incredibly grateful.
Judging by the popularity of the workshop and the volume of questions and inquiries we both fielded afterwards, there is a desperate need for this kind of insight, training and skills for community groups and change makers.
For this sector of the community who are self-starters with a bias to action — they need help in stepping back and articulating and communicating their vision. They need help developing strategies that increase their chances of achieving a set of realistic goals. And that’s where we as marketers and communications professionals can not just do our bit, but be a leverage point for these organisations to find clarity, consensus and affect the change they seek to make.
In Seth Godin’s recently published This is Marketing, he states:
“The best marketing is the generous act of helping others become who they seek to become. It involves creating honest stories, stories that resonate and spread. Marketers offer solutions, opportunities for humans to solve their problems and move forward. And when our ideas spread, we change the culture. We build something that people would miss if it were gone. Something that gives them meaning, connection, possibility.”
A goodwash campaign for that multi-national may snare you a Lion at Cannes, but most I’ve seen don’t change a thing. However, your skills and experience can.
Where to start?
There is so much work to be done in terms of care and repair of people and planet. Our Governments have let us down, and the last 12 months have shown that no white knight is bounding out of Silicon Valley to fix any of this.
So, we need to accept reality and the system for what it is and start there.
Countless small organisations need help, whether it’s design, strategy, copywriting, video editing or media relations. You can seek out organisations that are doing great work in your community, or in an area that’s close to your heart. You can do it as an agency, or as an individual.
You can structure the help you provide as:
- Pro Bono — no charge
- Low Bono — discounted
- No Bono — full price
Work this out on a case by case basis, based on your resources and their needs and the budget available.
And (this is super important), make it fun.
“Start from where you are — not where you wish you were. The work you’re doing becomes your path.” Ram Dass
Instead of reading the news and sinking into despair and inaction, we need to go out there and find the others, work with them and help them.
An approach of decentralised grassroots advocacy and activism that builds connection, community and meaning in people’s lives is our best chance of achieving the change we want to see.
That was the message I walked away with from Newkind.
It all comes down to us. That’s you and I dear reader.
So let's get started.
Postscript for community organisations, not for profits and social enterprises
Benny Wallington and I will be filming a version to share of our Newkind workshop where we’ll be walking through our Story Atlas messaging framework. We will then be scheduling group Zooms to workshop everyone’s Story Atlases.
No cost, no on-sell.
Either DM me or email me at:
matt@fromm.com.au
if you would like to get involved, or even if you’d just like to have a chat about anything mentioned in this post.
Matt Kendall is Founder and Director of Fromm, a strategic consultancy based in Sydney and Byron Bay. Matt is obsessed with the future of work, a future that is decentralised, distributed, collaborative and, therefore, a whole lot more human.
Previous Articles:
Collectives of the world, unite and take over
Culture is eating our strategies for breakfast
