This time last week I was catching up on all the tasks I’d missed while attending the knowledge mobilisation 2019 forum in Newcastle. A week has passed and I’ve now caught up (two days out when you’ve a boundary spanning role, is a long time) and I’ve spent the week running to catch up. The weekend is here again and I’ve time to reflect properly on the event, my learning and how energising it all was.
I thought I’d write about my highlights but first a note on the venue – https://www.sevenstories.org.uk – this could not have been more perfect. It was the extra player in our game – creating atmosphere; inspiring us to share and craft stories.
In terms of highlights the two plenaries were outstanding. Ishbel Smith’s tour de force performance reminded me that some of what we do in the knowledge world is about performance – weaving the story with our metaphors, our staging our physicality and our voice. The second plenary was by two of my heroes – Andree Le May and John Gabbay. They say do not meet your heroes, but ‘they’ are wrong! I was buoyed by their wisdom, insight and humility. Something else to model then. Most brilliantly all the speakers stayed and participated and that is rather wonderful and a real credit to the organisers.
One of the best things about the forum (it’s my second year) is the natural way conversations are to be had. Not the dread of a networking opportunity but instead creative activities which encourage discussion and participation – the fishbowl on diplomacy was a highlight for me. These conversations continue beyond the sessions and new insights are developed. I’ve already had a teleconference with people I met at the forum – following up from our conversations. This is unusual, conference polite chit chat rarely, in my experience, leads to real networks and opportunities to collaborate.
I know I’ve grown as a practitioner as a result if my two days out. I’ll illustrate this with a story. Are you sitting comfortably…?
This week I presented my PhD findings twice. Once at a public health sector led improvement conference and once to colleagues from one of my field sites. On both occasions I didn’t really talk about methods and results; instead I told a story to explain key parts of my findings. I illustrated this with drawings /doodles. And, you know what? It worked! It felt good and one audience member said ‘I’d explained how it feels not just how it is’ this was so affirming both of my findings but also what I’ve been up to for the last nearly 5 years.
I know I would not have been brave enough to sum up my whole PhD with an image of the gold clock on Leeds Civic Hall if I’d not attended KMb2019. If I’d not spent time listening, learning, sharing stories and developing ideas; if I’d not seen Ishbel act out her keynote. Thank you all – I had a blast and can’t wait for next year.