Conferences, talks, panels and other events regularly gather together people to share individual and movement knowledge regarding ways to create social change. As part of the Commons Library Skills Share sessions in November 2022 this session focussed on skills related to documenting such events so that learnings can be shared beyond the event. Many of the examples included are from Australian Progress conferences – we are proud to have collaborated with Progress to provide conference content curation and look forward to future events.
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Tips from the Session
Why gather materials at events?
The Commons Library seeks to gather the collective wisdom of people engaged in social change. We are on the look out for opportunities to access and share that knowledge.
Conferences are key moments of social movement knowledge production which can be catalysts for innovation and collaboration. There can be much greater lasting value from conferences via sharing the resources generated at them.
Conference organisers tend to be focused on the core logistics of delivering the conference and have limited capacity to curate resources. The Commons can contribute complementary skills and focus to support the effectiveness of conferences while increasing the library contents.
Knowledge spreads from conferences through the people who attend, who change their practices, or get excited and pass insights on to others. We support that mode of learning by making recordings, handouts and articles available, which can help make sure things don’t get lost in translation.
We also give people the chance to learn from conferences, beyond attending or connecting with people who attended. Potentially people can learn from a conference by accessing materials on the Commons, potentially on the other side of the world after a number of years have passed.
Examples of materials gathered at events
The materials gathered at conferences can take many different forms:
Articles based on presentations along with additional helpful resources, for example Deep Canvassing to Shift Hearts, Minds and Votes shares lessons from Caitlin Homrich-Knieling’s plenary and workshop at FWD+Organise 2021 along with related articles, podcasts and videos gathered by Antje Dun (as well as the related Deep Canvassing Scripts article)
Crowdsourcing information at conferences can be a powerful way to draw on the knowledge of presenters and participants. For example Holly Hammond collated comments from the event chat at Virtual Progress to compile Disability Justice Links
It’s not just about conferences!
The Commons has collated each season of the ChangeMakers Organising School to make it easy for people to work their way through the session recordings and related resources.
The Commons has compiled articles, including recordings, from each of our 2022 Skills Sessions.
Event Reporting Tools
Here are some different tools you can use as part of event reporting, to encourage participation and share knowledge:
Live Tweeting – using the event hashtag, sharing key quotes from presenters, finding out what has been resonating for participants
Event chat – online events provide a great opportunity to ask questions, share answers, and direct people to related resources
Vox Pops – one way to find out what people are thinking at an event
Polls – a quick way to get participation and feedback
Stalls or Virtual Booths – a chance to talk to people in breaks and gather information
Preparing for Event Reporting & Tips for on the Day
Gather a team of reporters
Review the programme and identify sessions of interest
Assign people to sessions based on their interest and availability
Set up a collaborative notes document, such as a Google doc, for note taking
Include the conference blurb and presenter info for easy reference
Contact presenters in advance (or have the conference organisers do so) to let them know about the potential for
(a) them to submit their own articles, slides or notes
(b) an article to be written based on their session
(c) get their consent/check if anything is sensitive
Develop a social media plan – who will do what and potential opportunities in the program to prepare for
On the day:
Stay in touch with the team, let each other know about changes etc
Keep notes in the collaborative doc during sessions
Factor in breaks
Where possible check in with presenters
Differences between online and offline events:
Online provides lots of opportunity for engagement in the chat, crowd-sourcing etc
Offline provides the opportunity to make in-person contact with presenters
Tips for Event Organisers
To make it easier to gather content from events:
Let presenters know that content will be gathered
Have an easy system for presenters to share their materials
Let presenters know that it’s optional
If the Commons is curating let participants and presenters know our role
Record your sessions – have one platform where you upload videos, have a consistent naming protocol, and include the session blurb and presenter bios
