A new dawn for CreativeMornings/Edinburgh
“I don’t think I can do this…”
It was the 11th December in 2014, the first-ever CreativeMornings/Edinburgh event and the room was packed despite the “weather bomb” going on outside. But as the room filled with excited caffeinated chatter, I was hiding backstage gripping the sleeve of my co-event producer Jakub, a videographer I had met online less than 6 weeks ago but — thanks to the stress and elation that goes hand in hand with event production — felt like I’d known for years. Deadpan in the face of my angst he said: “You’ll be fine… and anyway it’s too late to back down now.”
With the certainty of that statement ringing in my ears, I went out to host my first ever CreativeMornings/Edinburgh event.
6 years — 66 events — 2200 community members and countless stolen sharpies later it is now time for me to hang up my metaphorical hat, step down from my duties as CreativeMornings/Edinburgh host and make way for a new dawn. (Too much?)
For those new to CreativeMornings, it’s a monthly morning lecture series that was started in 2008 by design legend and serial entrepreneur Tina Roth Eisenberg as a way to bring people together once a month for a dose of inspiration, caffeine and connection in your local city. There are today over 200 chapters around the world that gather every last Friday of the month. You can find out more on the main site.
CreativeMornings is entirely volunteer-led, and for the past 6 years, I have dedicated 15 hours a month of my time and energy to producing the events, building a team and finding partners to keep our chapter afloat. But however many hours I have voluntarily devoted, it all pales into insignificance in comparison to how much I have taken from the experience. CreativeMornings monthly events, my cracking team and this incredibly kind, inspiring and resilient community have been my constant backdrop, shaping so much of my thinking, my relationships and my outlook on life.
So before I go I wanted to share some of my reflection, musings and why launching CreativeMornings/Edinburgh remains one of the best things I have ever done:
You never know who you might be sitting next to
“We systematically overestimate the value of access to information and underestimate the value of access to each other”.
Clay Shirky
Curating speakers for our Edinburgh events has taught me that rather than looking to other bigger, shinier cities for inspiration we have more talent and inspiring stories than we could ever need, right here on our doorstep. And truth be told, it is often the lesser-known speaker who will bring the most novel perspective to the stage. I have learnt that when it comes to finding stimulating speakers and stories that make us reflect on our outlook it’s not really about going far but about going wide.
Challenge your filter bubble regularly
We know that modern technology is optimised to give us more of what we like to such a point that it is entirely possible to go months without ever leaving your perfect echo chamber. But thanks to the set monthly themes that dictate the topic of the month a level of randomness is introduced. Because there are so many ways to interpret “empathy”, “spectrum” or “water” our speakers have ranged from photographers, a violin maker, activists, poets, civil servants, museum curators, architects, adventurers, musicians, historians, chefs and everything in between. A regular attendee once said to me:
“I don’t even check who is speaking anymore, I know it will be good and I love the surprise.”
CreativeMornings events produce rich and sometimes challenging conversations that pull us out of our echo chambers, something that I believe is dearly needed now more than ever.
The people around you shape who you are, so choose wisely
I started CreativeMornings/Edi because I was new to the city and to be honest had nae pals. I was delighted to discover that it takes a certain type of person to get up at the crack of dawn 2 hours before work and attend a jaunty networking event and an even more wildly enthusiastic person to want to donate 10 hours a month to keep said event going. CreativeMornings attracts some brilliant humans and the type of people I want to be around.
My team, speakers and community have taught me so much and I am privileged to say I have made some of my best friends on this wild journey both here in Edinburgh and beyond.
If it’s not fun it’s not sustainable
CreativeMornings is often referred to by its founder Tina Roth Eisenberg as a “labour of love” and I cannot agree more. But how do you keep a smart, talented team of volunteers engaged month after month when there is no monetary exchange? After some trial and error, we made sure we always made time for each other and had a laugh while doing so. I’m convinced budgeting a yearly retreat and quarterly get together beyond the events is why the average CreativeMornings/Edi volunteer stayed with us 2–3 years.
It’s also how we ambitiously (and perhaps naively)undertook organising The Wee Summit where over 40 CreativeMornings volunteers from 18 cities around the world came together in Edinburgh to share ideas and learn from each other over a weekend.
CreativeMornings tackles serious and important topics but it doesn’t take itself too seriously and this is perhaps the secret sauce that keeps people coming back, speakers entrusting us with their personal stories and volunteers going above and beyond.
A responsibility to the community
Because of the monthly cadence of these events, looking back they are like snapshots in time of our local creative scene and collective consciousness. A number of world events seemed to happen on Friday mornings, like that time we had an event on the topic of “broken” the morning of the Brexit vote (I will never forget how much that event felt like a wake). In 2019 we had a whole year dedicated to female-identifying speakers. More recently the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement took centre stage and as a community event, we felt it was our responsibility to do our best to facilitate a virtual space people could still come to gather in and make sense of the world. There is always so much space to do more but I am proud that as a team we did not shy away from embracing difficult topics.
Looking ahead
Right from the start, being part of CreativeMornings has given me a taste of what it feels like to do purposeful work and what it feels like to be working alongside smart, fun and generous people dedicated to a cause bigger than themselves. This energy and ethos are what I will always strive to apply to my own work, both in developing my design collective Korero Studio, which is all about getting teams unstuck and working better together, as well as my new venture Diabetes By Design where I am collaborating with health professionals to reimagining the Type 1 diagnosis journey.
It’s been an incredible privilege and honour to be CreativeMornings/Edi host for the past 6 years but to truly keep “challenging the filter bubble” it’s now time for new energy and thinking to take our local chapter to new creative heights and directions.
Thank you to all the speakers who took the stage with me, thank you to all the past volunteers who planned, stacked chairs, laughed (and cried) with me over the years, thank you to the partners who helped make these events a reality, especially our long term champions FreeAgent, thank you to our community who joined in (and lately tuned in) month after month — you are our reason to get up in the morning. Thank you to CreativeMornings HQ and the amazing force for global hugs and high fives you represent. To the other team members leaving this month: Ellie, Chloé, Kristian and Suzanne thank you for your commitment and precious friendship.
But most of all thank you to Clare, Matt, Kat, Molly and the new team members who will ensure CreativeMornings/Edinburgh continues to inspire, connect and challenge our community. In these historical times of the “Great Reset”, I am equal parts excited and envious of the adventure that awaits! I wish you the best of luck and will be your biggest cheerleader knowing the chapter and community is in the best possible hands. You totally got this … and anyway it’s too late to back down now 😘
See you the last Friday of the month,
Thank you 🎤🖐🏻
Love,
Alex
I will always be a member of the @edinburgh_cm community but you can also find me on Twitter, Instagram and the ol’Linkedin.
