2012 TCG National Conference: Model the Movement
At the 22nd TCG National Conference: Model the Movement in Boston, we concluded our year-long celebration of TCG's 50th Anniversary, and continued the momentum to begin transforming our field into a movement for the digital age.
Over three days at Boston's Park Plaza Hotel and Emerson College's Cutler Majestic Theatre, and in our newly expanded Conference 2.0 online community, we began changing the system of how we share, measure and adapt what works – one new model at a time – to make the theatre of our next 50 years thrive.
If you attended the 2012 TCG National Conference: Model the Movement, or even if you didn't, it’s time to join the conversation on Conference 2.0. This online community is full of important information about past conference content, and is a great way for you to find out about and connect with other attendees – through posting questions or giving your opinion on the discussion boards, setting up private meetings with your colleagues, following the Twitter and blog feeds, or just browsing our attendees and their interests. We’ll be using Conference 2.0 as a year-round conference platform to better share, measure and adapt models that work, so be sure to check out the new Groups utility. Join as we Model the Movement online with Conference 2.0!
Read on about the new structure of the TCG National Conference, incorporating our new online community.
Phase 1: The Conference Begins (A Movement Needs a Running Start)
We’ve all seen it happen – when a conference session finally gains momentum, that’s just when it’s time to move onto the next. What if instead, we hit the ground running?
Leading up to Boston – home to some of the most innovative thinkers in the world – TCG began hosting a year-round conference community. Through Conference 2.0, Conference attendees started and joined working groups formed around successful new models. From Teen Councils to Dynamic Pricing to the Next-Big-Thing you’ve just dreamed up, this platform allows attendees to share resources, best practices and achieve measurable progress together.
Phase 2: The Conference in Boston (A Bunch of Hot Models in the Same Room)
Of course as theatre-makers, we know online conversation can’t replace the power of people gathered together in the same room. The Conference’s breakout sessions then become the essential in-person catalysts of year-round collaborations.
These breakout sessions explored working models along four TRACKS: Art, Organization, Community and Field. When a great idea caught on in one session, we shared it with other sessions in that track. Thus, the discoveries that only an in-person Conference can provide will be more effectively captured, creating a dynamic ecosystem of ideas. These interconnected ideas will allow us to explore some of the TRAITS that support a thriving theatre field: Diversity, Interdependence and Adaptability.
Phase 3: The After-Conference (How To Keep a Movement Moving)
While we leave events like this buzzing with good intentions, without a framework to keep that energy going, great ideas are too often lost. The Conference’s online platform breaks that pattern, empowering the working groups to continue their progress, accelerating the growth and deepening the impact of successful models.
The resident theatre movement of the past 50 years was one of shared purpose and passion, but often divided resources and action. The time has come to truly harness the tools of our digital age – while leveraging the irreplaceable act of being together in a room – and forever change how we share, measure and adapt what works.
Now is the time to become a movement again.