Fieldnotes from All Day Hey!
Why human connections matter, now more than ever
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This morning I shook off a bit of low-level anxiety and broke a stubborn habit by going to an in-person conference in Leeds. A lovely city in the North of England I don’t get to often enough. On the train home, experiencing that peculiar mix of elation and exhaustion that arrives when the music stops and the party ends, I’m reflecting on what made it a brilliant day and why I’ve let opportunities like this pass me by recently. I’ve never been part of the crowd that somehow manages to attend every conference going, but there was a time I made it to at least one a year.
What changed?
I could gesture despairingly at the world at large and everything that’s happened over the last five years as the reason, and there would be truth in that. But it would let me off the hook. Somewhere along the way I lost touch with what matters and why we’re all here. The kind of blithe calculations employed by business clouded my judgement. You know, I did a cost–benefit analysis and hypothesised I could get the same return on investment by watching recordings online afterwards. If that reads like bullshit to you and entirely misses the point, it’s because it is and does.
Anyway, at first I thought I’d write up and publish the notes I took: a neat summary of the talks and my takeaways. That would be worthwhile. All the presentations were knockout, and the effort the speakers put into them was evident. Each one carefully laying out a breadcrumb trail of ideas to follow through: interaction, accessibility, sound, video, psychology, games, learning, experimentation and communication. I’m sure I’ll be thinking about how to carry them into my own work for weeks. But doing that would still somehow miss the mark.
Being present
When I think about today and cast my mind back over conferences past, the enduring value isn’t a bullet list of findings and actions. It’s something less tangible, harder to pin down and assign worth to. It’s the break from routine and the lift that comes from being around people who are still hopeful and excited about their craft. The chance encounters: meeting new people, sharing ideas and perspectives, small kindnesses and unexpected generosity, and leaving with the kind of memories you can’t download later or create by tapping Like or Repost before moving swiftly on to the next thing.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Josh for organising All Day Hey! over the last ten years, and to all the speakers, sponsors and volunteers who helped create the space for a community to convene. The talks were inspiring as always, but the human connection is what stays with you.
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