Hello, community! First of all, thank you to those of you who have taken a few minutes to respond to our survey questions about the upcoming HSD Gathering 2025 – it is good to have your voices in our early conversations about the design. If you haven’t completed the survey but would like to, here’s the link: (https://forms.gle/EdU1J6aD6z6S7qGL7). Your input will help us in our planning. You can also leave us comments through Contact Us.
We have heard from you that thinking together about how HSD can help make and sustain change in our world is exciting for you… and for us, too! We are building the container of HSD Gathering 2025 to be:
- an opportunity to focus on the practical application of HSD approaches, models and methods
- a chance to experiment with setting new patterns for engagement and exchanges as we continue to strengthen the HSD community
While doing the work is at the forefront for many of us, we are also very aware that we often hear (and say) that it is the people who make this community so fabulous, so…the design will balance structured learning with unstructured time for us to connect and be in community.
We are so excited to be hosting this gathering in person, and we are also aware that the decision to attend in person can bring with it concerns about the time and finances required and the environmental impact, especially for our more far-flung community members. Please trust that we are doing all we can to maximize the benefit of being face to face, and we will continue to think about how we can engage with those of you who will not be able to attend in person. We would love to be cheerleaders for your ideas about how to stay connected and be engaged from afar, so send them to us… 2025 is going to be a great year for self-organizing in the global HSD community.
While you are dreaming up ideas, let us know how we can invite in the voices of those outside HSD’s circle, especially youth and under-represented groups – there are so many fantastic people out there doing great work from whom we can learn, and who could benefit from the practice of HSD… how do we reach them? Support their attendance? Shape the program to build them into the centre of it? We are looking for the next generation of HSDers to take the work in new and exciting directions.
In our next blog, we will explore the Simple Rules we have set for ourselves as we consider the design elements of HSD Gathering 2025. We will also name a couple more ways you can contribute to the design, or the planning, so watch for those.
We would love to hear what you are thinking now, and what you are wondering about HSDG 2025… this conversation will be on-going and there will be plenty of ways you can get involved if you want to. Let’s keep talking!