It's a bit late to say Happy New Year, so Happy Anniversary instead - it is a year to the day since the launch of The Brisbane Dialogues on 9 March 2020!
A Quick Look Back - 2021 Events - Queensland Talks Calendar - Building Capacity
A Quick Look Back
We weren’t quite sure what we were launching at the time. It was essentially the determination of a few people to do something about the deterioration of the public square. It is wonderful that this sentiment is now shared by a considerable group of committed volunteers and a wide circle of supporters.
The other aspect was, and is, to help expand the public square by establishing a genuinely independent, neutral, inclusive, intergenerational forum for the discussion of “big ideas and issues” of national or global interest, from a Brisbane regional base.
The main focus in 2020 was evolving the “Big Dialogue” format: skilfully moderated, respectful, long-form, in-person, public discussions of important topics of interest to a general audience, between a small number of experts with sharply contrasting views, in a congenial environment, with high production values. (Phew!) Speakers are encouraged to express strong positions but seek common ground pointing to possible resolutions and solutions. Audience participation is facilitated in several ways. As one supporter says: “It is what Q&A should be!”
2021 Events
This year we are planning two more Big Dialogues, Mondays 26 July and 15 November, on the challenging subjects of climate change and indigenous policy respectively. We are very pleased to be collaborating on the July event with the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In addition, we expect to be conducting or supporting quite a few other events, public and private, in different formats, in partnership with like-minded organisations during the year.
Queensland Talks Calendar
We will shortly launch, with the support of several universities, an aggregated calendar of ideas-based events in Southeast Queensland: Queensland Talks, presently in beta.
There is a surprising number of interesting events going on, but many are not visible or easily accessible and there is no collective publication. We hope this initiative will make it a lot easier for residents and visitors to find stimulating talks, leading to greater attendances and creating a valuable community asset.
Building Capacity
The overarching priority now is to build capacity to deliver more high quality discussion events, and support others to, on a sustainable basis. This means a complete marketing makeover and establishing a robust structure to attract, coordinate and govern many more volunteers, with diverse skills and limited time, across event development and management, marketing, content, legal/finance/admin and IT.
So watch this space, but don’t just watch! If you would like to participate, please get in touch, or check out this page, which will be upgraded over coming weeks to better explain volunteer roles and organisation.
To make things happen, we need more hands and hearts, whether for a few hours a day, a week or a year. Everyone is welcome and can do something!
Kind regards,
Murray Hancock
Convenor
The Brisbane Dialogues: Better Discussions
www.brisbanedialogues.org
@brisbanedialogues
thebrisbanedialogues@gmail.com
0415 429723
The Brisbane Dialogues is a wholly independent, neutral, intergenerational, all-volunteer, not-for-profit project to stimulate better discussions about big ideas and issues.
“He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that.” J.S. Mill
