Thanks for writing this! I agree to a large extent. I also find panels hard to follow and prefer focused talks from experts (and prefer 1:1s to all of them). Brainstorming sessions-wise, I agree with you that they work only if the group participants are selected for a particular purpose. Most brainstorming sessions with “random” participants (even though they were interested in the same topic as me) I attended never went anywhere. However, there is some value in attending these sessions to feel engaged in the community. For example, I try to make it to Revolutionist nights which are essentially discussion/brainstorming sessions about a certain topic and what we can do to end factory farming. Because of the variety of people’s involvement in the movement and how busy we are, there are rarely any concrete outcomes. However, I think there is value in gathering and discussing, developing your confidence and strategic thinking, and feeling like you’re a part of the community. So going into these meetings with these goals are ok, but agree that they are usually not great for “let’s come up with good ideas and implement them” goals. There is, of course, the question of how much it’s worth your time and how important these goals are to you, which is up to the conference organisers and the attendees to decide.
Thanks for writing this! I agree to a large extent. I also find panels hard to follow and prefer focused talks from experts (and prefer 1:1s to all of them). Brainstorming sessions-wise, I agree with you that they work only if the group participants are selected for a particular purpose. Most brainstorming sessions with “random” participants (even though they were interested in the same topic as me) I attended never went anywhere. However, there is some value in attending these sessions to feel engaged in the community. For example, I try to make it to Revolutionist nights which are essentially discussion/brainstorming sessions about a certain topic and what we can do to end factory farming. Because of the variety of people’s involvement in the movement and how busy we are, there are rarely any concrete outcomes. However, I think there is value in gathering and discussing, developing your confidence and strategic thinking, and feeling like you’re a part of the community. So going into these meetings with these goals are ok, but agree that they are usually not great for “let’s come up with good ideas and implement them” goals. There is, of course, the question of how much it’s worth your time and how important these goals are to you, which is up to the conference organisers and the attendees to decide.