Chain Reaction 09: The best bits
Yesterday I spent the day with 400 other people exploring ways of changing society for the better. The second Chain Reaction in Canary Wharf event saw a diverse mix of charities, social entrepreneurs, businesses, politicians, social media "geeks" and students gather together and collaborate on developing new ideas and committing to taking them forward.
It was my first time at Chain Reaction and I found it to be a very inspiring event, which threw up many great ideas and challenges for participants. I saw a lot of positive connections being made and hope that they result in some extraordinary projects for me to write about in the future.
Here are some of the most interesting bits of the day for me:
- Conservative MP Nick Hurd admitting that he was 'not a big believer' in the concept of a UK Community Reinvestment Act, arguing that banks are already doing a lot of work in this area 'in a quiet way'. There's a good account of the shadow charity minister's views, here.
- Shaks Ghosh, chief executive of the Private Equity Foundation, warning that most charities are not yet ready to take on too much public service work, as proposed by Conservatives, and that many organisations are not getting the most out of donations.
- Geoff Mulgan's speech where he said that despite the crisis that we have a lot of reasons for hope. The Young Foundation's chief executive claimed that we are now at a turning point, but added that we must not drift back into fatalism.
- Hearing a great anecdote from Entrepreneurs in Action's Derek Browne about his triple jumping past and an encounter with Gold medal winning athlete Phillips Idowu, which started the young star on his winning ways.
- A presentation by the DTA's head of consultancy, Jess Steele, on the Meanwhile programme, which is helping to bring empty shops back to life. One of her big concerns at the moment is the 'hole' left by developer Westfield on the site of its proposed shopping centre in Bradford, which she suggested could be livened up by a light show.
- Finding out about Acorn House entrepreneur Arthur Potts Dawson's own project to revive an inner city area through the reuse of an empty shop, the People's Supermarket, a project that will feature in a television series next year.
- Hearing the opening speakers Newham's young mayor, Simon Berry from Cola Life and Major Phil Packer about the difference they've been making over the past year.
- The speednetworking session, during which I met Rioch Edwards-Brown, who later picked up the Unltd Level 1 Live Pitching award for her project So You Wanna Be in TV. The project, which aims to connect young people with people working in the television industry, was set up with her husband in memory of their son who was shot and stabbed to death.
There were a lot of other ideas that came out of the event. You can find out more at the Chain Reaction website or from the twitterfeed.
Posted on Friday, 13th November 2009 | This entry has 0 comments
