The first ever CreativeMornings Summit was held in New York 2.-3.10. Our host Margot was part of the memorable event - here are her thoughts on #CMSummit14 and a film by Bas Berkhout of Like Knows Like:
CreativeMornings Summit 2014 from Bas Berkhout on Vimeo.
After catching up on sleep and consuming an enormous amount of coffee, I have almost recovered from the jetlag that resulted after a quick trip to New York City. I was fortunate enough to attend the first ever CreativeMornings Summit, organized by the CreativeMornings HQ in Brooklyn. More than 160 participants from over 30 countries gathered at the Invisible Dog Art Center to reflect, compare and learn from each other’s experiences.
“It’s like my wedding on steroids!” founder Tina Roth Eisenberg laughs as she welcomes us all on Thursday morning after a breakfast of (no surprise) donuts and Blue Bottle Coffee. “CreativeMornings is all love. Start from the heart. Host happiness. Never stop having fun,” she says. The two days were packed with heartfelt presentations, discussions and brainstorms, laughter and, upon Tina’s request, hugs. Dozens of hosts took the stage to share their best practices and horror stories, their tips for building a community and their tricks for attracting partners and finding funding.
LA’s Jon Setzen, the longest standing CM host after Tina herself, listed the things he’s learned along the way, like how important it is to pamper your speakers and how we shouldn’t underestimate the power of wooing guests with delicious treats! Edmonton’s Brandon Webber illustrated how we can do more with the content shared at events – his team commissions and screen-prints limited-edition posters with local illustrators. Atlanta's Blake Howard, a natural showman, taught us what it means to engage with the audience – he’s put on a “What’s in the box?” guessing game, a “money booth”, and a “battle of the sexes” competition.
Equally inspiring were presentations by spoken word poet Sarah Kay (known for her TED talk 'If I should have a daughter...'), documentary filmmaker Deidre Schoo and several of Brooklyn’s street dancers on the new film Flex is Kings, and host of radio show Design Matters and previous CM NYC speaker Debbie Millman (on her 10 things she wish she knew when she graduated college). Although Brooklyn was the conference’s home-base, we traveled to Manhattan for Thursday evening drinks at Shutterstock’s HQ in the Empire State Building, and CM NYC’s October event on CROSSOVER with graffiti artist Steve Powers at MoMA.
We said our goodbyes on Friday evening at the center for art and innovation, Pioneer Works, in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood. With a cake to celebrate CM NYC’s 6th birthday, the first ever CM talent show, and a dance party with special appearances by HQ’s Kevin Huynh and Sally Rumble, the evening was memorable, to say the least.
“CM is like two big arms that hug you and pull you in,” said Jon Setzen. It couldn’t be more true. A special thank you to all who made this event possible.
Text by Margot van der Krogt
