CONFERENCING
Written 1994. Updated Oct 2014.
The term ‘ConFest’ stands for
conference festival and there is some energy for creating one or more
conferencing spaces.
In the 1970s there was great passion
to have conference type events at ConFest with themes that were conducive to
coherence in a large number of people.
Attendees may have differing
points of view, though they share a common passionate interest in the theme.
There was around 18 months of
preparatory lead up to the first ConFest and a lot of energy went into the
energizing of interest in identifying conference themes and obtaining the best
speakers and discussion leaders.
For the first ConFest in 1976,
two people were sought out and came from overseas, firstly, Dr Wilhelm Reich’s
daughter Eva[1], who spoke on her work and her father’s
controversial work in neuro-psychiatry, psychoanalysis and bio-physics.
![j_prescott_image[1] (1).jpg](conf_files/image004.jpg)
Eva Reich James Prescott
Secondly, James Prescott,[2] a neuro-psychologist and a health scientist
administrator at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
in Bethesda, Maryland USA; Prescott led a discussion on the theme, ‘body
pleasure and the origins of violence’.
Bill Mollison came up from
Tasmania and led a conference on 'Perennial Agriculture and Alternative
Technology for the Third World.
On the first day Deputy Prime
Minister Cairns led a discussion forecasting ConFest would be and become a
prelude to 'a new emerging society, a society of new values, a society in which
the law of love will be the law of humanity'.
Since the 90s for whatever
reason, there has been a lessoning of interest in conferencing at ConFest.
Two conference notice boards are
typically set up at the end of the workshop notice boards. Typically, at least
one conference space will be pre-prepared.
Would you like to give a
conference talk? And then open discussion for a time?
There are some ConFesters who
sense that the time is ripe for the energizing of the conference format again
at ConFest.
Also refer the paper:
On All Coffee
Break Conferencing