Three and a half days just listening to YOU???

The brains behind my Wake festival is my good friend Adam Turkington. Adam is not only an amazing event organizer, but is brilliant about making sure that everyone has a good time. He wrote this little piece on my upcoming event that I thought I would share…

‘Three and a half days just listening to YOU???’

This was my response to Pete’s declaration to me that he was considering running a retreat in the depths of the Irish countryside.

‘So’ I continued ‘after spending all day wrestling with the meaning of existence and looking into the void they what? Hang out with some cows?’

I guess for some people that might sound idyllic, but I didn’t think it chimed with what little I knew of Pete’s writing and it certainly didn’t sound to me that attendees would see the Belfast that Pete and I grew up in. So I proceeded, lubricated by a couple of pints to lay out what I would do.

By way of introduction, I’ve been running arts events in Belfast for 20 years and I’ve known Pete for a good deal longer than that. When we started talking about this event I’d just finished working on a web designer conference called Build. Andy, who’s created Build, insisted that we never call it a conference – it was a festival with a conference element. There were workshops, music events and break out seminars which filled the days surrounding the conference element had very little to do with web design but they did provide new contexts and new ways of looking at the content that was explored in the formal sessions. I believe good conferences aren’t just about learning from the front, they’re about learning from each other, building community and exploring your role in that community. So I proposed, what if the event was city based, with music gigs and workshops and tours? What if we use my knowledge and contacts in Belfast to create a one-off experience of unusual venues, inspirational artists and experiences no tourists ever get? So for the last four years we’ve been running the event and the feedback from the people who come has been just brilliant. It’s become one of my favourite weeks of the year because I get to show off the city I love. You get to see the stuff you never see in the glossy mags, the stuff the tourist board never tells you about, the vibrant underbelly of Belfast where Pete and I grew up.

This year will be no exception. We’ll be starting with a beer tour, we have workshops in Magic and Leather craft and a performance from Hip Hop and spoken word artist Jun Tzu. Every year is different and every year we get a little bit better at it. We change enough to keep it interesting for those who return every year but at the core it remains about the ideas in Pete’s writing and creating space for people to examine the ideas and how they impact on them individually and collectively.

But the truth is, and this is where I am the expert, great events are not about the constituent parts. That’s part of it sure, but what makes events come alive is an attention to detail that comes from a clear ideological spine informing all aspects of what goes on – basically it’s about creating the vibe.

People always ask me what I think of Pete’s work and I always say (truthfully) that I’ve never read any of it. But I know Pete, I know the ideas behind his work and I know this city like the back of my hand. I don’t need to know Pete’s work, that’s Pete’s job. My job is to make sure you leave Belfast having had the space to think about life changing ideas and having enjoyed four days worth of once in a lifetime experiences.

So I’ll see you in April.

Adam