Roisin Markham

I am a big fan of unconferences, openspace technology and a bringing together of people interested enough to show up, think, create, write and openly discuss their views on an agreed topic.

CongRegation began as more of a social media connection event in my mind and has just continued to grow in quality of the people it attracts and how it makes the most of the village of CONG. Now in its eight year it needs to continue to extend the ask and attract more diverse creatives, thinkers and doers especially as the theme this year is Society 3.0 and the event goes virtual. This links into what I want to really say about the theme, but bare with me we have a couple of stepping stones to get to, this being the first one.

Cong is a very historic and pretty village in the West of Ireland, close to Galway city and on the boundaries of two counties Galway and Mayo. The unconference brings participants to the village and places the discussion huddles in bookshops, cafes, pubs, businesses around the town center. This year with a global pandemic we won’t make our way west but dial in online. I’ll miss the trip, I’ll miss spending quality time with the CONG tribe and my social media network that I don’t often get to see or meet.

I love that “the submission is a central aspect of CongRegation as it’s the only way to get a ticket.” So I feel it goes one step further in that you have to create your own ticket. But that’s the challenge right. I’m currently battling with…

Oh hell I’m just going to post this – one of many things I’ve written for Cong recently.

CONGREGATION 2020

It’s a strange desperate thing to want to craft something, to make something. As I heard an animator say recently “it gets in your head”. This morning and for most of the last week and most of October the thing in my head is to write an entry for Cong. An entry that’s worthy of being read, of being seen of attention, that contributes to thinking and brings me to articulate my own meaning in relation to Society 3.0.

I want to make a compelling story. Beginning… and with several false starts under my belt I hold myself in contempt. Oh! that I so desperately want it to be excellent, the imposter permeating my ability to weave words. Why can’t I focus just on what I want to say? Why is writing so unsatisfactory, what do I really want to craft?

I recognise even this is a desperate attempt to create a distinctive story. I’m not a wordsmith. My medium has always been visual, now I even hesitate there. Worried I’ll fail before I began, I overthink, procrastinate and stall. Several false starts remind me of my childhood and early teenage years, for some reason.

I wrote approximately 1000 words about my childhood and my first experiences of being othered. Being othered is my why.

There is always a back story to why people feel strongly about something. This is an invitation to be inquisitive, meet people with gentle curiosity.
Part of my journey is to understand what that compelling story is for others. To make space for it and just listen. Nurturing trust, psychological safety.

So this week I’m aiming to post what I’ve written to morph it into something else of just have the writing stand.

Good enough or not.

Anyway who decides?