Maybe We Need a New Mop

Or so implied Jonah Lehrer (and if you just clicked through, yes, he really was that adorable), at last week’s TCG Conference in Chicago. The NPAC blog recaps Jonah’s story nicely:

In his talk, he shared scientific anecdotes about how certain kinds of complexity and heterogeneity in systems can lead to unexpected creativity.  One such story was about the invention of the Swiffer disposable mop, which initially started out as an assignment to invent a better floor cleaning liquid.  However, after some “out of the box” research, the design team arrived at the realization that it was the mop itself that was the real problem. He also discussed research that linked the higher than normal percentage of patents generated by the citizens of San Francisco to urban density and how much people bumped into each other on the street.

I’m inclined to totally agree. The TCG conference was great at helping me reconnect with old friends, colleagues, and classmates. And I listened in on some really thoughtful discussions about the theatre education assessment model, what the next generation of theatre makers hopes for the future, and the challenges managing directors were struggling with at their $5 million + theatres. Sure, I was bummed the Art of Pricing didn’t cover nearly as many interesting points of view as the many conversations here, and here, and of course here (although admittedly I had to leave after the first 1.5 hours). But more and more it’s beginning to feel like if we don’t get more folks like Jonah to take part in our industry wide dialogues about how to make real change, we’ll just continue talking in circles. Of course, this isn’t endemic to just theatre conferences; I also had the opportunity to attend SXSWi this year and there were plenty of complaints.  On the other hand, I don’t think unconferences work all that well, nor did the giant combined NPAC conference in 2008, and you’ve already heard some of my frustration about the Twitter echochamber.

So yes, a new mop will be necessary to figure out new sustainable business models for the theatre (because you know there won’t be just one, right?). But that might mean we need a new mop for discussing the possibilities of a new mop too. Confused yet?

I don’t have all the answers, I don’t even have many suggestions. But I know there’s a lot more folks than me doing cool research about the theatre, and its many challenges. I didn’t hear from (m)any of them at the conference. Overall, I wish there were more (quick!) case studies of successes and failures, more outside voices brought in, more teaching and less meandering discussions. Conference 2.0 was a huge leap forward; next year, I hope the conversations start even earlier. Oh yeah, and the next time anyone, anywhere, for any reason, considers hosting a learning event without free wireless internet available, remember that you’re losing out on the awesome power of live blogging which will record key insights (for historical posterity), diversify the voices “in the room” (by opening up the conversation in real time to those who couldn’t pay to be there), and generate great buzz.

We do it for free because we love you, if only you’d give us wifi.