It’s been wonderful to see the integration of media on the site to keep up to date with the event.

I’m very interested in all the areas that have been discussed and raised living in a rural area myself and facing the same challenges. Being so far away living in Devon, and with other commitments meant that I could not attend.

Even though I haven’t been able to attend in person, thanks to presentations like the above I feel that I’ve been able take part, even though from far away.

[...] You watch these presenations here. Matthew Taylor also expands on this address through a Q & A session with me which you can watch here. [...]

For anyone who is interested, here is the script I TRIED to use for the participative 2020 Vision session.

==
Future choices.

Well you’ve heard what the people on the panel here think. I want to know what you think. In fact I think we’d all like to know what each other think.

A few years ago someone introduced me to the concept that ‘the genius is in the network’. I guess this as an extension of the phrase ‘two heads are better than one’. There’s now a phenomenon called ‘crowd sourcing’ which is a process of getting what you want with the help of ‘the crowd’ – other people.

Some of the most rewarding things I have done in my life have been to do with the process of extracting genius from others for the benefit of all and that’s what I want to start to do in the next 15 minutes.

I think that we have, in this room, the collective knowledge and experience of virtually every aspect of living and working in the countryside. Let’s see.

Hands up please if you know nothing about rural Britain. OK, so by deduction you all know something. Tell me now what that something is? I want single words or short phrases – here are some to kick us off . . . together we have most things covered.

At last year’s ruralnet conference we wanted to gather - a snapshot of rural Britain - and we asked delegates to help us. And this is the result. A book written by more than 100 people in 8 minutes.

These are on sale throughout the conference.

When I first said that I was going to try and lead on the development of a vision for rural Britain in 2020 and I wanted to involve as many people as possible and I was going to start by engaging more than 250 people at this conference, people who know me said – “Gee! What technology are you going to use?”

Well, we only have a few minutes and I want all of you to contribute if you can. So the technology is obvious – a pen and paper! Could you all take a moment to locate the multi-part paper that was on your seat when you arrived. Oh, and you’ll need a pen (there should be one in your delegate bag).

Let me explain what we are about to embark on. The objective is to create a collective vision of rural Britain in the year 2020 and involve as many people as possible in the process.

We will start by involving all of you - you will provide the foundation on which to realise this objective. After you’ve written your contribution we will put them all online so that others can engage who are not here today. Your ideas will catalyse more ideas. If you want to, you will be able reflect and expand on what you come up with today. Over the next 3 months we will pull all this together and, if we can find a funder, we will produce another book and send it to the policy makers.

Now some of you are looking a little daunted - please don’t be. I’m not asking you to come up with the whole vision yourself - there are more than 250 other people in this room alone to help you!

Please focus in on your own particular experience, expertise or passion. The whole vision will come when we join all the contributions up.

Each and everyone one of you has a unique view of the world shaped by your life, your experience and your education! You may feel really passionate about something or have an insight that’s desperate to get out. You may have an idea that you have been sharing with colleagues and friends.

Each of you will have your own perspective on ‘rural’: for some it will be of life in a market town, for others a village or community or maybe a remote hill farm. For some it will be a view of rural from an urban perspective. All are relevant, all are valuable.

In a moment I am going to give you 8 minutes to write your part of the vision for rural Britain in 2020. If you’d rather draw a picture or diagram please do.

When you start writing (or drawing) I want you to be aspirational. We don’t want gloomy predictions. What could rural Britain be like if we really worked at it? What would you like to see changed? What would you like to see protected? What do you want that you don’t have right now?

In a moment a series of pictures will appear on the screen. Don’t be distracted by them - you have a job to do - but use them for inspiration if you need to.

Does anyone have any questions before I give you precisely 8 minutes to get your contribution to this collective effort down on paper?

TAKE QUESTIONS – anonymity??

OK – you have 8 minutes starting from now.

THANK YOU

What will happen next?

- Please make sure that your name is at the top of the paper
- Please hand-in the top copy of what you have written or drawn
- These will be available in the cybercafe tomorrow if you’d like to come back to them
- Your contributions will be typed up or scanned
- We will put them online and let you know where to find them
- We will then ask others who aren’t with us to add their contributions and comment on those of others
- I’d then like everybody to contact 10 others to let them know where they can comment and contribute
- We will then use this foundation to collectively construct the vision online and in the open
- AND if we can find a funder we will produce a book in the New Year

Well I hope you enjoyed that. Give yourselves a round of applause!

PROPS:
- Pen and multi-part paper
- Book in 8 minutes

==