After conferences, I often write here about lessons learned (like on the 2019 SGM in Fribourg).

This weekend, I learned more than usual. This weekend I learned an awful lot.

One of my tasks as new VP of the Swiss Association of Geography is to organize the human geography contributions at the annual Swiss Geosciences Meeting. I’ve organized my share of things before but this was a new experience, both in terms of scope and also because our contributions are part of a larger structure that naturally has its own goals and constraints and limitations. I also learned that in a role like this, something that goes wrong might not be your fault, but it is your responsibility.

And it was a great time! I know how much of organizing is built on invisible labor, but I learned that I can use my new role to render some of that labor visible. So many people helped build this, and I did my best to bring their efforts to light. That was really rewarding and fun too.

I learned a lot about putting myself into a position of service. I worked to create platforms for other people to showcase their work, and I worked to create situations for people to meet, exchange, and hopefully build something new. So even though that’s me in the photo, I didn’t speak much during this conference.

This is a relevant photo, I think. Yes, I was talking, but it wasn’t about my work or me. Instead, this was a quick introduction to the Swiss Association of Geography and how we as an organization can serve the community. And then I introduced the keynote speaker, my friend Tim Raeymaekers from the University of Bologna, who gave a great talk on rural geographies. I was proud and happy to make a platform for him and put him in the spotlight (ps – go check out his new book – it’s amazing).

Tim’s keynote landed really well with a lot of people, but with some others not so much. But even there, I heard a lot of healthy discussion. It was a joy to hear people talking about his work and simply to witness how ideas are spread and debated.

I’m taking a lot of lessons from this experience, and I’m going to use my new role to try to reform some of the organizational challenges that we went through during the preparations. I want to make it easier for everyone to create a panel or a symposium, and I’m eager to see what ideas people come up with next year.