Hit programming picks of the week

The following conferences caught the attention of C2 Online participants, resonating deeply and prompting avalanches of response and conversation. All three of the following conferences are available for watching (or rewatching) in VOD on the C2 Online event platform.

Patrisse Cullors

Fireside Chat, October 19

“Stop using the words diversity and inclusion. Challenge yourself to start thinking about a workplace that is anti-racist.”

Social activist, best-selling author and co-creator of the viral Twitter hashtag and movement #BlackLivesMatter, Patrisse Cullors kicked off C2 Online with a conference that ignited an honest conversation about racial justice.

In conversation with social entrepreneur Fabrice Vil, she called 2020 a time of reckoning and of generational unlearning and relearning across industries and around the world. For real change to happen, she encouraged everyone to “join something” in support of fighting for Black lives. On organization and leadership, she pointed to Black Lives Matter as a “leaderful” movement that is action-oriented and group-centred.

Login to the C2 Online platform, in the VOD section, to rewatch the conference (participants only)

Malcolm Gladwell

Masterclass presented by RBC, October 20

“Why in society do we insist you have to choose a career and stick to it? Career switching should be more than commonplace, but encouraged.”

Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell’s masterclass, “A crash course in curiosity,” with author Jael Richardson saw the rockstar storyteller explain the importance of “identity stacks” when it comes to being empathetic towards others.

“All of us have multiple identities… and those identities are given different priorities.” He gave the example of his mother — a Jamaican-born Canadian, writer, psychotherapist, devout Christian, mom to three boys and more — and then invited participants to create their own identity stack. “What are the identities that matter to you right now? Put them in order from most important to least important,” Malcolm instructed. A good definition of empathy is to understand how someone orders their identity stack, he concluded. “Feelings towards others are empty unless they come with some kind of structure that directs where our empathy lies.”

Login to the C2 Online platform, in the VOD section, to rewatch the conference (participants only)

Jane Fonda

Fireside Chat presented by RBC, October 22

“If you are ignorant, it’s not good but you just don’t know. Once you know, if you then turn away, then you are part of the problem.”

Academy Award-winning actor, producer, activist, author and fitness guru Jane Fonda shared personal remembrances of her experiences of growing up as an actor and how it informed her activism, stating that, “Movies influence culture whether we like it or not… make your career mean something.”

She also inspired us with her passion for effecting environmental change: “The climate crisis is the big existential shadow that hangs over all of us. We’re beginning to witness the unraveling of planetary life.” She reminded us that this is by far the biggest challenge humankind has ever faced, and that “there’s a possibility that it is already too late, although the science says if we can cut emissions in half [by 2030] it will gradually get better… For the rest of my life, this is what I will be doing and this is what I will devote myself to.”

Login to the C2 Online platform, in the VOD section, to rewatch the conference (participants only)

C2 Online: Behind the scenes

Although all the C2 Online action is going down digitally on C2’s new event platform, there is still an incredible amount of other activity taking place safely at a number of locations and spaces in C2’s sphere. The following photos are a behind-the-scenes glance at some of the goings-on this past week.

Photo credit: Jimmy Hamelin

GO BEHIND THE SCENES