Summit 2025: The Silver Branch
The Spring Equinox brings high winds and turbulence: excellent weather for reconsidering assumptions.
Openness to exploration and uncertainty can be a challenge, but one we must be up for when it is time for change.
What happens when we explore the liminal spaces rather than insisting on a destination?
How can we be more receptive to strange invitations?
Where & When
RSVPs required (click here) +1s welcome (pls let Naomi know so we can plan though.)
Where: Forbes Island, a remote houseboat on Bradford Island in the Sacramento River Delta with a rather constraining ferry schedule.
When: March 21-23rd, rising and falling with the ferry times. (Important: you cannot get a ferry after 5pm on Friday! Last ferry out on Sunday is at 3pm.)
Duration: Friday 6pm through Sunday 2pm.
Cost: $120 NOTAFLOF. (Note: Price includes meals! you will be fed!)
How to Get There
Forbes Island is really a houseboat attached to Bradford Island. You will NEED a ferry to get to Bradford Island.
This is nontrivial, do not underestimate the logistics here. That said, it all works out if you follow the instructions.
- Buy TWO (2) ferry tickets ($15.50 each) at the Valero gas station here. You cannot buy tickets on the boat.
- Follow these directions to the dock. Get there before the hour.
The Bradford Island Ferry can only take a few cars at a time, so if you can take a ferry at 3 or 4pm, PLEASE DO.
Ferry Schedule
Monday to Friday: 9am to 5pm every hour on the hour (except at noon).
Saturday: 8am, 9am, 10am, 11am, 12 noon
Sunday: 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm
Hotline number: (925) 684-3766, but not manned 24/7 so do leave a message.
Summit Schedule
- Friday: Guests arrive by ferry before 6pm. (See above, the ferry is a HARD LIMIT on time here.)
- Friday Evening: Casual dinner, Warm Data Session (90 mins after dinner), settling in. Guests need to bring their own bedding.
- Saturday: Noon start, presentations/discussions on topics of interest (framed by a tone-setting talk by the host). Meals and informal discussions throughout, late-night conversations.
- Sunday Morning: Integration conversation, brunch, and cleanup before departure (checkout at 2 PM, but some may need to leave earlier due to the ferry schedule).
About Summit's Unique Format
Summit has its own unique home-grown format that calls for presence, adaptability, and full immersion.
The event is centered around a full day of talks on Saturday, starting at noon and continuing on until they're done (hugely variable). Not everyone gives a talk—that's up to you. But about 60% of attendees do.
On Friday, folks should settle in, have dinner, prepare a place to sleep, and get familiar with who else is participating. Have patient, flexible conversations. You may even want to adjust what you present on Saturday based on these conversations.
On Saturday we have a communal breakfast and then hunker down in the cabin for what is really a very long conversation between about 20-25 people.
We take some breaks to stretch the water and refill the legs. We provide writing and craft materials to help extravert thought processes and engage the physical with the mental and emotional.
The goal is to set a tone that welcomes deep thinking while keeping things light, engaging, and open-ended.
These are not TED talks. This is not a "conference." Speakers are given the floor so we can hear our friends say things at length that we often don't get to hear to their fullest, not to create "experts" to which we ask unilateral questions only to cast their topic aside when we switch to the next person.
All talks are meant to spur open egalitarian discussion that creates interesting maelstroms of symbols and themes swirling through the entire event.
How to Prepare
What do you feel like you've never been able to fully express to your friends and colleagues?
In most situations, we avoid "going on" at length about our interests, our work, and so on, because it's generally considered rude and selfish to take up that much space. "Give and take," etc.
So—what would you impart to your friends if you knew you fully had the floor, righteously and respectfully, for 20-40 minutes straight?
Please Don't:
- Bother making a PowerPoint unless you love doing this.
- Treat Summit as just another place to do a talk you've done in more formal environments.
Please Do:
- Assume your audience is intelligent and interesting and wants to get it even if your material is very specific.
- Leave yourself open to being influenced by the audience during your talk.