For this year’s You Are The Media ‘Creator Day’, event organiser and programme curator, Mark Masters asked if I would be up for talking on the theme of ‘joining in’.
This invitation follows a few years of me stepping up to host the YATM Game Nite and world record attempt segment of the regular YATM Lunch Club events.
When I walked out on stage at the Lighthouse in Poole to give the talk, Mark had prepared a collage of photos from the aforementioned events as a surprise backdrop. I could’ve just pointed to the screen and said “this is the value of joining in” – a scrapbook of lovely memories that wouldn’t have happened had I just stayed on the sidelines.
It’s worth noting that these moments collated were also born of a small disaster. In 2021, bouncing back from the pandemic, Mark was trialling an ambitious online/offline hybrid event where people could attend either in person, or online via Zoom (as we had been during the stricter lockdown period).
Sorting through some files recently I found a photo from one of these events. It sort of reminded me of Zordon briefing the Power Rangers, as we sat around in a lofty theatre listening to a guest speaker (Joe Pulizzi) beamed in remotely from the US.
That event at The Regent Theatre in Christchurch went smoothly. The end of year Christmas special in December 2021 didn’t go quite as well, with a power cut in the area forcing us all to relocate to a room above a pub up the street. See more in Matt King’s vlog below.
It turned out to be a great afternoon all in all. Towards the end I mentioned to Mark that perhaps there ought to be more social occasions for the YATM community, where there’s far less pressure on him to run the event. In a near immediate response he asked “would you like to run it?”.
“Uhhhhhh… yes? Yeah, why not?” was my reply.
The idea eventually morphed into YATM Game Nite (read more about it here). I’d chosen to join in when life had presented an opportunity.
Looking back, there’s a parallel with a time when I was at school, staying late one evening to rehearse a play, slightly disillusioned by some of the louder personalities involved. Sat in a corridor outside the rehearsal space I could hear someone playing drums in one of the building’s music rooms.
I went to take a look and it was a few friends who had started a band, attempting to record their first demos. I stayed and listened for a bit. I was really into music, as a listener, more than musician and had started going to gigs earlier that year.
I was slightly in awe at the realisation of the DIY possibilities here. Want to be in a band? Learn an instrument and start one. Want to record songs? Learn the equipment and record them.
Fascinated, I went back again a week later. This time they were having trouble with the drum kit sliding forward during the recording. I had no knowledge of the instrument, or the recording equipment, but I could kneel down and hold the drum kit.
I didn’t need to waltz in and suggest I could be the lead singer, or make this about me. I just had to support them by “joining in”.
Within two years, I was the lead singer.
Before that I worked with the band for a year and a half, finding them opportunities to progress. I was inspired by the DIY attitude and started my first attempt at a record label. I spoke about this in my conversation with Ben Franklin for his podcast ‘Ground Zero’ recently.
The band continued for a few years, before evolving into another. I stepped back from lead vocals to play keys. This new incarnation went on tour (read my diaries) a couple of times, released a well received EP, achieved press coverage and support, then sadly folded long before our time. After this, I picked up again with the second, much more successful, attempt at a record label.
It all started with that moment, knelt in front of the drum kit. Above all else I got out of “joining in”, the lasting result to this day folks, is tinnitus.
Coincidentally, it was around the time the record label adventures came to a close that I found myself stood outside a building off of the Lansdowne in Bournemouth, a stones throw from where we played some of our best local shows, including our last.
I’d decided to come along to the ‘Lunch Club’ in-person event for a weekly newsletter I’d subscribed to called You Are The Media. Mark wanted an outlet for his writing, he learnt the tools and created one. He wanted to present these ideas in person, he build an audience and filled event spaces. 15 years later, I was inspired all over again by a DIY approach.
If only I could walk through the door to get in.
A bit of self doubt kicked in as I struggled to enter the building. Like nerves kicking in as you approach the dentist surgery, I second guessed myself and went to walk away. At that moment, someone else arrived, a more seasoned guest who knew how to navigate the door entry system.
Sometimes I wonder if I would’ve gone back again had I walked away that first time? In that moment, I felt the weight of everything I’d done when I’d joined in before, the number of people that had come and gone in those years, the unbelievable highs and inevitable lows. I didn’t half arse that adventure, far from it. Did I have it in me to join in and start a new?
I’m proud to have been asked to give the short talk as part of the wider schedule for Creator Day. I suggested these be known as the ‘village vignettes’. They’re a testament to how serious Mark himself is about creating opportunities for everyone to join in. For six years I’ve watched him go out of his way to remove the barriers to entry (metaphorical and sometimes literal).
At Grapevine, we ran discussion groups with our team last month to learn what the barriers are for joining in with the opportunities being an employee owned business presents. I wanted to identify the barriers I perhaps couldn’t see and consider how we prevent others from occurring.
I put it to the Creator Day audience that the occasion would inevitably present opportunities for them to join in. Would they take them?
The personal fear that prevents us from joining in brings to mind the scene in The Empire Strikes Back when Luke is tasked with entering the cave on Dagobah by Yoda.
Afraid, Luke asks “what’s in there?” Yoda replies “Only what you take with you.”
I think this is a good lesson to remember in those moments as we’re invited to join in. Our fear is so often simply the unknown. If we remember who we are, and what we have to bring, to quote another wise Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn, our focus determines our reality.
Sometimes our choice to join in can backfire. For me it came the night before Creator Day. Caught up in the attendees WhatsApp group thread excitement, I decided to post a photo of me ironing the referee shirt I wear for Game Nite and the world record attempts. In doing so, I burnt the shirt.
I did this with the intention of fun, and it certainly gave a fun story to tell as part of the talk.
📚 Further reading: Be sure to check out fellow YATM regular and good friend, Westrow Cooper’s post ‘On joining in’. I love Westrow’s writing, would definitely recommend reading some of his other articles on Substack also.
Liam Toms 