Why Successes & Struggles is an important event

I’ve been hosting these virtual events via Climate Designers called Successes & Struggles for about six months now.

Successes & Struggles started as a simple premise. We wanted to give designers a dedicated space to share their wins and challenges. Real talk among others trying to implement more sustainable design decisions.

The main event is the small group conversations. When people get together with a few other strangers, something special happens. People lean in and share things they typically don’t say out load.

The failures stop sounding like failures and start sounding like learning opportunities.

"Oh, I’ve dealt with that."
"Yeah, that happened to me."
"Ugh, I hate when that happens!"

There’s a bond that starts to form during each round of conversations once you know people have experienced the same challenges.

The successes matter too. We provide a space to share big milestones and small wins. In a field that can feel relentlessly heavy, naming what's working, even the small stuff, builds momentum and a sense that progress is actually happening.

We then end each event with a main group share out. This moves the learning beyond small group discussions. People can now hear more wins and challenges from the larger group, exposing them to more insights and lessons.

This is the point of Successes & Struggles, to create a foundation of knowledge, community infrastructure, to support every designer trying to implement climate-forward design decisions.

During each event, the chat lights up with people sharing relevant resources, tools, events, frameworks, projects, etc. All to level up people’s exposure to what’s out there in this big, busy world.

We're still learning what this event wants to become. Six sessions in, we can see that people need more spaces where they can be real, be seen, and actually help each other. I’m excited that this event is doing that.