‘Storytelling and Media for a Better World’: the 2014 Transformational Media Summit in DC · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

A scene from the first TMSummit in London in 2013. Image used with permission.
All this week in Washington, DC, the Transformational Media Institute will convene a summit that brings together “changemakers, storytellers, and media professionals” from all over the world “to collaborate for good.” This year’s TMSummit is the Institute’s second annual conference, running from October 26 until November 2, 2014. During the week, associated events are taking place throughout the city, leading up to flagship events, including a workshop at the UN Foundation, on October 31, and the main summit day at George Washington University on November 1.
Participants at the TMSummit will discuss storytelling, collaborative creativity, new technology, sustainable business and living, wellbeing and health, photography, film and music, and journalism, among other issues. According to its organizers:
The TMSummit will focus on how stories and media can create positive change by changing attitudes, bringing new technology solutions, awareness raising, inspiring action, or simply spreading happiness. It brings together leading experts in their fields drawing people from a diverse range of organizations such as: the UN Foundation, Discovery Channel, MTV, and the Jane Goodall Institute.
Global Voices spoke to Jeremy Wickremer, who heads the TMSummit, to learn a bit more about the conference. “It’s about creating a better world,” he says. “It’s all interrelated: equality, property, the environment, health and wellbeing—they’re all connected. You can’t tackle something in a silo,” he warns.
The Transformational Media Institute hopes to attract as broad an audience as possible for this year’s summit in Washington. Wickremer expects a diverse group to attend, from high school students to artists to senior managers. “It’s about seeing the big picture, so we should see a diverse group.”
The TMSummit's theme for 2014.
One of the summit’s main goals is to bring together people who otherwise might never cross paths, to promote new perspectives and build connections that lead to collaborations “for scaling up the social impact of what these people do.”
Readers wishing to know more about the TMSummit and the Transformational Media Institute can visit the summit’s website and the Institute’s website, Facebook page, and Twitter account.