The TN2020 Inaugural Summit was held in Northern Ireland and Ireland from 28 September – 3 October 2008.

Nine video episodes chronicling the summit experience can be found on the TN2020 YouTube Channel.

The summit took the network to a new level of energy and commitment, building on the pilot event in Berlin. The programme was designed to strike the right balance between:

• Looking outwards – exploring contemporary issues
• Looking inwards – providing meaningful opportunities for 100 people to gel as a network
• Looking forwards – ensuring that we left the summit with a ‘to do’ list for the next twelve months

The summit programme was therefore split into two parts:

…in Northern Ireland: a dynamic set of experiences exploring conflict and cooperation in the modern world…

…and in Ireland, an intense series of encounters, as the network reflected, bonded and plotted a path for the future.

Northern Ireland: Experiences

The first part of the summit in Belfast was fast-paced, active and demanding; packed full of simulations, practical work and debate; and be led by experts, who came not to talk, but to inspire and challenge perceptions. Participants spent much of their time in a small group, giving them an opportunity to begin to build relationships with each other.

The theme for the Northern Ireland leg was:

• Conflict – in the transatlantic relationship, in Northern Ireland and globally
• Cooperation – what it is, where it comes from, and how it evolves

On Sunday, we started with a plenary session to introduce the summit and explore the conflict/cooperation theme. After a black taxi tour of Belfast, participants attended an evening of entertainment featuring a Political Cabaret which offered a provocative, illuminating and sometimes irreverent exploration of the transatlantic relationship.

On Monday and Tuesday, we split into five ‘tracks’, each of which explored the conflict/cooperation theme from a different standpoint:

• Track 1: Transatlantic Futures, led by Charlie Edwards and Natalie Day from the think tank, Demos.
• Track 2: House of Games, led by the writer, director and performer, Chris Johnston.
• Track 3: The Utility of Force, led by Donald Vandergriff, the retired Marine and Army officer and leadership expert.
• Track 4: Communities under Stress, led by Quintin Oliver, Director of Stratagem, and Anne Carr, chair of Community Dialogue.
• Track 5: The Dilemma of the Decision Maker – a Transatlantic Paradigm, led by Amos Guiora, professor of law at The S. J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah.

The track work culminated on Tuesday evening with a live broadcast of the BBC World Service’s World Have Your Say. The broadcast explored the summit’s themes – in particular, the topical financial crisis – allowing TN2020 members to interact with a global audience. On Wednesday morning, we closed the Northern Ireland leg of the summit with a plenary that allowed a final reflection of the work done by the five tracks.

Ireland: Encounters

In Ireland, there was a complete change of pace. This was a chance for the network members to meet each other on a deeper level, share stories and experiences, and develop new projects and initiatives. There was no set theme, but we used the “Open Space” facilitation technique, allowing network members to drive discussion themselves, reflecting the direction they wished to take the network.

From Belfast we drove into Ireland, just south of Dublin, to stay in the beautiful and tranquil Wicklow Mountains.  Thursday’s activities were facilitated by a team from the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation.

The session:

• Provided an opportunity for people to tell their stories, whether through words, pictures or other forms of expression.
• Used the landscape to deepen the discussion and provide an environment for creative thinking.
• Created spaces for intense discussion, with groups able to get together to explore emerging issues.
• Culminate in a formal dinner, which was addressed by Mary Davis, who ran the Special Olympics World Games in Dublin in 2003 and is chair of Ireland’s Taskforce on Active Citizenship.

On Friday morning, we drove into Dublin for breakfast with the Irish President, Mary McAleese. The final day was dedicated to planning the future of the network. It had a strongly practical focus, with a series of sessions dedicated to idea and project development, intra-grouping mentoring, and developing an action plan for TN2020’s development.

Finally, we closed with a gala performance of the National Theatre of Scotland’s acclaimed play, Black Watch, a drinks reception with the cast and invited guests, and a late night wrap-up party.