The Big debate - The Big Myths

Myth 1: Less talking more doing.
Talking is the new doing, hadn't you heard?. Okay, not quite, but talking IS doing. Discussing, debating, thinking out loud, re-thinking out loud, researching, provoking - that's the kind of talking any sector should be doing, at conferences, in bars, on twitter. Some people (I think I'm one) are professional non-doers and proud. We need more, not less of these people. Value them. They're in your corner, fighting your cause, bragging about your work.

Myth 2: We don't shout loudly enough about what we do well.
Every time someone says this, check whether they work in marketing. They're probably after a commission to do the shouting for a decent-sized fee. Good work shouts, it always will. We're crafting amazing work here, it will show if it's good enough. If we're not getting national/international attention then our work isn't good enough. Simple.

Myth 3: It's only the usual suspects at these kind of events.
If you think that then you're not half as good as networking as you think you are. Try speaking to more people who aren't on twitter. This particular event was full of plenty of people new to me. People new to the debate, people worth taking time to talk to in the coffee break.

Myth 4: We shouldn't compete with other regions/cities.
The hell we shouldn't. Place is crucial in all this. You think we're not crying into our consultants' reports that Salford are getting a big chunk of the BBC and we get Doctors? We're really not in this for UK plc. We're here to shore up the West Midlands' rather frightening £15bn productivity gap and the high-value bits of the creative industries can help do that. If that means stealing companies away from elsewhere let's do it.

Myth 5: All this sniping is bad for Birmingham
No it isn't. You think creative cultures emerge from everybody being nice to each other? Everything on the scale from bad-mouthing to name-calling to a good punch-up is fine with me. It shows a sector alive with passion; creatives who care enough to challenge authority and their peers. We really don't all have to sing from the same hymn sheet.

Myth 6: We keep saying digital when we mean creative.
The 'Creative Industries' is a term that Labour invented circa 1998 to pull together miscellaneous bits of craft, manufacturing and creative content sub-sectors so Tony Blair could point at them and hope some glimmer of cool reflected back on him. The Creative Industries are whatever bit of them you feel comfortable in, digital, antiques, design, whatever. If you focus on definitions you're just focusing on the construct that government created for counting purposes. Your bit of this sector is defined by the people you know doing similar stuff. If you're the only one doing it at the moment then welcome to the party, the others will be along shortly.

Obviously, this list could be longer. But once you get past the re-telling of the myths there were a couple of really interesting points that I hadn't heard so clearly stated before. One a warning for future debates. The other a glimpse of what our regional strength could be.

The Warning: We confuse cultural needs with industrial needs.
Said the man who was proud to have had a hand in imprisoning some file-sharers. But he had a point, a good point. Clarity over the nature of the discussion is important. The debate nationally confuses these two issues so we're not alone.

The regional USP: Our Creative Industries can save the world.
In the rounding-up Leadbetter said that we should look into the city. Use it as a template to see how new creative ideas can solve 'problems'. In the queue for registration at the beginning of the day someone said to me that it's strange that the creative/cultural sector hasn't made its presence felt on the sustainability agenda and was in danger of being ignored as a result.

Social cohesion and environmental sustainability. Imagine being the best there is at tackling the two things at the top of the world's agenda. Now that would be fun wouldn't it.