Started as an experiment, the media crew succeeded wonderfully in creating a constant stream of news throughout the World Appreciative Inquiry Conference (WAIC) held in Ghent, Belgium April 25-28.

Sixteen pairs of eyes and ears, wandering curiously through the happenings of the International Convention Center of Ghent, generated lots of beautiful stories. Every hour, new stories were added to the website. Every morning, a WAIC print newspaper found its way to the 600 conference participants.

Sixteen people, not knowing each other before the start of the conference, became a generative news team from the first minute on. A shared aim and lots of space to contribute to that for each member seemed to be successful ingredients.

This fusion of strengths created an uplifting energy, which resulted in more than 50 articles on the website, hundreds of tweets and re-tweets, four daily newspapers and one special closing edition, as well as hundreds of pictures. The editorial team of a special WAIC edition of the AI Magazine has also made good use of all this beautiful content and fresh perspectives.

It sure was an experiment, started with the question: “What could happen if we invite some participants to become journalists for four days?” We saw that  the making and providing of WAIC news added something meaningful. It helped  the connecting, learning and celebrating of the participants. It generated significant content, providing it to the participants and outside world for a long period after the conference. 

Making news is all about sharing, usually without knowing what happens next with the provided stories. If words really have the power to create worlds, and if sparkling, personal and open stories can spark change, news-making can become a vivid servant to the change we want to see in the world. Seen from a generative perspective, maybe that’s exactly what journalism has to contribute to society.