Fourteen people attended the first Ruby Party. Eleven were guests; three were members of the host's family (all relocalisation advocates).

People came out of curiosity about what the host was 'into'; 'for the food' and/or because they 'were invited'. Only two people indicated they came to find out more about Ruby and/or Relocalisation. One reason I wanted to use this approach, was to access people who would not typically attend a public information session. I discovered that the flip side of that was that I wasn't talking to an audience that was necessarily overly interested in the topic, so in some ways it was more difficult to engage them. It's definetly easier to "preach to the choir".

I had wanted to include a 10 minute dvd presentation on Peak Oil, but hadn't gained authorisation from the relevant producers to create and use this aid. I think it would have had more impact than a verbal explanation and an audio/visual aid would have added variety in presentation format. Perhaps following a video presentation with a five minute small group activity to answer a question such as "what impact do you think PO will have in your life?" would have been more effective.

I included some information and discussion about climate change, hoping it would act to further build motivation for relocalising. This proved more distracting than motivating, and it was difficult to bring the group back from a debate about the validity of climate change concerns. In the next presentation, I will only briefly refer to the fact that relocalisation strategies also address concerns about our fossil fuel usage raised by climate change activists.

One member of the group was inclined to want to debate the validity of the topics, raising anti climate change and anti peak oil arguments. Interestingly enough, this person was the only one who had researched the links included in the invitation! Althouth it had the potential to spin out of control and mire the presentation in debate, being able to briefly address his points showed that I was aware of both sides of the argument and was also a useful opportunity to acknowledge that PO (and climate change) are contentious topics (just incase they were unaware of that! ;)). I reminded the group that my purpose was merely to raise the issues and what Ruby was doing so that we could find like minded people to join us in our efforts and that it was up to them to research it for themselves so that they could make up their own minds which side of the debate they agreed with. I reiterated that I was happy to debate the issues at length, but not as a component of the presentation, because it would blow out the time frame and that may not suit all present.

I'm wondering though, a 'debate the topic' as a separate 'event' could be a good opportunity to put information in front of people so that they can consider it more indepth without having to do a lot of research. This particular 'devils advocate' would, I'm sure, be up to the challenge and would no doubt prove a noteworthy opponent! It could be fun! Who knows, might even win him over as well!! :)

In the course of the relocalisation component, I raised that I was personally interested in establishing a LETs system in the local area as part of an overall strategy for the area. This opportunity for involvement in a project created the most interest and seemed to be the primary motivator for those wanting further involvement with Ruby.

The entire presentation (including group discussion) lasted about 45 minutes. People were ready to break at that point, but stayed on for a further hour to hour and a half enjoying afternoon tea. Much of the discussion revolved around the topics covered, from a range of perspectives.

Of the eleven guests, four were keen to get involved in Ruby, two of whom indicated they are interested in having Ruby parties in the near future. Two of the remaining seven guests were supportive of the concept and although they stressed that they didn't want to 'take anything else on', they are interested in following our progress. Four guests were noncommital and one (our devil's advocate) was openly 'sceptical' (but polite). At least three people made the comment that "I wish you every success, but I don't think it will work in this community."

Time and effort alone will tell.

One last point, Andi and Dean live over an hour away and couldn't make this event, which means I miss out on their feedback from directly observing the process, which would have been good. It also means that there aren't any photos! (oh I am so disappointed - hee hee)

Cheers

Ree

Mr Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen. On behalf of Andi and myself, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to address your forum and congratulate the newly elected and re-elected office bearers. Initially I will introduce the issue and implications of peak oil. Andi works for the Post Carbon Institute and will talk about two of their initiatives - the Oil Depletion Protocol and the Relocalization Network. To close I will introduce the relocalisation group Andi and I are establishing – Relocalisation Works in the Burnett Inland.

Andi and I are merely offering a very brief introduction to the issues and concepts here today. We’re both very keen to discuss the issues in greater detail with anyone who’s interested, you can either talk to us after the forum to make arrangements or Linda has our contact details. But for now, we’d ask that you hold questions and comments until the end of the presentation.

There are two questions we would like you to think about during our presentation.

1. Are the implications of peak oil significant enough that you, as a leader in your community, need to be informed?

2. Would relocalisation strategies benefit the Burnett Inland

(Activity re oil as lifeblood of modern society)

The Peak Oil refers to concerns raised by geologists and petro industry experts that global oil is about to reach it’s peak of production – after which point it will go into decline and oil will become ever more expensive. Each oil well and field follows a bell curve (Hubbert Curve) of extraction from the point of discovery to the eventual collapse. Up to the point of peak, the oil is relatively easy and cheap to extract.

Oil companies have, naturally, extracted the easier-to-reach, cheap oil first. The oil pumped first was on land, near the surface, under pressure, light and 'sweet' (meaning low sulfur content) and therefore easy and cheap to refine. The remaining oil, sometimes off shore, far from markets, in smaller fields, or of lesser quality, is more expensive to extract and refine. Under these conditions, the rate of extraction inevitably drops, the cost of accessing and refining increases.

When the data for individual wells or fields is collated, a picture develops for regional, national and global oil production.

‘Peak oil’ proponents commonly predict a peak of conventional oil production somewhere between now and 2030. Those predictions are based on a range of different factors and arguments. For me, the two most convincing arguments are that

1. World discovery of new oil peaked in the 1960s - the world is using more oil than it discovers.

2. Production in 33 of the world’s 48 most important oil-producing countries has already peaked and is in decline.

In addition to the supply side issues associated with peak oil, is the issue of rising demand. Until the 1970’s, the US was the world’s foremost oil exporter – now they are the world’s largest importer. 13 years ago, China was self sufficient in oil. Today they are the second largest importer. India is also a growing economy with a rising demand for oil.

Not only is oil expected to become more expensive to produce – but the greater demand and competition for it will drive prices up even higher. The crux of concern from the peak oil camp is not that we’re about to run out of oil – but that the era of cheap oil is over and we’re about to start living in a world where oil is increasingly more expensive.

The Qld treasury used modeling to examine the economic impacts of sustained high fuel prices on the state’s economy, concluding that continued high fuel prices would lead to a lowing of employment growth, declining trade and reduced spending. The committee suggested that rural and regional communities would be especially vulnerable to sustained high fuel costs.

So how likely is it to happen and what can we do about it? Australian state and federal governments are asking the same questions – as are governments around the world.

The ‘Impact of petrol pricing’ select committee tabled their report to the Qld parliament in April this year, recommending that Queensland needed a long term strategy to shock proof the economy from a future oil crisis. MP Andrew McNamara is currently heading an Oil Vulnerability Task Force researching the issue further.

The Federal Senate’s Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee Inquiry into ‘Australia's future oil supply and alternative transport fuels’ interim report was tabled earlier this month. It concluded that the possibility of a peak of conventional oil production before 2030, even if it is no more than a possibility, should be a matter of concern. Exactly when it occurs (which is very uncertain) is not the important point. Australia should be planning for it now.

The US Dept of Energy commissioned a report in 2005 to explore how to mitigate the impact of global decline in oil. (not whether or not it would happen – but how to deal with it) Known as the Hirsch Report, it concluded that World production of conventional oil will reach a maximum and decline thereafter and without massive mitigation more than a decade before the fact, the problem will be pervasive and will not be temporary. Mitigation will require an intense effort over decades.

In a speech to the Qld Parliament Feb 2006 Andrew McNammara MP said "The challenges we face after Peak Oil will require localised food production and industry in a way not seen for 100 years ….. Self-contained communities living close to work, farms, services and schools will not be merely desirable; they will be essential.

So I ask you again to consider, are the implications of peak oil significant enough that you, as a leader in your community, need to be informed?

Yesterday Andi and I were guest speakers at the Burnett Inland Economic Development Organisation’s (BIEDO's) Annual General Meeting. BIEDO is a network of delegates from each of the Inland’s 12 shire councils, together with representatives from some state and federal government departments and local businesses. This is an organisation we hope to develop a working relationship with, so we wanted to make the most of this opportunity. Belinda Drew and Kate Horsey from Foresters ANA (a Ruby partner) drove 5 hours to support us at the meeting and (as our mentors) gain a better understanding of our region and an organisation we are applying to become a member of.

I opened the presentation with an explanation of Peak Oil. Andi explained the Oil Depletion Protocol, Relocalization and the Relocalization Network. I closed by introducing Ruby and (was supposed to) invite the forum delegates to attend Ruby’s launch later in the day

I've addressed forums before, so am not new to public speaking. But in someways this was different for me. The outcome mattered to me personally to an extent and in a way that hadn't been the case with previous public speaking experiences on other topics. It wasn't their reaction to my professional skill that I was concerned about this time. It was their reaction to a topic I feel passionate about - I wanted them to engage with it.

So I was wired pretty tight. I was pleased that when we arrived, the forum was running behind schedule and we had about half an hour to wait before we were required to speak. They also broke for five minutes which offered a chance to introduce myself to a couple of people. It was a nice way to relax into the setting and calm the nerves a little.

Naturally Andi had her ever faithful array of camera's nearby for the compulsory snaps. To reinforce how important our first public speaking engagement was, she also brought along a video camera complete with a camerman in the person of her husband, Dean. How to really ramp up a person's nerves!! Despite my constant whinging about it though, it will be an important learning tool for us to improve our presentation technique and I'm even half way curious to have a look!

Andi and I had allowed 20 minutes to cover our four topic areas. So that left me working on 5 minutes to present the peak oil issue. I ended up delivering it in 10 minutes. To help avoid going off track, I highlighted the fact that I wasn't any sort of expert and was flagging the issue so that those present could research it further in their own time to reach their own conclusions. I didn't see my role as rebutting all the anti peak oil arguments. Also, to further manage time, I asked that comments and questions be held to the end of the presentation.

At that point I put to the forum that I wanted them to consider and answer in their own minds two questions.

1. Are the implications of peak oil significant enough that you, as a leader in your
community, need to be informed?

2. Would relocalisation strategies benefit the Burnett Inland.

This was to provide a target for their focus. To further set the scene I asked that they turn to the person on their left and write a list of all the products in their homes that DON'T depend on oil for either their production, manufacture, distribution or storage, and gave them exactly 60 seconds to do so.

This was to do two things, firstly to act as an icebreaker and to engage the audience with the topic and implement some interaction/facilitation style of delivery with which I am most comfortable. Secondly it gave myself a brief respite once I was 'up there' to catch my breath and focus. Because I had no whiteboard to write the question down on, I repeated it a second time - then started timing the activity almost immediately. If people feel pressured to meet a tight time limit, they are more likely to jump to action and less likely to dither, stare bemused at each other, wait for further direction or just generally chat. Belinda did make the comment that the next time I do that I should just say "turn to the person next to you" because everyone turned to their left! :) - I hadn't even noticed! But they sorted it out anyway.

With timed activities like that I always find it useful to call out a half way warning. When they reached the 30 second mark I had a spur of the moment impulse to let them know they were at half way and had 'peaked'. Certainly Andi, Dean, Belinda and Kate caught the 'joke' and enjoyed it. The activity went over well, energising the group and exciting their interest in the topic. I think people were awed to consider that they couldn't think of one single item in their homes that didn't depend on oil. I am still awed by that and I've been thinking about it for six months!! At that point I threw in a brief one liner that I had thought at least sex doesnt' depend on oil - until I remembered that safe sex used petro-chemically based products. It got the desired response.

I then asked the question "if all those products are dependent on oil - what would happen to our way of life if oil started to get more and more expensive?" I didn't get much of a response - I wasn't asking for one exactly - more like a rhetorical question with a brief pause while people thought about it. I asked the delegates to consider how many of them would be present at the meeting if fuel was $5.00 a litre. (A moment of light relief was offered by the humorous response "Don't question our commitment to BIEDO, Chérie!). I asked what would be the impact on the organisation's budget and ability to provide a regional service if petrol was $5.00/litre. Another question was "what would we eat for lunch, if we were only eating food produced within a 50km radius of where we were? (Beef and peanuts apparently if you live in Biggenden!) To move the discussion on to Peak Oil, I posed the question "what does peak oil have to do with oil becoming more expensive", launching into the prepared 'speech' (see the blog Peak Oil presentation).

After completing my 'speech' I introduced Andi. Sitting down after my presentation, my adrenalin was running. I felt quite elated that I'd got through it and confident that I had connected with the audience. I found it hard to fully focus on Andi's presentation - my mind was reeling. Andi used a very professional looking power point slide show and presented it flawlessly. I am always nervous to use power point as a public speaker (though I am familar with the software and process) because I find nothing worse than a presenter who fumbles with their equipment and I don't have the patience to practise with it before hand. But Andi didn't miss a beat. She didn't look back at the screen behind her, but the slides flipped faultlessly in tune with her words. The slides themselves were uncluttered (not a screen full of text - another pet hate of mine) and although I wasn't concentrating well enough to read them fully (because of the clatter inside my own head) the main points did leap out at me. These were things that struck me about Andi's presentation,

As confident as I felt about the success of the PO presentation, I felt deflated at how badly I missed the mark with the RWBI presentation. I had put most of my time into preparing for the PO presentation, because that was the topic I felt least qualified to speak about. I spent time thinking about what were the main points I wanted to make ("you need to be informed") and what would my audience want to know about (government policy). I researched my topic, wrote out what I was going to say, silently delivered it in my head a dozen times and visualised myself giving the presentation a half dozen times as well. But with the Ruby side of the event, I made some dot points on a bit of paper, thinking my head was so full of Ruby that it would come out fine. It didn't. I didn't have a clear enough focus on what was the main point I wanted to make or a logical flow to the discussion. As I hadn't written it out in full, I had no notes to rescue me when I lost track while I was speaking. To add to that, I was very aware that the Chairperson was concerned about the time the presentation was taking, and felt pressured and distracted by that. I will wait to see the video tape to evaluate fully what worked and what didn't with my Ruby presentation. My immediate reaction (and Andi's) was that I had missed the mark. Worse - I forgot to invite the delegates to the launch - which was our main reason for having the launch on that day in the first place (and should have been my main focus of the Ruby presentation)!! I beat myself up about that for a while - but not long before moving on. Just another learning curve - at this rate I'll be an expert one day!

On reflection, splitting my presentation into two segments with a five minute break in between was a mistake. I lost my stride and flow - and sitting down for a brief 5 minutes was long enough for the nerves to kick back in. Then, when I jumped back up, without a well planned process to follow, I found it extremely difficult to refocus. If Andi and I had have been able to spend a couple of hours working on it together - we would have been able to iron our the weak spots. That didn't happen.

I was especially disappointed because the main reason for being there was to promote Ruby - and it was the least polished aspect of the entire 25 minute presentation (PO ten minutes: ODP & RN 5 minutes; Ruby 5 minutes)

Having said that - I did remember to reflect back to the two questions asked in the introduction with the comment that if they answered yes to those questions, then Andi and I are keen to work with them in the future. I also sent round a note pad inviting delegates to write down their contact details if they wanted Andi or I to follow up with them after the meeting. One out of every two delegates present wrote their name down!!!! All were Shire Councillors and represented 5 separate shires in our region! How is that for success.

Today Andi and I were guest speakers at the Burnett Inland Economic Development Organisation’s (BIEDO's) Annual General Meeting. BIEDO is a network of delegates from each of the Inland’s 12 shire councils, together with representatives from some state and federal government departments and local businesses. This is an organisation we hope to develop a working relationship with, so we wanted to make the most of this opportunity. Belinda Drew and Kate Horsey from Foresters ANA (a Ruby partner) drove 5 hours to support us.

We wanted to capitalise on this opportunity as much as possible, so decided to hold a Ruby afternoon tea launch after the AGM meeting, with the intention of providing an opportunity for BIEDO delegates to spend time with us outside the meeting.

In the weeks leading up to this event, we were both a bit snowed with other family and work commitments, so the time and energy we had to put into Ruby was compromised. Andi put some fliers around town (The meeting was in her home town). We promoted it in some Aussie specific forums on the net. I had anticipated presenting at my first Ruby party before the 'big day' to use that as a platform for promoting the launch. The best laid plans of mice and men though - the date for the party had to be set back to the 1st of October to suit the availability of guests.

Andi and I live 90 minutes drive away from each other. Although we'd hoped to get an opportunity to spend time together to prepare for the forum and launch - that hadn't happened.

We hd planned to promote the Ruby launch to the BIEDO delegates at the AGM meeting, but two things happened. Firstly I forgot to mention to the launch to the delegates (Doh!! More on that when I blog the Forum presentation tommorrow) and BIEDO had organised a bus trip for the delegates directly after the meeting.

No doubt you have guessed how grand our launch was! Me, Andi and her rent-a-crowd consisting of her husband (camerman, behind-the-scenes-important-RWBI player) Dean and her Mum (who threw in some amusing comments as only a Mum can!)

From my point of view - I was quite relieved and perfectly happy to have an opportunity to relax and talk with this select group about the earlier presentation and the happenings of the previous day (which had been equally auspicious).

At one point, a reporter from the local paper arrived to interview us about RWBI and what we were up to (yet more photos were taken). As a result our story will be carried in the South, North and Central Burnett Times (the one about what we're trying to achieve - not how many were at the launch! Warts and all is for here - not the msm!). The reporter, Erica, was lovely and her comment that next time we might want to let her know before the event, so she could promote it through the paper (Doh!!!) was well received. An important alliance with the local media had been formed in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere of the high powered RWBI coordinators laughing at themselves.

Not long after Erica left, Kate and Belinda arrived (after attending another meeting). Andi and I discovered (to our delight) what being mentored by Foresters (in the person of their great staff) is all about. They shared some of their 'learning experiences', pointed to some of our achievements in the months we've been working to pull Ruby together and did a fantastic job of reminding us that it's all par for the course. Belinda also made an important point - that a launch is probably better held after some activity and project outcomes (when you have a story to tell), then at it's very inception. Actually having a few members would probably help too, I guess!

We debriefed about the AGM presentation and the Eumundi meeting on Sunday; tossed ideas back and forth; laughed at the lack the guests at our grand inaugural launch (and decided it was a great benchmark for measuring our progress against at our first birthday!) and ultimately went home satisfied.

From my point of view the positive outcomes were
* having time to relax together after the AGM presentation in the morning (rather than rushing straight home - which I may have done if we weren't waiting for guests to arrive);
* debriefing the events of the day before and the BIEDO AGM (in real life);
* to further develop our relationship with Belinda and Kate and benefit from their mentoring.

and the learning from this experience included
* a reminder that promotion is all important (we did know that - but just got too busy to remember it)
* when you stretch your resources too thin - you're likely to be less effective. Better to focus your energy and build on success (hmmm - I think that is a Holmgren design principle isn't it??).
* Andi and I need time together in real life (or maybe more over the phone) as well as on the net to talk, toss ideas around, reflect on things together and build our relationship as friends and co-coordinators.

Hindsight is 20/20 vision! It's all so obvious really!

Very early on, Andi and I made a commitment to blog our experiences warts and all on the net for several reasons. In our prospectus we detailed a committment to using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach as a framework for RWBI's ongoing development. Diarising our experiences openly (including our less than successful outcomes) is an important aspect of implementing PAR processes acting as a reflection tool to facilitate learning from our experiences.

Putting it on the net as a blog achieves a dual purpose. It creates opportunities for feedback and suggestions from others, hence increasing our opportunities to milk the experience for all the learning we can. Hopefully doing so also offers an opportunity for others to learn from our experiences so that they can avoid duplicating our mistakes and will encourage others to also blog their experiences - so we can learn from their mistakes.

Talking openly about what has worked and what hasn't isn't about beating ourselves up and feeling bad or making excuses because something didn't go the way we hoped. It's about looking at what worked and what we can do differently next time to get better results in the future. It is all about learning.

It is amazing how quickly things spiralled and started falling into place once Andi and I met and starting scheming for what we want to do re relocalisation. We met for the first time only about 3 or 4 weeks ago (Maybe Andi has a better memory than me!), Since then we've conceptualised RWBI, written a prospectus, met with David Holmgren and Su Dennet, attended H2 in Brisbane and negotiated with our partners who look keen to come on board (Can't wait until we have official notice so we can talk about our partners!). On top of that one of my favourite forums, www.ausslieslivingsimply.com.au has started a 'sustainable community actions' topic which provides a forum for discussing activist initiatives and peak oil. Then, in checking out who Barry was (who commented on "about ruby' so nicely) I discovered there is another fledgling group just down the road in a neighbouring region. My head is reeling with possibilities!