What my Berlin Trip Reminded Me About Creativity, Content, and Being Human

Guides Mastermind Meetup in Berlin

 

Last week, I found myself in Berlin for the first time. What started as a Guides Mastermind (facilitation for business owners) meetup somehow turned into an unexpected UXcamp adventure, spontaneous co-facilitation, deep conversations about entrepreneurship, and one of the most creatively energising weeks I’ve had in a long time.

As a mum, business owner, facilitator, wife, and someone constantly juggling a thousand moving pieces, four nights away felt genuinely restorative. Not just physically, but mentally. It gave me space to think again.

And honestly, I didn’t realise how much I needed that.

 

The Biggest Lesson: Document What’s Real

One of the biggest themes that kept coming up throughout the week was this idea of capturing what’s real.

Not creating polished “thought leadership.”
Not manufacturing content for the algorithm.
Just documenting the work, the conversations, the messy middle, and the moments that actually happen.

At the Guides Mastermind, we talked a lot about content marketing, entrepreneurship, and how authenticity is becoming more valuable precisely because AI-generated content is everywhere. The advice that stayed with me most was simple: Document reality.

The working sessions.
The coffee chats.
The facilitation prep on the train.
The experiments.
The mistakes.
The behind-the-scenes moments.

At AJ&Smart Head Office in Berlin Photo Credit: Dr Andrew Greenland

 

Why I Bought a Camera in Hong Kong

Ironically, this lesson hit me because of something that happened earlier this year in Hong Kong.

Back in February, I ran a three-day live cooking demo at a large scale sports event that focused on sustainable chefs. Initially, I only hired a videographer for two of the days because I assumed the final day “wasn’t important enough in terms of the brief.” But when we looked at the final storytelling and content flow, we realised it would feel incomplete without that last day documented.

So I made a spontaneous decision and bought a DJI Pocket 3 camera.

Honestly? Best investment ever.

The funny thing is, most people watching the final edited videos would never know which footage came from a professional videographer and which came from a small camera sitting at the front of the stage.

That completely shifted how I think about content.

You do not need perfect conditions to start documenting your work.
You just need consistency.

And with AI tools improving so quickly, one piece of real content can now become dozens of future assets, blogs, clips, newsletters, workshops, reflections, social posts. The bottleneck is no longer production quality.

 

The Magic of Spontaneous Collaboration

But beyond the business lessons, Berlin reminded me about something deeper too: the value of creative spontaneity.

One of the highlights of the trip was unexpectedly co-facilitating with Dee Scarano and Lukas Sveceny at UXcamp. We literally designed the workshop pitch and facilitation structure on the commute there.

No overplanning.
No perfectionism.
Just trust, collaboration, and emergence.

And somehow… It worked beautifully. That’s what happens when you bring together facilitators with over 10,000 hours combined experience.

That experience reminded me why I love facilitation so much. Some of the best ideas don’t emerge from rigid planning. They emerge from people building together in real time.

Networking and Brainstorming at UXcamp Berlin

 

Morning Pages and the Power of Reflection

One exercise we did especially stayed with me.

One morning we started with 15 minutes of uninterrupted stream-of-consciousness writing. No editing. No stopping. Just writing whatever came up.

One of the the prompts I will remember was:

 

Simple. But surprisingly emotional.

It created space for clarity in a way I hadn’t expected.

And maybe that’s the lesson I’m bringing home from Berlin:

Sometimes we don’t need more strategy.
Sometimes we just need more space to hear ourselves think again.

As facilitators, consultants, and sustainability professionals, we often feel pressure to appear fully figured out. But the conversations that mattered most last week were the vulnerable ones. The honest reflections about burnout, priorities, career transitions, creativity, and figuring things out as we go.

And honestly, that felt refreshing.

‘We’re obsessed with helping teams work better together’ – Elke Calewaert Photo Credit: Elke Calewaert

 

The Small Moments I’ll Remember Most

here were also smaller moments I loved:

• Visiting the AJ&Smart offices for the first time
• Getting professional photos taken
• Seeing the Berlin Wall in person
• Falling in love with an absurdly expensive coffee grinder
• Having long conversations about workshops, entrepreneurship, and human behaviour
• A reminder of the importance of learning ‘adjacent’ skills that are not obviously core to our industry
• Being reminded how much good design shapes how we think and feel

Sometimes it’s these seemingly ordinary moments that stay with us the longest.

And now for a very special announcement…

 

Join Us in Portugal This September 🌿

Berlin reminded me how powerful it is to step away from the day-to-day, connect with other curious minds, and create space for reflection, experimentation, and growth.

That’s exactly why I’m so excited about our upcoming Facilitation Sustainably Retreat in Portugal this September.

This retreat is designed for anyone stuck in their corporate job, looking for purpose driven career paths, and care about climate but don’t know where to start.

How to start finding purpose driven income and turn it into a business?

Whether you are a  facilitator, trainer, consultant, a mum, dad, corporate professional, or a changemaker, I can help you:

• Build confidence in facilitation 
• Learn practical tools for group collaboration and structured decision-making
• Explore sustainability conversations in deeper, more human ways
• Connect with an inspiring international community
• Create space to think, reset, and grow

If you’ve been craving time away from the noise to reconnect with your work, your creativity, and your purpose — I’d love for you to join us.

👉 Let’s have a chat about the retreat, choose a time here that suits you.

Ready to Turn Insight Into Action?

At Future Green, we help organisations move beyond ideas into real, measurable change, from sustainable food strategy to large-scale event design.

🌿 Looking to redesign your event, brand, or food system? Book a Sustainability or Strategy Workshop with us today.

Let’s build the future together.