The Editor's Post: The importance of fun in changemaking

Bonjour from Paris, France, where the ChangeNOW conference has just wrapped up, attracting 40,000 delegates to the gigantic Grand Palais. Over three rather intense days, countless talks, performances, workshops, meet ups, pitching sessions and art installations took place around a vast exhibition floor where hundreds of impact entrepreneurs showcased their work to investors, potential clients and curious passers by. 

It’s an exhilarating experience, despite what I would call the ChangeNOW FOMO – so many interesting things happen at the same time that you’ll inevitably miss out on something brilliant. You can dive into several discussions I found particularly interesting in my report published on Wednesday, and in the coming weeks we’ll bring you insights into the experiences of exhibiting social entrepreneurs.

The remarkable enthusiasm of participants was notable given the current geopolitical context that doesn’t naturally lead to optimism. “Over the last year, we’ve had lots of opportunities to see the world we don’t want,” summarised Martin Stuchtey, CEO of the Landbanking Group. We’re in a dark place – but, as the name suggests, ChangeNOW sets out to change this.

On Tuesday, a packed audience gathered to listen to Kate Raworth, the famous economist behind the Doughnut Economics theory, speak about a future beyond growth, where GDP is no longer the sole measure of success. What we got was rather surreal. 

It started a bit like a contemporary dance workshop. On stage, Kate urges us to “come into your body right now and tap into what you've always known, that our health lies in dynamic balance”. Her feet slightly apart, anchored to the ground, with a slight bounce in her knees to embody gravity, she holds her hands in front of her, wrapped around an imaginary sphere that swells in and out like a beating heart (that’s dynamic balance). 

She brings the audience to its feet to do the same and, within seconds, the crowd becomes a forest of ancient oak trees. Fast forward a few minutes and we’re listening to 'time traveler' and environmentalist Rob Hopkins, wearing what looks like a space suit, explain to us that he’s been to 2036, when post-growth is a reality and people are rather happy.

What the hell happened to those two? They used to be serious activists, as Rob points out, talking about numbers and graphs. But they found out that bringing a bit of fun to the story really resonated with people.

“All the presentations and analysis I used to do were talking to the head, when actually we’re moved in our heart, in our belly, in our gut. When we laugh, our defences come down, and we can talk about taboo issues through humour,” says Kate.

Youtube is full of serious presentations, notes Rob – so they’re taking their action in a different direction, each of them in their own way: Kate now presents a delirious “circus show” that invites the audience on stage, Rob goes around talking about his space travels, including video evidence. Their objective? Trigger people to go for it.

“All the skills we need are already here in the house… It's like we're waiting until we're called into action. And playfulness and imagination say: you can do it right now,” adds Kate.

Rob says he hopes people will leave the room with some sort of “anti-cynicism coating”; overhearing attendees chatting afterwards, it does feel like it’s worked.

This week's top stories:

New momentum, difficult questions and “greenshouting”: actions for change from ChangeNOW 2026

Sociability: The accessibility app making money for hospitality venues across the UK

Better support for regional policies and promotion of social procurement among EU commitments to grow social economy

Top image: Kate Raworth on stage at ChangeNOW 2026 (credit: Marie Brunel Marie)