Play: our adaptive wildcard -Wednesday 12.15 am to 1 pm

This high-spirited workshop serves as a timely – and playful – reminder that the times we feel least like playing are the times we need it most. Constant worry for the state of the world can trap us in a cycle of despair. Fear spikes our cortisol and adrenaline. While this may help us outrun lions and save our life under attack, sustained use of reserves make us irritable, reduces creativity, impairs our memory and leads to worse decision-making over time.

Play, however, releases the ‘Angel’s Cocktail’: dopamine, oxytocin and endorphins, increasing our focus, motivation, creativity, generosity and trust. Everything we need to build a better future. So come with your ‘fun-socks’ on and be prepared to move as we explore different forms of play: social, imaginative and body, and how to bring the quality of playfulness into your work. In short, how to do serious things with a sense of play. By Laura Hamilton-O’Hara from Living Future Institute Australia and Alice Howard-Vyse from Humanise This.