Brave THINGS LAB: A Drop-In space for Playful Courage

Lead Author: Jules Gilleland

Additional authors:

Timetable: ,

Description:

What makes people brave together?
And what happens when adults step inside a space designed not to provide answers, but to spark the kinds of questions that loosen the edges of our thinking, dissolve our armour, and make us curious again?

Brave THINGS is a new learning framework I’m developing throughout 2026. By July, I will have already piloted the first workshops in the series Brave Trust, Brave Connection, and maybe one or two more, and this conference sits right in the middle of that journey. It’s the moment when the ideas are still alive, in motion, and asking for co-conspirators.

The Drop-In THINGS LAB is exactly that: a playful, experimental studio where participants can wander in and out, follow their curiosity, test emerging micro-games, reshape prompts, and help me explore the questions at the heart of the six Brave THINGS themes.

At this stage of development, my inquiry lives inside questions like:
• How does play let us cross thresholds we normally avoid?
• What part of me do I protect most fiercely in learning spaces?
• What small, joyful act helps someone feel braver than they did a minute ago?
• What hidden rules decide who feels they belong, and who feels outside the circle?
• What do I need to put down so I can begin again?

These questions and others are still forming a landscape of playful invitations. Nothing here is polished. Everything is becoming. You might stay for five minutes, build a tiny metaphor, leave a question behind, or stumble into a surprising idea someone else has started.

The LAB is not a workshop with a fixed arc.
It’s a playground, a question forest, a make-think-feel space, and a place to get gently shaken (in the best possible way).

Come curious. Wander lightly. Add your piece to what Brave THINGS will become.

References, web links and other resources:

Brown, B. (2012). Daring Greatly.
Brown, B. (2021). Atlas of the Heart
Gauntlett, D. (2011). Making is Connecting.
Malafouris, L. (2013). How Things Shape the Mind.
Nicholson, S. (2015). “A Recipe for Meaningful Gamification.”
Sicart, M. (2014). Play Matters.
Gilleland, J. (2025). THINGS LAB Playbook
Think with Things — https://thinkwiththings.com