Deceleration Assembly 2025

You’re Invited: Deceleration Assembly — A Gathering on Endings and Transitions

Hosted by The Decelerator, Deceleration Assembly is a dedicated space for people actively working through endings and big changes in civil society. All skills and capacities have a role to play in better endings. Whether you're a freelancer, consultant, network manager, infrastructure staffer, or someone holding support roles across the sector, this gathering is for you.

This isn’t a traditional conference. There will be no lengthy keynote speeches or expert panels. Instead, we’re creating a participatory, collaborative space where everyone brings something to the table — their experience, their questions, their curiosity — and leaves with fresh insight, deeper connections, and renewed capacity to navigate the complexity of this time and the organisational endings that are a feature of many places and sectors right now. In the room to inspire us will be a range of perspectives and practices from professionals working in this space.

And all this will take place in a beautiful space, facilitated by brilliant and welcoming people, and you’ll be fed and watered with delicious and nutritious things all day.

Together We Will…

Cultivate a Shared Practice of Better Endings
What makes an ending responsible, ethical, and generative? Connect with a diverse group of peers all grappling with organisational endings. Through real stories, tools, and open conversations, and by connecting with a diverse group of peers, we’ll deepen our collective understanding of this question.

Spark New Ideas & Future Collaborations
This is a space for meeting collaborators, exchanging fresh perspectives, and experimenting with new ways of working. Hands-on activities and peer-led sessions will support connection, reflection, and action that extends beyond the day.

Practicalities

Date: Wednesday 15th October 2025
Time: 10:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Location: A beautiful venue in Birmingham (exact address to be shared upon registration)
Optional pre-gathering: Join us the evening before (Tuesday 14th October) for an informal meet-up at Franco Manca at 19 Bennetts Hill between 6 - 8 pm — a relaxed chance to begin the conversation and connect with others before the main gathering. The meal is not included in the ticket price.

This Is For You If…

• You find yourself grappling with questions about possible or planned organisational endings - closures, mergers, programme/project termination, succession planning, etc., on your own.

• You sometimes feel like you’re a bit of an oddball for thinking this is even relevant to your work or practice.

• You want to find a way to help the organisations you work with think more upstream.

• You want to test ideas, and approaches and framings on others who give a damn.

• You sometimes find yourself reacting to organisational endings or being caught off guard, and you want to find a way to help the organisations you work with.

• You struggle to find the right words to put a niggle you have about an organisational ending on the table in the first place.

• You might read any of the items on this list and think, "I know how to do this, and I want to share what I know with others! 

Tickets & Travel Bursary

We want this event to be welcoming and accessible to as many people as possible, while also ensuring it’s financially viable. So we’re offering a range of ticket options: 

• Pay It Forward – This covers your ticket and helps someone else attend @ £150 each
  

• Standard – This covers your ticket for the day @ £100 each
  

• Supported – For anyone who needs to attend at a reduced rate, no questions asked. We have a limited number of these available £50 each 
  

• Early Bird - A limited number of tickets are available for early movers @ £90 each

Please choose the option that feels right for you — no explanations needed. Every ticket helps make the event possible.

We’ve set aside a small budget to support travel costs for those who might not otherwise be able to attend. If you would like to request a travel bursary, please let us know the amount you would need. We’ll review all requests and get back to you to confirm what we’re able to offer.

We have a small number of tickets held back for people who can’t afford the tickets that are available. To put your name on the list for one of these please email hello@decelerator.org.uk. We will be prioritising people from the local area / Midlands when making a decision.