A Consuming Experience: London talks, lectures, debates: feed your mind

London nights out don’t just have to involve drinking & dancing. If occasionally you’d like to exercise brain instead of legs, there are some free, stimulating events you can go to for an intellectual night out – usually talks or lectures, sometimes in forum or panel form, often with questions from the audience and a discussion. I hesitate to use the word “educational” in case it makes it all sound too dry and academic – most of these talks are in fact very accessible, aimed at ordinary members of the public rather than experts, and did I say that the events I mention are free to attend?

If they have an enquiring mind and like learning new things, you could even take someone of your preferred gender to a talk as a date – it may make a refreshing change from the usual chatup lines (even intellectual scientific chat-up lines)! Furthermore there’s lots of research showing that keeping your mind active also keeps it young for longer – to quote my fave mag New Scientist: “It's well known that older people who stay mentally active are more resistant to cognitive decline and dementia, and many scientific studies have backed up this "use it or lose it" hypothesis (New Scientist, 17 December 2005, p 32). So if it works for older people, shouldn't it work for everybody?” (see also this).

If you’re interested, check out the event calendars of organisations such as the following. Some seminars are held during the day e.g. lunchtimes, but many are scheduled for the evenings. What’s more, podcasts or webcasts of some past presentations may be available free online too.

Where to find interesting talks in London

Here’s my own list of organisations that provide interesting free events in London open to the public, mostly reflecting my own interests e.g. in science, technology and music (if you know of any other groups or bodies which put on interesting free talks, please let me know and I’ll add them to the list.):

The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). Feed, Twitter. iTunes podcasts or just download MP3s or watch videos.
- Recent talks, for a taster, include: How Does Experience Influence the Brain, Public Health - how to influence behaviour - nudge or nanny, Encyclopaedia Britannica Debate - The Economic Crisis and the Age of Uncertainty, RSA Thursday - Rebuilding America’s Relationship with the Muslim World
The Royal Society (a different royal society, been going for centuries as many know, and still doing excellent work) – mainly science of course; live webcasts, webcast archive, some podcasts.
- Some recent examples: Darwin, Poetry, and Science, Talent and Autism Panel Discussion, Mathematics in the real world- From brain tumours to saving marriages
Gresham College - more of a humanities / arts bent e.g. on economics, business, music, religion, psychology, but also some science; audio/video.
- Recent examples: The Psychology of Performing Arts: Stage fright and optimal performance, The Psychology of Performing Arts: The power of music, Film Music: A musical interlude, Judicial control of regulation, Symposium: What makes a good auditor? - Trust, trustworthiness and audit, A history of the dictionary: Dr Johnson, I presume?, Beyond price: Trust me, I’m commercial.
Ecology and Conservation Studies Society – live attendance only, this; no podcasts or videos after the event and held on Friday nights, but popular with attendees.
- Examples: ‘The Future of Freshwaters- lessons from the Merchant of Venice. Have we backed the wrong horses, “What is Land for-; - Eco-Towns- Will they be Eco-- Can they become Towns”, “Global Impacts of Climate Change, - the Human Dimension- How to Grow a Peat Bog in a Computer.
Royal Geographical Society – talks where members of the public are allowed aren’t held very often and they seem to have slipped on the video /audio front of late as many recent talks don’t appear to have recordings available, but you can join their mailing list for events info. Events they host but don’t run may also be of interest but usually there’s fee.

Past talks include: The future shape of capitalism, Razing the rainforest, London under water.

London School of Economics – also Twitter, email mailing list. Plus transcripts, podcasts, videos. Summer 2009 programme (PDF).
- Recent talks: I Shall Die by Inches- Contemporary Approaches to Death and Dying (by writer Will Self), Energy, Water and Climate Security- clean power from deserts, Global Poverty, Ethics and Human Rights - The role of multilateral organizations, What should the next G20 meeting do, Intelligent Commodity Investing.
Own-It – they bill themselves as providing intellectual property advice for creative businesses and they often put on talks on intellectual property, if you’re interested in that sort of thing e.g. as a creative, an entrepreneur or just someone interested in digital rights (even something like what rights you have to take photos or shoot documentaries in public places). Talks are open to registered members only, but it’s free to register online.

Other interesting events etc

I’d also mention (declaring my bias as I’m a big fan of the dinners and was an Oxbridge grad, you can guess which in a para or two!):

London Geek Dinners and also the London Girl Geek Dinners (you don’t have to be female, but invited by one) – you may have to pay for the dinner, but sometimes they’re sponsored, and they’re a great way to meet interesting, smart, fun people.
Recordings of lectures given at Cambridge or Oxford Universities – free podcasts are accessible via the educational iTunesU page (Cambridge; Oxford; there are lectures from other institutions like Open University, Stanford, MIT too) – or the recordings are available direct if like me you don’t use iTunes (Cambridge, Oxford).

A word of warning: avoid the Science Museum’s Dana Center like the plague. They used to be excellent a few years ago (e.g. a talk by Baroness Susan Greenfield), but recently their events have degenerated into dumbed down sessions where so-called “interactivity” is considered an adequate substitute for real lectures. Trust me: it’s not.

And for something else entirely

Finally, if you want a complete change in terms of your recreational / leisure activities (nothing to do with education, although music lessons / practice have also been shown to exercise the brain!), to exercise your voice and pump some oxygen into those lungs there’s always free online karaoke with friends at home!