A good narrator knows that a story must sound different even in different districts of the same city. The invariability of language may entail a very unfortunate consequence.

We never manage to tell our story better than when asking an interlocutor of themselves. Isn’t this seemingly one of the simplest rules of communication? Yet it often happens so that, depressed by the long silence, we never search for common backgrounds and frantically believe in our manifestations’ versatility. Sometimes it resembles a confession in a big cathedral when neither a believer nor their spiritual father can see each other through the wall of the confessional: the former unveils their most excruciating penance while the latter just gives a standardized answer. If we, however, need an effective cooperation, not a confession, we are to begin with the following questions: who are you? Where does it hurt you? What do you want to know about me? Or, maybe, some others.

Today, as we are in such a desperate need of solidarity in so very different countries of the world, – how should we build a conversation and develop a network? What research do we have to begin with? What is there to help us with overcoming mutual ignorance, tension, and distrust?

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, we have had to act quickly not on the battlefield or in civil protection only but in international cultural communications as well. The society coped with this challenge: ever since then, Ukraine has confirmed itself audible and visible, as an agency-bearing partner with its own strong voice. At the same time, we must subvert the righteousness of decisions we ran short of time to think over in order not to repeat the mistakes of the history. We must see the narratives losing their elasticity over time and never-working formats.

Thus, let us talk about how Ukraine creates and transforms its own narrative in the international field. What could we have done differently and what must we finalize now? How are we to build long-lasting partnerships so that our presence among the world communities would become constant, not sporadic? How should we, finally, learn to be flexible and react quickly without losing either agency or deepness?

Sometimes the questions we hear from foreigners sound a bit like “have you already opted out of drinking cognac in the morning?” Yet however absurd they are, we must learn to answer.

We must work out ‘answer construction sets’ for the most frequently asked questions, and we must adapt them depending upon who we are talking to. We must develop the flexibility of our thought and emotions control, and we must be able to find the necessary register of speech.

We should, after all, offer some toolkit for thousands of our fellow citizens to use around the globe, since it’s small talks and random conversations that usually make the first point of contact.

Our task is to offer options; then the audience is to verbalize the most essential things. So, let’s play this game together.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the demand for Ukrainian projects has skyrocketed in some parts of the world. Many of us turned out to be ‘unprepared for the journey’: information on the websites is often not adapted for international readers; riders are not detailed enough for big festivals; exhibition managers do not have much expertise in the rules of crossing the borders. This does not mean that we are capable of nothing: it’s just high time to update the starter pack.

These troubles are partly caused by cumbersome bureaucratic rules, the change of which the society should advocate. Yet sometimes the primary cause consists in simply different formats of work, approaches to communication and planning horizons.

Practical and conceptual advice, lifehacks from experience and better understanding of the systematic complications we have to deal with together – these are the planned results of this conversation.