You are safe here

I hesitated with what to do with this passage from Lance’s interview:

Public speaking

is the biggest fear of most adults in America.

You look at this and

you're asking people to stand up in front of other people

voluntarily and speak.

The idea that was

would be terrifying to a lot of people.

From the beginning, we

did not want any competitive aspect to it.

We wanted it to be

a very safe environment,

a very nurturing environment that people actually did feel comfortable enough

to stand up and start volunteering their stories.

In thinking about agents, interactions, and messages. A lot of coding has been going into interactions - how various agents impact one another. I decided to put it in the messages for now under “You are safe here.” Not having competition helps send the message that this is a safe space. This does also represent agency on the part of the organizers, but I think it is more relevant in messages.