HUBweek event showcases personal element of innovation

For two hours Tuesday night, Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall was transformed into a space of storytelling and new ideas. Rows of wooden chairs filled up as journalists, authors and radio show hosts discussed a moment in their lives that left an impact on Boston and beyond. The event, titled “Made in Boston: Stories of Invention and Innovation,” attracted nearly 300 people.

Hosted by HUBweek and the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University with help from Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and The Boston Globe, the evening focused on the innovation and creativity of seven individuals: Tom Ashbrook, the host of WBUR’s radio show “On Point”; author Ben Mezrich; Joi Ito, head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab; Kara Miller, host and executive editor of the radio show “Innovation Hub”; Judy Norsigian, co-founder of Boston-based nonprofit Our Bodies Ourselves; journalist and author Laurie Penny; and Globe technology reporter Hiawatha Bray.

Faced with rejection and issues of social justice, the seven creators spoke about breaking boundaries to start entrepreneurial projects, cover breaking news stories, write books that turned into films, host radio talk shows and, ultimately, innovate.

With the shared goal to invent and create new ideas, the storytellers captured audience members with tales that touched on social and economic issues. In one segment, Norsigian spoke about her efforts in the field of women’s health rights through her nonprofit organization. In another, Penny spoke about her experience dealing with economic inequality while covering the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011.

“We have to learn techniques from activism, even though we weren’t activists ourselves,” Penny said.

Through their individual stories, the speakers highlighted the many ways in which learning from others can help storytellers readjust their perspective and innovate.

Bray told the audience that he and his wife have learned from each other in their respective fields of creative study. Bray taught his wife about the technical side of cameras, while she taught him about the beauty of photography. Learning from his wife, he said, added meaning and perspective to the skills he was acquiring.

“It gave me a sense of direction, a connection with technology,” Bray said. “It made it into a way that was new to me, more human. It made it more personal.”

Genevieve Sponsler, 30, of Syracuse, New York, was the producer and director of “Made in Boston.” Working for months to prepare for the evening, Genevieve said the format of the show allowed for the storytellers to impact the audience in a unique way.

“Directing is helping them [the speakers] shape their stories,” she said. “With personal stories, if the people are willing to share something that’s a little hard or personal, the audience thinks about what that means, times in their own life where that kind of thing happened to them. They connect with the storyteller.”

Karen Abrahams, 59, of Newton, said she personally connected with Ito’s story through his interest in education.

“He used that term ‘interest-driven education,’” she said. “[It’s] more experiential and not just sitting and listening to a lecture. Being a retired teacher myself, [I’m] always struggling with how to reach students and make it more interesting and connect to them.”

Karen’s husband, 63-year-old Richard Abrahams, said Miller’s view of education is important for understanding what the education system may look like in the future.

“When she was talking about education and where you have to break out of the box and see things very differently, I think that’s really where the future is,” he said. “Our educational system has to change because society and technology around us is changing so quickly. You have to be more adaptable.”