THE ANTI-MASTER CLASS
We don’t silence disaster.
We hand it a mic and turn up the volume.
Disaster CLASS Exists to Help People Engage the Disasters they CREATE,
the Ones that CONSCRIPT them, and the Ones that COMPEL them to Respond
Disaster CLASS is an exploration of how we encounter difficulty, failure, disruption, and disaster in our personal lives, our professional lives, our organizations, our institutions, and our society. It is intentionally positioned as the anti-master class.
A master class is about control, competency, and certainty.
Disaster CLASS is about losing, learning, and leaning into the pain and provocation of difficulty and disaster. Rather than offering techniques to avoid disaster, Disaster CLASS creates space to engage it honestly and to consider what disaster demands of us when it arrives.
At each Disaster CLASS, expect honest storytelling, meaningful conversation, food and drink, and connection with other wonderfully flawed humans, figuring it out as they go.
IS DESIGNED AROUND 3 WAYS WE ENCOUNTER DISASTER
FIRST, THE DISASTERS WE CREATE
These are the failures, fundamental misjudgements, and breakdowns we own. They are not framed as mistakes for entertainment or confession, but as moments that reveal character, values, and growth. Disaster CLASS invites honest reflection on what these experiences demanded of us, and what they may now be asking of others.
SECOND, THE DISASTERS THAT CONSCRIPT US
These are the experiences we do not choose: illness, loss, accidents, upheaval. Moments of pain and destruction that draft us into a story we never volunteered for. Disaster CLASS creates space for people shaped by these experiences to reflect on how being conscripted into disaster has reshaped their identity, priorities, and ways of engaging with the world.
THIRD, THE DISASTERS THAT COMPEL US TO RESPOND
These are the social and societal disasters around us that call for engagement, responsibility, and action. Disaster CLASS includes voices who challenge us to notice what is breaking around us, to resist the instinct to look away, and to consider how we might be compelled to respond rather than remain passive observers.
Underlying this Experience is a Simple yet Demanding Truth
Disasters are crushing, costly, and consequential. They hurt. They take something from us. They leave marks. And at the same time, if we allow them to, disasters can be connective, cathartic, and catalytic. They can tell the truth, release what has been buried, and move us toward transformation.
THIS LEADS TO A CONVICTION AT THE HEART OF DISASTER CLASS:
Disaster doesn’t Define Us.
It Develops Us.
OUR NEXT
STARTS IN
JUNE 4th, 2026
Catalyst Commons, 137 Glasgow St, Kitchener
5:30pm – 7:30pm
Storytellers: Tracy Valko · Tim Campbell-Smith · Tim Windsor
Unscripted. Interview-style questions and conversations:
Stories and lessons wrestled from unseen battles and the ripple effects that follow.
The cost and complications of shouting your story on social. And what a $7B business and brand disaster can teach all of us.
Real stories. Real consequences. Real lessons.
No theory. No fluff.
Just truth, tension, and hard-earned wisdom for business, social, and community leaders, and for anyone willing to learn what only disaster teaches.