The global digital revolution continues to gather pace – and if you don't want to be left behind, an all-day conference at the Theatre Royal next month could be for you. STEPHEN LEWIS reports on Shift Happens.

MODERN communications are amazing. Fifty years ago imagine how difficult it would have been to get a message to someone in Czechoslovakia.

Yet a quick call to Pilot Theatre boss Marcus Romer’s mobile, and there he was, chatting happily away from the premiere of a Pilot show in the Czech town of Pilsen.

He was standing outside a theatre in the middle of a hailstorm – and it was even possible to hear the hailstones bouncing off the pavement.

Talking to someone so far away on a mobile phone like this would have seemed inconceivable even 20 years ago. Yet today it barely scratches the surface of what is possible with digital communication technology.

Marcus, Pilot’s artistic director, has always been in love with ideas, and with the potential of technology to improve the way we do things.

Small wonder then that he was the driving force behind last year’s TEDx conference in York, which saw the city take centre stage in a global, online brainstorming session.

He’s also the driving force behind Shift Happens – a similar gathering of communications whiz kids and those who simply want to learn to use digital technology better, that will take over the Theatre Royal for the day on July 5.

It will be the fourth time the event has been held in York, after a gap last year because of TEDx.

Shift Happens, clearly, is a play on words. Shift – ie change – is happening ever more quickly in our world today, Marcus says, and nowhere more quickly than in the field of digital technology.

This offers real opportunities for individuals and organisations to work together better and more creatively than ever before, he says. But it is vital that we make use of the opportunities technology offers to create a more integrated world. “Because if we don’t, then sh** will happen!”

The original Shift Happens grew out of a conversation in 2007/8, in which someone said that Facebook was the third largest country in the world.

The communications revolution is breaking down national boundaries, in other words – and changing for good the way we all interact with each other.

Marcus has assembled a stellar line-up of speakers and presenters for this year’s Shift Happens event, at the Theatre Royal from 10am to 10pm on July 5.

Some of them will be in York in person – others will be there virtually, interacting live online with delegates in York.

Those taking part include Clay Shirky, the Professor of New Media at New York University, who will be live online; the actor, writer and theatre director Sam West; and Dick Penny, chair of the Bristol Old Vic and a key proponent of digital arts. The Royal Opera House’s head of digital media, Rachel Coldicutt, will also take part, as will Guardian theatre critic Lyn Gardner, and blogger Jennifer Yu, live from Manila.

The theme of this year’s event is A New Hope, Marcus says.

“It will be about looking to the future,” he says. “We have all come out of this time that we’re in feeling a bit glum. We’ve got to look forward.”

The event will explore the potential of digital communications to help us do that. It will be a day full of inspiring speakers, as well as provocations, debates, discussions and hands on opportunities to discover how the emergent technologies are shaping and changing the things we now do, Marcus says. “You’ll get to understand more clearly how these ideas are shifting the ways we connect and communicate, and how we can harness and creatively develop their use for our work, and our world.”

Above all, it is an event for everybody, Marcus says – businesses, arts organisations, or just individuals who want to learn more about the potential of digital technology to improve our lives and our connections with others.

When it comes to businesses, sometimes the smartest people don’t work in our own organisations, so we need to get help from others, Marcus says.

And as for ordinary people who feel they have been left behind by the digital revolution… “It’s never too late. There will be people in the foyer who will be doing social media workshops. You can still get on board.”

• Shift Happens, the Theatre Royal, York, from 10am to 10pm on July 5.

Tickets to the whole-day event, which includes two meals, all drinks, a wine reception, and access to all speakers and workshops, cost £175 plus VAT and are available from the Theatre Royal box office on 01904 623568 or online at pilot-theatre.com