The day started with a bang, after one of the local papers ran a front page headline saying “Commonwealth Irrelevant”. Unfortunately, the headline writer must have missed the critical words “risks becoming” in our press release. You can’t win them all.

The big day looms tomorrow, with the official opening due to start at 10am. The only hitch is that we’re supposed to be seated by 7.30am!! For those of you who follow us on twitter (DannyRCS), I promise you up-to-the-minute coverage of what goes on in the 2.5 hour wait. Unless I’ve fallen asleep that is…

The bad news is that all Commonwealth institutions share the burden of raising the Commonwealth’s profile. Member states need to invest more time or money, leaders need to come up with bold statements at their summits, the Secretary-General needs to be out and about more, intergovernmental institutions need to show they are effective and civil society organisations need to devise innovative programmes that have a wider appeal.

Meanwhile, the stream of leaders arriving in Trinidad is turning into a flood. I am told that there were no fewer than 13 motorcades waiting outside the BA plane that arrived here last night. And true CHOGM groupies can keep track of who’s on the red carpet via a live video feed from the airport that’s being aired at the conference venue. Riveting stuff.

But there’s apparently one leader who has shunned the formalities on arrival. Rumour has it that the Rwandan President Paul Kagame has been in Trinidad since Monday lounging anonymously by a pool somewhere until Rwanda’s membership application is considered by CHOGM on Friday. So watch out for a magically appearing 54th leader tomorrow.

Anyone who has been a frequent visitor to these pages should have a good idea of the sorts of the things we will be saying. Our report is unashamedly provocative, not because we want to undermine the Commonwealth, but because we believe the Conversation so far should be a wake up call. In the spirit of public consultation, we also believe in reporting what we have been told, even if the truth hurts.

I suspect that our report will ruffle some feathers next week, but I hope it will be received in the constructive spirit we embarked on at the start of this process.

Having engaged tens of thousands of people in thinking about the future of the Commonwealth, for us it would be hugely disappointing if our findings are ignored by leaders in Trinidad. We believe the Conversation should lead to real action, not just a paragraph in a long communiqué, or the renaming of a division in the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Several members of the Conversation team will be in Trinidad, trying to get people to pay attention to our findings. We promise to give you a blow by blow account of how we get on. Watch this space…

I would be fascinated to hear views on this question. The profile debate seems to go to the heart of what we are trying to achieve in the Conversation.

Those who have said public knowledge about the Commonwealth is not important argue that its most important work is done ‘behind the scenes’; that it often works to benefit small and vulnerable countries (which may not be known in bigger countries); and that it is what political leaders think that matters, not the general public.

On the other hand, I and others argue that public awareness is critical to the mission of any public institution, particularly one that aspires to be as much an association of peoples as a club of countries. While the Commonwealth’s most important work may fall below the radar, I am convinced that more has to be done to (re)capture the public’s imagination. At a practical level, without public awareness, there will be less public support for the association, and without public support, political leaders are less likely to invest time and resources in the association. That’s partly why I believe doing a public consultation like this is critical.

But please tell me if I am wrong…

I’ve already had the pleasure of attending a few of these and I am about to head off on whirlwind tour to attend another half dozen of them (in four countries over seven days!) to explain what we are trying to achieve.

To try and build a picture of the work we are doing, we have included a new events section on the website. The green button at the top of the page will take you to a calendar which will include information of all past and future Commonwealth Conversations taking place around the world.

Photos and videos of the events are starting to come in and we will be putting those up on the website as well.

If you want to attend an event please get in touch, or if you have already been to one, and what to tell us what you thought of it, please leave a comment under the specific event post. Or, better still, if you want to organise your own event, there’s still time. This project is all about collecting your opinions, so make sure your voice is heard.

If you look around the website, you can already see some interesting points of difference emerging. For example, the question about the role of the monarchy is clearly one which people are passionate about. So too it seems is the question of what the Commonwealth should be doing in places like Sri Lanka.

But, for me, one of the most intriguing questions about the Commonwealth’s future has been thrown into sharp relief over the last few days. Have a look at the video clips from the Australian and British Foreign Ministers. One quite clearly believes that protecting and promoting democracy should be the Commonwealth’s key priority, while the other thinks it should be around climate change.

I am sure both Ministers think both issues are important but it’s where they place emphasis that is intriguing. I really do think that this is one of the most pressing questions for the Commonwealth: does it focus on what Stephen Smith calls its ‘core business’ or does it forge political momentum on climate change as David Miliband would have it?

What’s promising is that two important players are taking the Commonwealth so seriously. The challenge now is to work out how the Commonwealth can best respond to their challenges in either or both areas. Any views?

I promise to be more regular in my blog entries. Watch this space!