  In this series of lectures we give an introduction to the concept of
asymptotic symmetry analysis with a focus on asymptotically flat spacetimes in
2+1 dimensions. We explain general ideas of quantizing gauge theories and then
apply these ideas to gravity both in the metric as well as the Chern-Simons
formulations. This enables one to compute the asymptotic symmetries of given
gravitational configurations that in turn act as the basic underlying
symmetries of a possible dual quantum field theory in the context of
holography. We also briefly elaborate on the concept of "soft hair" excitations
of black holes in this context.
