Pop!Tech reflections
Awesome. Not awesome 'yeah, y'know, it was just totally, like, aawwesome' but Awesome awesome. Awesome enough, in fact, to make me consider moving to the States, not least because there were a few incredible ex-pats there who'd done the very same thing. I never thought I'd say that.
Where to start? I arrived on Friday lunchtime, a day and a half after the event kicked off. By all accounts, I missed one of the most thought-provoking talks of the event – Thomas Barnett's lecture (there's a good write-up on Ethan Zuckerman's blog and an audio recording here). Speaking of Ethan Zuckerman, his talk blew me away as well – in common with so many of those I met at Pop!Tech, he was a true visionary, buzzing with energy and ideas, yet incredibly modest, self-effacing and personable.
There were about 400 people at Pop!Tech, all squeezed into Camden's Opera House. The atmosphere was unlike any other event I've spoken at – I arrived on Friday lunchtime and by 5pm, when I stepped onstage, it already felt like I was addressing an audience of friends. Many of the audience were blogging live, the majority tapping away on shiny Apple Powerbooks (in fact, the soft glow of so many Apple logos facing me as I spoke was oddly reassuring – I came close to buying a Windows laptop last week and I'm glad I didn't – time to switch?)
The talk went well – it was nice speaking to an audience that genuinely wanted to be there, but slightly intimidating being slotted into a speaker schedule boasting so many buffed and honed intellects. I haven't had such a bad case of butterflies in yonks. I'll have my hands on a high-quality audio recording of my talk soon – I'll whack it up as an mp3 as soon as I do. In the meantime, a few bloggers were kind enough to write up their thoughts.
I don't have room to thank everyone that made the event so special for me, but a few individuals deserve a gold star, namely Andrew Zolli, Peter Giblin, Jason Kottke, Mark Shapiro, Ethan Zuckerman, Rachel Barenblat, Jay Wade, Andrew Rasiej, Tom LeVine, Nanci Ross, Chris Weaver, ZeroBoy, Renee Stahl, Andrew Coulter, Spencer Wells, Lizzie Blanchard, Eloma Simpson-Barnes, David Bornstein, everyone from National Geographic, Howard Fishman, Jim Ruddy, Cathy Ardman and Bill Church. (All in no particular order, I'll add links soon and I'm sure I've missed a few out…)
The tiny town of Camden was gorgeous and the only bad thing about the entire event was knowing that (if all goes well) I won't be able to make it next year. I'll be in Antarctica. Still, I have plenty of time between now and then to sort out a live video link…
I'm running out of superlatives, but Pop!Tech was truly life-changing. If you're free next October (19th-22nd), GO! BOOK IT! NOW!!
NB. A few people emailed me during the conference, but a moment's cack-handedness with my iPAQ's stylus managed to delete my entire inbox. If you're feeling offended that I haven't replied, this is probably why…
— Filed under Rumination, Speaking