SXAW: My Experience
We've been back a little over 36 hours now, and after having dispensed of the 350+ emails awaiting me in my inbox yesterday, this morning I've actually had some time to really reflect on what this experience has done for me.
Yesterday was, of course, all about relating the story to coworkers, friends, family- the description "amazing, but aggressive" was shared more than once- however, it truly was SUCH AN OVERWHELMING wash of information, networking, and getting from one place to the next, today was really the first chance I've had to sit and just THINK!
Now that I have, I've recognized that there are 5 major themes that really stuck out for me from this year's SX. These are probably not the same 5 themes that any one of my coworkers or any other person attending the conference would relate- but that's what's great about SXSW- it's YOUR experience.
1. Think Big- The Sky is NOT the Limit
2. Digital Backlash: Craving Humanity
3. Crowdsourcing and the Sharing Economy
4. Disruption of Regulated Industries
5. Passion Drives Success
In order to keep this post relatively short and digestible, I'm going to touch on each of these themes in a separate, dedicated post. For today, let's focus on the first one.
1. Think Big- The Sky is NOT the Limit
In years past, everyone has been on the lookout for what the "IT" social media fad/app/digital microtrend of the moment is debuting at SXSW. This year, there was more of an emphasis on the BIG- the FUTURE. During the first day's Keynote presentation, Bre Pettis, the CEO and co-founder of Makerbot, introduced the Digitizer- a new element to the "3-D Ecosystem" that could, as some are speculating- ultimately render the traditional factory worker obsolete. Although Bre himself didn't much touch on this- there has been much talk about whether, one day, this technology could be used to build replacement organs. Organs!! (Watch Bre's Keynote here)
In what ended up being, to me, the most inspiring and fascinating of the Keynote speeches, Elon Musk took us through his thought process on developing SpaceX, a company that ultimately intends to commercialize space travel. In his words- he just kept waiting for NASA to go back to Mars, for man to walk on the surface- and when it never happened, he decided to make it happen himself. Who the hell just DECIDES to make a company that creates spaceships in the hopes of COMMERCIALIZING SPACE TRAVEL? He spoke a lot about the waste involved in traditional rocket design, about how 90% of the investment in a rocket is destroyed within its voyage- all because we haven't found a way to allow it to safely return to earth and land where we want it to. THEN he debuted a video to us of a rocket that SpaceX has designed- successfully taking off, and then landing in the same spot. Amazing! (Sorry guys, apparently this Keynote was NOT recorded)
Lastly, I attended a session with Jason Silva, a "Filmmaker, Futurist, and Performance Philosopher", in which he explored the evolution of man not as a biological phenomenon, but rather as a cultural and intellectual one- raising such questions as, if we ARE nature, how can anything that we create be considered unnatural? As we develop, for instance, wearable technology, cyborg technology, etc.- can those things not be seen as an evolutionary exoskeleton? Fascinating stuff. One short video he showed, entitled "Radical Openness", I found especially inspiring- and speaks to the benefits and possibilities of the open exchange of ideas and information. We should all be doing this more often- sharing ideas constantly, everywhere- in the hopes that our ideas will spark bigger, better ideas- this is how great things become reality. (Watch Jason's session here- I especially found the Q&A fascinating)
In short- I didn't leave Austin with a new social network, a new app I will never use- I came home with the desire and excitement for bigger things. When I think about the fact that Elon Musk basically recognized three major areas in which radical and disruptive change were NECESSARY- the internet, the evolution of clean energy, and the exploration of space- and chose not just one of the three to revolutionize, but tackled ALL THREE, basically simultaneously- it makes me feel very humbled, and drives my desire to DO THINGS. So, if you're reading this, and you ALSO want to do things- come talk to me. Let's make it happen.
