I really groove on all the people who are around here, and I tend to move through the conference on a high-energy bubble. I smile at everyone and start up conversations without any self-consciousness. For the most part, people here aren't badge snobs, who look at your job title before they decide whether to talk to you. There are a few of those, and I find them tiresome. (I don't put anything on my badge, and some people light up when they find I am a sailing coach, while others look puzzled. I usually keep the lawyer side of me in my back pocket, and pull it out if it seems relevant. To some people it makes a big difference -- they reassess me as smarter after they discover I used to practice law.) Mostly, the great thing about this conference is the mingling, and the open spirit that people bring to it. The venture capitalists and the musicians and the schoolteachers are sitting together at lunch having arguments about global warming.
In any case, I ride this social high for a while but by about now my brain is getting full and I feel overstimulated. I'm zoning out on the talk about Flock right now (which is a little more of a product demo than we usually have here, albeit a cool product) because I'm still thinking about Yochai Benkler's presentation a few minutes ago, and also thinking about Peter Diamandis's theme from yesterday, about incentives and competition as a driver for social innovation. I want to let ideas settle, and really absorb them. But instead there are parties to go to and new people to meet and still more things to see and learn tomorrow. I get tired in anticipation.
Excelent. Zombie Logic Press www.zombielogicpress.com. When in Rockford, Illinois, stop at castaways for a beer.
Posted by: Thomas l. Vaultonburg | October 21, 2005 at 07:16 PM
Excellent. Zombie Logic press www.zombielogicpress.com. When in Rockford, Illinois, have a beer at Castaways
Posted by: Thomas l. Vaultonburg | October 21, 2005 at 07:18 PM