Maybe We're *ALL* Doing it Wrong

Photo: Final Signup Count: 105

I don’t know how many people came to the session, however many it was, the attendance and the chatter on twitter was incredibly gratifying.

Thinking about continuing the discussion here.

In case you’re wondering, yes I did check the analytics for this site and the Flickr views of the slides. Even though I proposed doing so may not be appropriate for personal publishing.

On Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshoakes/sets/72157623565869436/

As PDF: http://files.me.com/theoak/8li3tb

Are we making ourselves crazy or just acutely neurotic?

(Sorry Tumblr’s “Allow answers” feature is fucked and allows only 2 questions per day, and does not properly recognize Drafted vs Posted questions)

Is social media ruining our capacity to have stable, meaningful relationships?

(Sorry Tumblr’s “Allow answers” feature is fucked and allows only 2 questions per day, and does not properly recognize Drafted vs Posted questions)

Do businesses even belong in social media?

(Sorry Tumblr’s “Allow answers” feature is fucked and allows only 2 questions per day, and does not properly recognize Drafted vs Posted questions)

Does customer service belong in social media?

Reblog or use #pcn10allwrong

(Sorry Tumblr’s “Allow answers” feature is fucked and allows only 2 questions per day, and does not properly recognize Drafted vs Posted questions)

The first of three reasons that I decided to present at PodCamp 2010 was the desire to be part of the solution: part of the effort to make the Nashville Camp events as great as I believe they can be.

This sounds a little Hug-centric for someone like me, but it is born out of the observation that they’re good events, but not great ones. And I don’t mean to belittle the enormous effort put into the events by the volunteers, I was a volunteer for BarCamp 09, I know there’s a lot more work involved than one might speculate.

The reason I think they’re not great–yet–is this: We’re missing the Really Really Big Ideas®.

As Hugh Macleod (of Gaping Void fame) says in his fantastic article, random thoughts on being an entrepreneur:

Products are idea amplifiers. The molecules and/or bytes are secondary.

Which is to say, if all we do in the Nashville Tech Community is talk about how to make websites, debate the best publishing platforms, and analyze content strategy, we’ll never bring our game to the next level.

If we don’t have killer ideas, it doesn’t matter how many drupal developers, social media consultants or iPhone developers we have.

We’re off to a decent start. God knows there are smarter people with better ideas that I have around, but what makes a great Tech Community is that we all participate in the conversation.

So again, maybe what I’m doing will help. And next, I’ll talk a little about fear.

I said last week that PodCamp 09 was not everything I expected. Hell, I went so far as to call some of the sessions “eye-gougingly awful.” I stand by that statement (and I’m still not naming names).

To be clear here, am NOT saying that my session will not be eye-gougingly awful. I hope it won’t but fascination is in the eye of the beholder. I’m going to (try to) give a presentation that I would want to sit through.

Which is to say this:

If I want to sharpen my skills, become remarkable in my field, and do meaningful work, I don’t need to sit through a boring deck overstuffed with basic information I could scrape off google in 15 minutes.

If we want to develop Nashville as a center for technological entrepreneurship we can’t waste our energy talking endlessly about implementation details, or selling out our opportunities to try and drum up some leads.

I want to get sharper, be remarkable and do meaningful work. I want Nashville to be a kick ass center for amazing business ideas and executions that lead the way both technologically and creatively.

Maybe–maybe–this will help. If you’re wondering what I think we do in fact need (and at this point I have to assume you’re not), it’s the subject of my post tomorrow. If you’re following along (and again, assuming not) you know it’s this: Ideas.

When I read the email announcing that Session Creation for PodCamp Nashville 2010 was open I opened a new browser window, logged into the PodCamp Nashville site and clicked the “CREATE A SESSION” link in the site banner.

And then I left that browser window open on my laptop for 4 days.

I’d cycle through browser looking for something and flinch when the #PCN10 website zipped past. I’d watch the session page fill up and flinch. I’d sit and stare the form, unable to think, and unable to type.

During those four days I was being pulled in two directions (to present or not) by three different forces.

To Present:

1. Be Part of the Solution
2. Ideas are Powerful

Not to Present:

3. The Fear, Oh God The Fear!

So over the next couple days I’ll explain further.