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

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.

Here’s how I described the session on the #PCN10 website:

Pundits tell us that individuals have more power now than ever before thanks to the explosion of personal media from blogging to podcasting to video sharing to social networking to mobile apps to location-based services.

Are we using this power responsibly and effectively? Is social media growth sustainable? Why are we behaving in an anti-social manner on social networks?

No cribbed answers or parroted advice, just questions to start the conversation that we–the evangelists, experts, and early adopters–need to have.

When I say I don’t have answers, I mean it.

This isn’t a presentation designed to generate leads, establish credibility, or get my name out there. It’s designed to get us talking about what may be the most powerful force online for the next 5 years–if we don’t screw it up.

So, why am I doing it? Answer to that on Monday.

This Tumblr will be the host of a presentation I am giving at PodCamp Nashville 2010 of the same title: Maybe We’re *ALL* Doing it Wrong: A Contrarian View of Social Media.

It will host pre- and post-presentation content as well as offer a forum for attendees to respond to the questions raised in the preso during and after the presentation.