DISQUS

Welcome to your late 20's. :-)

I am actually not even sure if I have any greys, because I haven't seen my natural color in years. Hehe, start getting highlights!

Why am I envisioning a Common Craft video with detailed diagrams explaining how to put in the light bulb?

(Yaaay!)

Very interesting post! I think parties are definitely a part of conferences and provide even more opportunity for socializing and networking in a relaxed setting, but I agree the organization throwing the conference shouldn't necessarily have to provide the drinks. It does become a liability issue, and I think you all handled it well. Anyone who wanted to get roaring drunk at Tequila Rain had the opportunity to do so, heh, just not on your dime. :)

One thing on personal brand destruction though, I don't think a person needs Podcamp or SXSW parties to do that, party or not. If a person is going to "drunk-tweet" and make themselves look foolish, they will probably do so whether they're out with friends on their own time OR at a conference. Self-destructive tendencies know no bounds!

Wish I could have attended, we'll miss you around here. Best of luck! (Also, LOVE the resignation letter, ha!)

THanks for joining us David, it was a pleasure! :)

It's cheaper than the Flip, AND in HD? Dang!

I think some events do this well, particularly when they have you rsvp on a Wiki with the option of leaving a URL. It should definitely be the standard operating procedure to get people's sites out to the attendees beforehand, I agree!

And Fake Steve is a great guy to get at an event, I saw him at the PRSA event in Boston in October (? I think?), and he was hilarious and eloquent.

LOVE the shirt, must get one. This reminds me I need to Utter. And agreed, she looks just like you!

Wow, I really connected with the guy holding up the "I bought a $100 dollar textbook I never opened." line. That was me. I love to read, but the problem is the assigned reading in most classes is mind-crushingly, stupefyingly uninteresting.

I actually experimented with one class in college, that had 9 (count 'em, 9, and it was NOT a lit class) books in the assigned reading list totally over $200. I did not buy a single one, yet managed a B in the class by working from class notes and borrowing a book or two (though not all of them).

None of the complaints from these kids are new, what's new is the distractions. Classes are always massive, college is always insanely expensive, reading has always gone un-done by a wide percentage of students, and college kids have always been lazy and unmotivated. (Hello there, sweeping generalizations!) It's just that in these Web 2.0 aughts we find ourselves in, the distractions come with a higher price tag.

I'm really not sure what the answer is...it's a "mentality of youth" and "crappyness of education system" problem more than anything. I don't see technology as a savior, I see a never-gonna-happen complete overhaul of the way kids learn from the ground up as one.

Chip is definitely a rock star, I am often amazed by how many things he can keep up in the air at a time, and how he can write an e-book in like, an hour and a half that hardly needs any editing. It's honestly astounding, and I'm not just saying that because he's da boss. :)

Thanks for the shout, just seeing it now, as I was on vaca last week. And hey, I am all over coffee cards. I have dunks in my veins instead of blood. :)

"Mystery," the host of the Pick-up Artist, is also featured prominently in the book "The Game."

I devoured that book in about a day, it's utterly fascinating for all the reasons you mention. The author joined forces with Mystery to run pick-up seminars, and all their techniques can be easily tweaked and applied to just about any setting that would otherwise be intimidating. It's definitely not only useful to wannabe ladies' men.

One thing I noticed though. Techniques like that are great for inspiring confidence, but fostering real relationships has to come from within. Getting a girl to come home with you, or give you her phone number, is definitely not the same as building a relationship with her. That's an entirely different set of "skills," for lack of a better word...

Dearest mister sir, thanks you so much for your kind response to my requests. Once you give bank numbers and all credit card numbers and social security number my account, I give you commission of three elephant tusks. These you may lodge into your accounts, or better yet into other unnamed places, since that's what it will feel like after I rob you blind.

I was going to ask the same thing as Bryan, haha. Good to meet you in person this morning, what a fun event.

Helpful hints, but I admit to chortling somewhat at the "practice small talk" bit--perhaps because I can't imagine being at a loss for words. But then again, I suppose not everyone is as (obnoxious) chatty as me.

I really couldn't focus on the video, because the narrator voice reminded me way too much of Satan from the South Park movie. I kept on waiting for a frisky Saddam Hussein to jump out.

I am late to this post, since I am new to your blog, but that looks SO fun. A friend invited me to "Heavy Metal Karaoke" night at The Harp in Boston a few weeks back, but I couldn't go. I still regret it, I do a craaazy "Sweet Child o' Mine."

What a lively discussion!

My two cents on reaching the "unplugged masses": I think it all depends on how much time they're willing to invest. I spend most of my day on this stuff, someone with a "real job" (heh) and a family isn't necessarily going to head home after a rough day and climb on the computer to spend an hour reaching out to his online community. Isn't a "real life" community enough for some people?

And there are others with an online community (like a MySpace page) who are still nowhere near as invested as we are. Many of my friends with MySpace pages wouldn't even begin to know what to do with Twitter, think blogs are silly, and wouldn't understand why flickr was necessary when they can share their photos with friends already via Snapfish.

So capturing the unplugged may just not be possible--not everyone is willing to let social media saturate their life the way others are.