Everything I learned during my afternoon at Thinking Digital Manchester 2016
In hindsight, I made a mistake.
To only spend half a day at this conference and not instead attend the full two days of events was just plain wrong. Anything which brings together some of Manchester’s (and the UK’s) best thinkers and tinkerers is more than worth just a couple hours of anyone’s time.
But, alas, I was so late applying that I only got my hands on an afternoon ticket. There’s no one to blame but myself.
Minor complaint aside, though, I still learned a ton from the six talks I was able to attend. And, being the type of guy that I am, here’s everything (kind of) that I learned during an afternoon in Theater 1 at HOME on First Street.
“If you’re passionate about something, run with it.”
Myles Dyer (YouTuber, activist, cyber-philanthrophist)
The first talk I got to see was with Myles Dyer, long-time YouTuber and video marketer.
Actually, I say talk. It was more of a casual chat between Myles and the event organiser, Herb Kim.
Either way, the above quote stood out to me the most, and it’s a theme that ran throughout the day:
If you’re passionate or curious about something, get to work and don’t let anyone discourage you.
“Everyone is a dot.”
And the Internet these dots — us — and creates clouds of ideologies. These clouds clash, create storms and that’s why we see so much online tension.
Another interesting snippet of knowledge from Mr. Dyer.
“Curiosity is the driver of personal learning.”
Now, I kind of know this already, but I included it because, well, it’s an important quote.
Think about the last time you were curious (about anything). How much time did you dedicate to learning about that thing? Hours? Days? Weeks? Heck, you could’ve been curious years ago and never lost that initial buzz so you’re still learning.
But how many of you learned about something, got pretty well-read on the matter and then pushed it aside not because you lost interest, but because life “got in the way”?
How many of you wish you had the time to return to whatever you were curious about and do more of that thing? Maybe even start a career in that thing?
I hope not many of you nodded along to those questions, but I have a feeling a lot of head movement just occurred.
Stay curious. Learn a lot. Then, if you’re still curious, keep learning.
“We have no problem demanding convenience, but no one is talking about security.”
Jennifer Arcuri — Co-founder, HackerHouse
Now, considering I work at one of the most well-respected cyber security companies on the planet, I probably already knew this.
But no one has articulated the point quite as well as Jennifer Arcuri did in her talk.
The most energetic of the six – and possibly the most energetic talk I’ve ever watched – Jennifer took us through exactly why we have to start considering security as we demand constant improvements to convenience.
Otherwise, we’re just leaving ourselves incredibly vulnerable.
And on that note, why not check out who I work for:
“When you don’t know what you want to do, do everything.”
Amy Zima — Product Manager, Twitter
Now this is just my opinion, but I think a lot of people, even when they’re stuck at life’s intersection, or feel like they’re in limbo, don’t do half of the things they could (and should) do.
And they may decide not to do these things because they’re:
- Scared
- Unsure
- Lacking confidence
- Unmotivated
Most are probably all of the above. That’s sad.
When you’re not sure of your direction in life, you need to take control. You need to be proactive. You need to make life happen to you.
And that means doing everything.
The more you do, the more people you will know. The more people you know, the more places you will go.
Which leads nicely on to…
“Even when you feel out of your depth, don’t write yourself off.”
“There is so much competing for our attention that we forget what’s important and what isn’t.”
James Veitch — Writer and comedian
You all might know James from his brilliantly popular TED Talk ‘This is what happens when you reply to spam email.’
At Thinking Digital, his talk followed largely the same pattern as he walked us through four years of replying to spam emails and frustrating his housemates.
You might think that in such talks, there isn’t a lot to learn.
And, well, you’d be pretty much spot on.
But, if you look just a little bit deeper, you’ll find something worth remembering.
For James, replying to spam isn’t just an amusing hobby. Instead, it serves as a reminder to him — and us all — that in a world where everyone and everything is competing for our attention, there’s always the opportunity to step back, open your laptop, and spend hours sending emails to strangers who think they’re scamming you.
Thinking Digital is back on November 1st in Newcastle with Thinking Digital Women, and the annual conference returns next May, again in Newcastle.
See you all in 2017.
