Amazing day yesterday at Interesting2007. It did exactly what it said on the tin: over 20 speakers on a hot stuffy day, yet I don’t recall being bored at any stage. Several talks in I realised why – we were basically being treated to a line-up of people enthusing about their passions and obsessions, and it’s hard not to find that interesting, whatever the subject – enthusiasm is contagious, after all.
Then it struck me that it’s a short step from interesting to inspiration. If you’re interested in something, you want to know more about it, or do more of it. And hearing so many people talk about what they find interesting, you start to feel inspired to go out and do stuff yourself – not necessarily the same as them, but more of the things you find interesting. So if we can persuade Russell to do it next year maybe he should call it Inspiring2008.
I’ll probably blog some of the more (ahem) interesting bits later on, but in the meanwhile here are some of the things I learned yesterday:
- In the 1930’s Superman was accompanied by a flying dog called Krypto
- Lady Patricia was the world’s first beertanker
- Cities are slow computers
- Knots were invented in the 19th century by witches
- Bagpuss was originally pitched to the BBC as ‘a stuffed cat in an antique shop’
- If you want to make a really good erotic film, you need to serve a hot meal
- You can change the world for a fiver
- Kermit the frog began his career as a killer
- Short is hard
- For children, learning styles are less important than ‘playability’
- Geography is the next big thing
- Top class swimmers are like albatrosses – ungainly on the land, but in their element elsewhere
A big thank you to Russell and all the speakers for treating us to such a delightful smorgasbord. My brain is now officially full.
There are already 489 photos on Flickr tagged Interesting2007. This page on the wiki has links to video as well. Here’s the Interesting2007 tag on Technorati so you can follow what other bloggers made of it.
Technorati Tags: interesting2007
Mark. That’s the post I wanted to write but didn’t know where to start. Kermit is a hired gun and Interesting 2007 was the best way to find out. I’m chuckling as I type. 🙂
Mark: Dead right… I was thinking how much this event backs up your enthusiasm for enthusiasm!
Hi Mark, nice write up. It was great to meet you, hopefully it will happen again soon.
Marcus.
Hi chaps, great to see you all on Saturday.
Charles – I’ll never look at Kermit or tamagotchi in the same way again.
Johnnie – yes, I felt the stirrings of enthusiasm as I sat there in my chair… always a good sign!
Marcus – pleasure to meet you in ‘real life’, looking forward to the next time. PS Did anyone tell you Sacrum was there? I hope you got to meet him, apparently he’d walked a long way to be there.
Totally with you on the enthusiasm front.
As a cultural Heinz 57, it has been interesting for me to learn and understand how enthusiasm is (not) expressed in English culture. Given that effusive, bubbling emoting is utterly forbidden due to what Kate Fox calls ‘The English Understatement Rule’ whereby we are required to play down emotions, Interesting 2007 was a wonderful opportunity to see enthusiasm applauded and shared. Hurrah for that! Or, if I’m flauting the understatement rule, HURRAH FOR THAT!
Hope to see you soon, Mark
Heh, I like the English Understatement Rule, I should read that book! Was it Russell or Johnnie who told us not to be so English and applaud enthusiastically? Worked a treat.