Such excitement! I bought my ticket on the earliest early bird pricing that’s how keen I was. Having missed out in 2017 due to another awesome adventure I was having, I was not going to miss this one. Day 1 did not disappoint. After the usual welcome festivities, I attended a fabulous talk by Kristy Richards from The Lab titled “Rigging the Crystal Ball : How Cultural Insight Helps us Design for a Future We Actually Want” – big title, big promise and in such a short timeframe big deliveries.
The future will be really cerebral.
Later highlight, I bumped into Kristy at a later session and had a chat…so exciting to have opportunities like that. Back to the Edge Global stage for a talk from Brian Green of Pixar followed by Dr John Smith demonstrating the machine learning powers of IBM research. Both interesting, in particular, the trailer for Morgan that had been researched by an AI and then completed by a human videographer. A job that would normally take months reduced to a single day as we successfully learn to augment our capabilities with AI technology. On to the Specialist Stage to see Sarah, Madeleine & Daizy all amazing tech queens discuss the future of education in “New School Rules – Driving Innovation in Education”. I particularly liked the use of the term “microcredentialling” which is essentially what I have been doing for years with short courses and online learning. The work that is being done to enhance the ability of teachers to keep up with the tech demands is fabulous.
Education is a launchpad to new ideas.
Cecilia Ambros from Amazon was next on with a talk on Creative Chaos. A veritable ‘mix tape’ as she put it, of advice for navigating the waters of idea wrangling and leadership.
Everything is temporary, and it is non-linear.
The path to ideation seldom follows a straight path, and it takes patience and time. Only then can you glimpse the vision of what you have created – something that previously didn’t exist! WOW, aren’t you clever? Now, remember to checkout, regroup and breathe.
It was particularly exciting for me to experience the magic of seeing one of my heroes Gwen Gordon from GwenGordonPlay.com I have followed her work for at least 6 years and supported her kickstarter campaign for Play : The Movie. Her talk was simply filled with fabulousness.
Doing something for the joy without being attached to the outcome.
That is Gwen’s definition of play and I think we can all do with some more of that in our lives. Her path to being a chief mischief maker has been amazing and her talk was inspirational in so many ways to me. Secret hope that I ‘bump’ into her sometime over the remaining 2 days. Stay tuned! From Gwen, a race to the specialist stage to see the boys from SouthSouthWest in their talk on Building Leading & Progress. A tale of growth and opportunity. I loved their advice to “collect experiences through travel and deep immersion” 
Back to the main stage for my final choice the Smart Drugs debate. I have to admit that prior to the talk I was on the fence. I have heard a few of my favourite podcasters discussing their use of nootropics and I am intrigued as to their efficacy, but concerned about their side effects and dependency. However, the research and eloquence of the discussion by Will Dayble in particular for the no team definitely swayed me to the no camp – or at least a not yet. Thus ended my day of brain stimulation…bring on Day 2.