I was out for a run along the river here in Austin the other morning, and as per usual I was listening to a podcast. Tim Ferriss was speaking with the author, Jim Collins, the conversation was fascinating, touching topics from Jim’s books, ‘Made to Last’ and ‘Good to Great’ and digging into his habits and strategies.
I was enthralled.
It then occurred to me that from a content perspective, this was at least as good as anything I’d heard in the talks at SXSW, and this kind of quality information and insight is, of course, freely available via the magic of the internet.
This got me thinking. If this is the case, which it is, why spend significant amounts of time and money getting to Austin Texas?
The difference is in the experience, not the information.
We know that when immersed, engaged and interacting with content we retain more information, make more novel connections and on many dimensions, get more from the experience. There are many elements at play in experiential learning, but some of the things which are top of mind for me at SXSW.
- Presence and engagement – When you are with a speaker or panel there is a circuit that goes off in the brain that makes you pay more attention than if you were alone with a podcast, book or YouTube video. You feel a social obligation to give the speaker your attention, which is unsurprisingly beneficial for learning.
- Prepared for curiosity – Because there is so much on the agenda here, you have to be very intentional about the sessions you attend. In any time slot, you are often choosing from a handful of possibilities you’d equally enjoy. This means that you’re generally attending sessions that have maximally piqued your curiosity. Moreover, when people are curious, they pay attention, and they ask questions.
- Synthesis- The benefit of being here with a bunch of smart folks is that post-session you have the opportunity to discuss and debate what you just saw. I’m sure I don’t need to re-articulate the benefit of having a diverse set of opinions on a topic. Of course, writing here helps with synthesis too.
There, of course, many other good reasons to be here. Connecting with people, stumbling over things you never would if you continued to exist in your filter bubble, eating tacos, etc. But, from a learning perspective, the ROI is defiantly positive.