Takeaways from South By…

I have been in Austin for South by Southwest (SXSW or “South By” as everyone seems to call it) since Saturday evening. Most people think of SXSW as a musical festival but over the last decade it has also become known for its gathering of filmmakers and well…geeks. The Interactive portion of SXSW lasts for 5 days. And it is a passionate gathering where people from all over the world gather to talk emerging technologies, enjoy Austin and geek out.

Here are my notes from a handful of the sessions I caught on Sunday:

(I’ll be posting the remainder of my notes tomorrow.)

Speaker: Tim Ferriss, author of The 4 Hour Body

Tim Ferriss is a fascinating fellow. He just thinks differently. I loved hearing his story behind The 4 Hour Body. He is certainly not afraid to get in the trenches and figure out a solution to a problem.

Tim’s 4 Rules of Behavioral Change…
1. Make it conscious.
2. Make it a game. And frame it so you can win.
3. Make it competitive. Use fear, shame & embarrassment to your advantage.
4. Make it small and temporary.

Keynote: Christopher Poole, 4 Chan

You are probably wondering what 4Chan is? That’s what I was wondering. (And be warned before you go about Googling it, the site contains some very explicit images.)

4Chan is the largest English imageboard on the web.

Two notable things about 4Chan are:
1. People post anonymously. Poole believes that anonymity breads true authenticity or unvarnished truth and it gives people freedom to fail.
2. There is no archive. Poole called 4Chan “a constant waterfall of content” and said that since only that which generates interest and conversation sticks around it is “survival of the fittest for ideas.”

I can’t help but wonder if sites like this encourage us to be the most primal versions of ourselves. Not sure that is the kind of authenticity we are after?