Our thoughts.

The DO Halo

Nick, Lee and I spent last weekend in West Wales at the DO Lectures. It goes without saying that it was an amazing experience. Everything from the location at Fforest to the pure indulgence of being surrounded by amazingly clever and interesting people for a whole weekend.

Having looked down the list of speakers there was a few I thought I'd skip, because I wasn't interested in birds or axes. Thing is I was moved to tears by one of the above, mostly because I realised how arrogant I was to think I didn't need to experience it.

The thing in my mind that sets DO apart is the choice of speakers. Not only are they clever and interesting etc, they have grounded it and made something real happen. I'm a huge cynic of industry conferences where everyone comes together to exchange powerpoint wit and insight, and we all leave feeling good about what we know, but with no idea how to do something with it. This is where David and Claire (along with their team) are stealing the march. The focus is on DO.

After having a whole week to let it settle I've realised that I have a pre-DO and a post-DO way of thinking. I've never had that before from any event.

The halo that DO has created is evident online too. Just search for it, you'll see that DO is building real sentiment that's spreading out quickly. There's been no clever social marketing post DO, it's just happening socially because it's worth talking about.

Watch out TED, I think DO is going to be the place where real things get talked about.