The Death of the Grand Gesture
The Death of the Grand Gesture
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hey mark thanks for comment -as I was preparing my talk i wrestled with totally taking the death stance and thought it would be a bit disingenuous considering i was in the midst of a grand gesture - the talk and the conference. It is not so much a death but a re balancing of the fact that you cannot live only in grand gestures anymore - the social web changes all that. Point being we live in a world of small constant interactions punctuated by occasional grand gestures. I welcome all feedback!!
I thought this was good, although I don't agree with the definition of "grand gesture"... if flowers at Valentine's Day is a Grand Gesture? I don't know what I expected but I did like where it went!
a grand gesture - is a formal item that happens at a specific set time. as opposed to the small mini-gestures of every day life - the constancy of that
At the end of this (and throughout it), I kept saying to myself, "are they kidding - this is a waste of my time and an insult to my intelligence". I found the presentation and the presenter very weak - I could not figure out what the theme or message really was, the discussion was disorganized, disjointed and rambling, it was too informal and casual and literally felt unprepared (maybe it was prepared but it came through as unprepared/unrehearsed) which suggests disrespect for the listener. This was the weakest event of the entire conference - I got absolutely nothing out of it and have no idea why this qualifies as a keynote. Sorry to be so direct, but for the time and investment I put into this conference as a start-up entrepreneur where time and money are my most precious assets, I found this a real waste of my time and I think O'Reilly conferences need to do a better job making sure that the keynotes really take our collective thinking to a whole new level.
I still don't know what this was about. It didn't come to a clear conclusion and was a bit disconnected. Deborah seems to have great experience and a lot to offer, it just didn't come together here.
I think this could have been shortened into a 5 min comment.
I'm with Val. Seemed like a bunch of directionless handwaving :(
Hey all - upon reflection - I agree that I could have nailed it better but my thesis still stands - the only way for the social web to continue to thrive is to acknowledge that the world is more than just online --the point is that i see a lot of developers still not getting that you MUST live online & offline as well in a thoughtful way and really thinking about developing apps and businesses that are helpful and needed and reflect who we are as social beings and businesses. Tim talked about doing more than throwing sheep, Clay about filters and Arianna about unplugging - all part of the same continuum.
I am going to put up my actual notes and preso on my blog - I welcome more comments there if so interested. http:/www.deborahschultz.com
Cheers!
Good speaker but I felt like some of the multimedia stuff didn't help get her message across. And the Sid Caesar thing was too long.
Other than the title, which the speaker actually changed during the talk, she didn't seem to make very many clear points. I found her talk confusing. I trust that Ms. Schultz is successful and an expert in her field but it didn't come across this time.
The talk was fun, and allowed me to think a bit about the Grand Gestures I see all the time - billboards in Times Square with neon and action - and understand that not only do they not talk to me but that i look right through them.
Awareness and superbowl ads are great, but what Deb is bringing across is that there is a place for big stuff and for conversations and human connections. While the video ran a little long - it was intended to show the human connections we make without even saying a word.
I think she also made me think about the online vs offline ways we communicate - always something to reflect on.
Deb appeared to redirect the key note from the Grand Gesture to one that looks at the inter relationship between our online and offline selves. Not a bad topic but not what was really expected.