To me, the most impressive thing about SXSW Interactive is the energy that radiates. Generally, the people attending this conference are focused, smart, creative and optimistic. They pose important questions and play the kinds of productive games that result in communication, learning and transformation. They dream, then do, and they are unfazed by failure. I have been part of this conversation, this tribe, since TRON. While I don’t know too many people here, or travel dozens deep like some of the bigger players, I feel very welcomed, and grateful for all the support GameChangers received during my four days in Austin, from too many people to mention. I hope all our paths cross again someday, and given the affordances of the Networked World, it is quite likely that they will.
THE BUS RIDE. When I go to rent a car in Dallas, I discover that my driver’s license has expired, and that the only real option for me to get to Austin is aboard a bus. I am pissed at myself, and get even more pissed when the shuttle to the bus station is late to pick me up. Then I begin a conversation with Nelda, the shuttle coordinator. She has a patient, pleasant demeanor, and it’s not this phony cheeriness that somebody in the home office scripted for her role, it’s for real. It says to me as plainly as if she’s speaking it out loud that a delay in an airport shuttle bus, or having to take a bus instead of drive a rental car from Dallas to Austin is the least troublesome thing in the world. And she’s right. Nelda’s outlook reminds that we always have a choice how we see and react to setbacks, or to any situation for that matter.