communication. community. cognition.
South by Deep South is really happening. No joke.
September 26-28 in Birmingham. We picked a date that did not conflict with either a Crimson Tide home game nor a NASCAR event. As it happens, we’ll also have the 10th Annual Sidewalk Film Festival going on, so it ought to be an amazing weekend all the way through. Not to mention a full-bore WordCamp wrapped up in the SxDS proceedings.
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, sxds, south by deep south, wordcamp, birmingham, sidewalk film festival[/tags]
South by Deep South won’t be my first foray into unconferencing. It will be my biggest, though.
Years ago, I’d made some friends in an online forum for broadcast journalists. One of them, Randy Steinman, was coming through Birmingham on the way to the beach, and thought it would be neat to have lunch. He’s the sports director for the CTV affiliate in Toronto, and his family has a place on the Gulf Coast. It was September of 2001.
Yeah, that September.
The RTNDA was having its national shindig in Nashville that year, the 14th-17th. Needless to say, news management types had their hands full, and the convention was cancelled. Randy and his fiance were already committed to coming, so the two of them met me, my wife, and my sister at a Cracker Barrel for lunch. And thus was born “RTNDA-Not.”
The next year, a few folks had heard about our un-gathering, and we opened it up a bit. When Randy and Sheryl came through the next year, we had a total of 17 people there for a weekend of eating, drinking, and fellowship. Lots of war stories about life in the news trenches. Jessica flew in from Houston, John drove down from Cincinnati, Carolyn from Louisiana – about half of the crew came from out of Alabama. A great weekend, any way you slice it.
2003 was an experience. We decided to bring some professional value to RTNDA-Not. (And that’s how it was known, long before the “un-conference” became the hip thing for the bloggerati.) I got four television stations to kick in some sponsorship money, and we brought Wayne Freedman from KGO-TV in San Francisco to lead a storytelling seminar. Wayne only had 40-something Emmy awards at the time, and is considered one of the premier storytellers in news.
We booked him, took over a donated hall at Samford University, and let him do his thing. We had more than 60 people from at least a dozen states who drove in for RTNDA-Not. And we didn’t charge a dime. It was the first time in years that Freedman had done a presentation where there was no cover charge. The informal breakout meetings were a blast, as was the weekend.
Then I got out of teevee, and there was no RTNDA-Not for 2004.
I’ll dig up some pics when I get around to it. SxDS is going to be off the charts in comparison. Go visit and offer to help. I’m begging you.
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, sxds, south by deep south, RTNDA, Randy Steinman, Wayne Freedman[/tags]
Sometimes, things just spill out of your mouth and take on a life of their own.
Like South by Deep South, for instance.
I got tired of hearing about all of those going to South by Southwest (SxSW), and Blogger Social, and TED, and any of the other big conferences where people pay big money to think big. So I created SxDS. And enough people are actually interested in such an animal, that it looks like we’ll actually have to do it.
So… if you have any interest in meeting up with some really fine communicators and thinkers (many of whom lack a drawl), then drop a note over at the SxDS website. We’ll post thoughts and work out the logistics to bring everyone together for an unconference for the ages!
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, communication, marketing, SXDS[/tags]
