“Friends, are you ”bored with life?” Have you, “seen it all?” Do you suffer from boredom? From ennui?
“Then friends, I’d like to talk to you today about something that can help. Something that can deepen your experience of life, make you a more interesting person, even stave off dementia! A veritable Fountain of Youth!
“What is this miracle cure, you ask? What is this philosophers’ stone, this elixir that bestows and restores youth and vitality?
“Friends, I humbly submit to you that it is nothing more and nothing less than good old-fashioned Curiosity!
“Yes, that’s right, friends – Curiosity.”
So began our presentation at this year’s DigSouth conference in Charleston. The theme of of the conference was “Exploration,” and we wanted to talk about how we use our natural curiosity about the world to create videos that explore the various cool subjects that our clients never cease to amaze us with. So Jon and I extolled not only the great benefits of curiosity, but also the great power of storytelling, the supreme usefulness of the three main questions you need to ask before working on a video (What’s your message? Who’s your audience? What’s your budget?), and the importance of making a human connection, among many other useful and fascinating points.
Of course, our talk was only a small part of the experience we had. In addition to our speaking engagement we also attended some very interesting and informative presentations – Gary Vaynarchek on digital entrepreneurship, a panel discussion about doing creative work in the South, and another on the possibilities of digital education. The DigSouth conference is nothing if not chock full of fascinating people and topics.
And, as a great side benefit of our splendid locale, we were able, by simply driving a short distance from our hotel and getting out of the car, to go for a walk in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods I’ve ever seen, full of historic homes and Spanish moss and brick sidewalks. We had coffee on the sidewalk, saw a high-fashion photo shoot, and at a picturesque market full of tourists and cool knick-knacks, I picked up some delicious benne wafers for the family back in Atlanta. Needless to say, we’re already looking forward to attending next year’s event!
-Jim Threlkeld