Immediately after the first day of Silicon Beach I’ll be catching the train back to Brighton in preparation for Friday’s dConstruct conference.

dConstruct is:

“dConstruct has a different theme every year. Last year it was “playing with the future.” This year it’s “communicating with machines.” The line-up for this year features designers, developers, artists and researchers from the worlds of web, mobile, security, comedy and music, all united for one day of exploration and entertainment.

For one day, the workers of the web come together to think about the big picture. If you want practical, hands-on instruction, you should come to the workshops but the conference itself is all about inspiration, mind bending, and good ol’-fashioned fun.”

For me, dConstruct is a chance to meet new people, catch up with lots of friends, and open my brain to some weird and wonderful ideas and experiences.

So if you want to catch up, you know where to find me.

I’m still rather new to Dorset, so I can’t wait for this week’s Silicon Beach conference, which will give me a chance to meet a few more of my local peers.

This is the blurb for Silicon Beach 2013:

“For the past two years, the annual Silicon Beach conference in Bournemouth has slowly (but surely) been gaining a reputation as an event that exceeds expectations, successfully sending its audience away with their minds blown.

The two-day event draws together an enviable programme of inspiring thinkers and doers, from a wide variety of disciplines, all with a common purpose of sharing their expertise and the latest innovative thinking that’s driving the rapid growth of the creative economy.”

Silicon Beach 2013

If you want to chat to a copywriter in Dorset, you know where to find me!

I was lucky enough to get a ticket for TEDx Brighton, the conference that aimed to deliver a few “reasons to be cheerful”.

The conference was fantastic – a phenomenal experience considering none of the attendees paid a penny to attend. Tom Bailey, the organiser, has a lot to be proud of. It was also a pleasure to watch two familiar locals, Anthony Mayfield and Will McInnes, deliver excellent talks.

However, my favourite bit of one big awesome day was hearing about Sally Kettle’s adventure’s in rowing the Atlantic. Sally told us a tale that sounded somewhat like a peculiar daydream, rather than something a person actually did. A spur of the moment decision to row the Atlantic ended when her  partner pulled out sick, so Sally called on her long-estranged mum. They then spent the next four months rowing together, across the actual Atlantic.

During the arduous voyage Sally would sometimes complain, “I hope the current changes direction” or “I hope the weather holds out for us” or “I hope we reach land soon”. Eventually Sally’s mum snapped, “Stop hoping for things. Hope does nothing to change anything. Hope is not an action plan. If you want to reach land sooner, row harder. There’s no hope on the boat.”

There’s no hope on the boat!

I love this idea. When Sally first mentioned her catchphrase, it sounded very bleak. “No hope” – doesn’t sound great, does it? But the meaning is incredibly positive, because it’s a call to arms. It’s an encitement to take charge, to take control and to stop waiting for things to happen.

So if you ever catch yourself hoping, or praying, for things to change, stop. Less hope, more rowing.