A Rogue Encounter at TEDxVictoria

Last fall I was invited to speak at TEDxVictoria, an invite I found totally exciting – and totally intimidating. After stalling for a few days I finally sent in my information & bio. I initially resisted because I had a concern that a room full of amazing people at a TEDx event would have little to gain from me riffing on my thoughts about collaboration. There were a few factors at play that had me change my mind about participating. First, my spiritual beliefs tell me that the things put in front of me are consistent with both my wants & my needs – even if I can’t tell. Second, I like to press myself into – and through – those experiences that birth fear in me. Lastly, my observations of the world I live in have led me to think that there’s often a ‘missing’ in the way we support one another – and perhaps I could find a way to express this that would be interesting as well as a contribution to the audience.

To me, collaboration is way beyond vital. A collaboration of quality requires listening, curiosity, commitment, selflessness, innovation, patience, enthusiasm & courage.

Some of you may recall that Sunset Labs was actually born as Sunset Collaborations, with LABS pulled from CO-LABS while gaining a simpler web address & a new thematic spin that we knew would be fun to play with (ie Digital Chemistry or our Megatech vs Technoveau video).

As I watch the video myself I of course see plenty of room for improvement (my nervousness displaced my smiles a bit), but also, I think it effectively communicates the core of what I wanted to say. I hope you’ll come away with something new from this, and that these ideas can play a role in the way you listen & collaborate within your communities. I welcome your questions, as well as your own rogue ideas of how we can work together to make our world an all the more terrific place!

With love & gratitude..

Jason