An Event Apart: Beyond Play!

by October 1, 2013

In his Beyond Play presentation at An Event Apart Austin TX 2013, Joshua Davis shared his path to success through creativity and ongoing play. Here's my notes from his talk:

  • What is the opposite of work? For most adults it is play. But for kids, the opposite of work is: lazy, home, relaxed, boring, etc.
  • Play is trying things, failure is part of the equal. But it provides the opportunity to discover the unknown.
  • The kind of work you do, is what you'll get hired to do. So it's a good idea to do what what you love.
  • The industry wants to replicate rather than innovate. If you spend too much time in work, and not play -you'll never find the next thing. To get the next idea, you have to experiment.
  • Computers today can surpass what the human hand can do.
  • Play allows you to define the trend rather react to it. When you make things for yourself and get them into the wild, others will find you and hire you.
  • Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without loosing your enthusiasm -Winston Churchill.
  • Today's technologies allows you to play in lots of new ways. Tools like Kinect and Leap Motion bring computing into the real world.
  • Never let your success get in the way of your creativity. If you shut down play, you'll never find new forms.
  • Be willing to be the student, even when you've mastered skills.