the most important story you tell is your own

Last night, a couple hundred social content enthusiasts, defying the wrath of winter, gathered at Columbus Circle to attend a Future of Storytelling meetup organized by Jeff Pulver, creator of 140 Character conferences. Much talk was on the future of narrative, but co-host Michael Margolis demonstrated its present-day importance by citing the role of storytelling in crafting a bio. He observed that many of us skilled in communicating the stories of others fall down on the job when promoting ourselves. Particularly true if we're in the throes of reinvention. And, these days, who isn’t?.

Because social media is the new meet and greet, everyone needs a short bio these days. And bio-writing is about making choices, he said. A bio isn’t a laundry list. All of us have countless stories we COULD tell, but which narratives will most help us achieve what we’re after?

5 rules of engagement:

1. Think about the “character” you want to portray. What is your origin? Who were your parents? What have you studied and what forces shaped you?

2. Define your work, so people know what it is.

3. Give a glimpse of past experiences that led you to want to do this work.

4. Provide external validators. These days, character trumps credentials but outside validators are still essential, especially if you’re pursuing work that hasn’t been done before.

5. Make yourself sound human. What are your passions, your peeves, what do you geek out on?

And—make it short. An attendee who licenses TedX conferences complained of too-long missives from prospective candidates. She said she dismissed pages-long emails, assuming that if people can’t present themselves concisely in writing, they won’t be able to do it onstage.

Examples of bios that stand out by following the 5 rules? Margolis cited (irrefutably) that of local-wine-monger-turned-global-marketing-guru Gary Vaynerchuck:

Gary Vaynerchuk is a New York Times bestselling author and American businessman who was born in Belarus and immigrated to the United States as a young child. Gary’s entrepreneurial instincts took over at a young age, when he owned a franchise of neighborhood lemonade stands and made $1,000 a weekend selling baseball cards. Much to his dismay, his father Sasha pulled Gary into the family business, a local liquor store called Shopper’s Discount Liquors. Before long, Gary recognized that consumers collected rare wines just like people collected baseball cards, and he was off to the races.

Now, off to rewrite.

92nd St Y + 140 characters + 2 days=ROI

Bleary-brained from two days in the frenetic "State of Now" as Jeff Pulver calls his 140 Character Conferences which are unlike any others I've attended, not only because they bring together people from such disparate fields as fashion, music, publishing, real estate and medicine, but because

1. Speakers are limited to too-short-to-be boring 10 minutes, panels to 20 minutes
2. All sessions take place in same room, so by choosing one, you won't miss others
3. It's not a trade show.

The last is the most remarkable difference to me. No one on stage is out to sell you something. (Well, almost no one.) Vibe is about sharing vision and ideas and concrete examples of how adoption of social communication platforms is actually, in real time, changing the world. All sessions were streamed and available here.

Ann Curry talked about how twitter saved lives in Haiti, connecting victims with the help they needed in the US. (video)

Jennifer Preston (Social Media editor of NY Times--yes! they have one) talked with newsgatherers about how geo-based platforms (FourSquare, Gowalla) are changing the way reporters get news. (video) Later, founders of those platforms, Dennis Crowley and Josh Williams, discussed surprisingly prevalent use in heavily-censored China. (video)

Comic Book creators from Marvel and elsewhere talked about the excitement of bringing their characters off the page and onto small screens. (video)

Transmedia producer Tish Shute introduced the concept of collaborative Augmented Reality Worlds as easy to contribute to as a Wiki page. (video)

There were plenty of other worthwhile sessions, including ones from media elites David Carr and Joan Walsh and twitter brand names like MC Hammer, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jessica Gottlieb. But perhaps my favorite presentation was by unknown 13 year olds who demonstrated a breakthrough idea in education conceived by their teacher George Haines: they came to appreciate Animal Farm by tweeting the characters. Each took a turn in the classroom channelling Clover, Snowball, Napoleon, Muriel, even Orwell himself and followed barnyard conversation on a twitter list. A simple, replicable idea: combine literature with computer technology to make both more appealing to kids who "thought the book was boring until we started tweeting it." They ended their preso with remix of Lady Gaga's "Brave Romance" ("Boring Class") and got A+ from the crowd--a rare standing ovation. (Vid below)

"Twitter Will Endure" illustration by quickdraw Johnny Goldstein

2 days in a bunker with 140 characters

On March 23, Jeff Pulver put out the call: "Seeking creative, out-of-the-box thinkers...to explore the future." Must twitter.

He was trying to put together, in less than three months, an industry gathering of not just tech geeks, but "all kinds of people and the only thing they have in common is that they speak Twitter" ... something as diverse as the bar scene from the first Star Wars movie, he told The Observer.

IMHO, he succeeded. Of course, there were appearances by regulars on the twitter circuit like the ebullient (and ever mesmerizing) Gary Vaynerchuk who has turned his enthusiasm for running his family's wine business into a personal brand with 530,000 followers. Chris Brogan, social media magilla. Robert Scoble , blogger and professional digital taste-tester. Tim O'Reilly, using twitter mania to build a media empire. Tony Hsieh of Zappos fame and Brian Solis, writer and beloved social media philosopher.



There were also rarer opportunities to hear from others at the twitter forefont. Like Jack Dorsey, Twitter's co-founder who traced the roots of the platform to own his obsessive musings about infrastructures in high school. Ann Curry, anchor on the Today Show (and the darling of the conference, see why here.) Moeed Ahmad, from Al Jazeera who shared how twitter is helping his journalists reach farflung sources and audiences. David Saranga consul for media at NY's Israeli Consulate: "there's no hiding behind institutions anymore". Fred Wilson, VC at Union Square Ventures (one of Twitter's main backers) who posited that links and retweets are the currency of the internet and will turn into actual money at the end of the day. (Which day, he didn't speculate.) 

Pulver observed throughout: "It's not about old media replacing new media, but the fusion of the two." Which set a generous tone and in part perhaps because of this, there was a refreshing lack of snark that pervades gatherings of digerati. Many of whom didn't seem to consider themselves digerati, but regular folks using the web as a tool to make their way in the world. 

In 20 minute strictly- timed "sets", (transgressors were threatened with the soundtrack from Exodus) fashionistas, filmmakers, mommy bloggers, musicians and jilted lovers took the stage, to the chagrin of some in the audience whose speaking proposals had been turned down.

There were reps of big brands like Kodak and Marriott and Macmillan and of one man brands and Adweek editor Brian Morrissey who compared seeing the social ineptness of most brands to "watching Dad dance--it feels awkward and creepy."



There was talk of inanimate tweeters like the Tower of London. A laundromat in Oberlin, Ohio that tweets when its wash cycle in over. Plants that twitter urgently to say they need water, according to Kevin Slayvin of Area/Code.

Female scientists stripteased off labcoats to demonstrate that science can be appealing.

We Mad Men served twittertinis (martinis in Dixie cups) to induce audience to stick around for our 6 PM panel at which Frank Adman was outed and Pete Campbell was revealed to be a woman. 

About that time, Twitter went down--not the usual brief fail whale, but extended routine maintenance that is usually performed during the wee hours. Turns out that the State Department had asked Twitter to delay a scheduled maintenance shutdown out of concern for Iranians using the service during the election protests.

The fact that the microblogging platform which obsessed the hundreds of us in attendance was now acknowledged by the White House to wield the power to influence government--served to fuel the camaraderie, a feeling of being distinct from the madding crowds...which was intensifed by the bunker-like location: three stories underground where internet was ornery and cell service nil. This has been roundly complained of by a panelist. But, in truth, the online interruptions were intermittent, as you can see by the number of #140conf tweets: 17,698. The real problem was lack of power outlets. It was as if the site had been built for the Amish.

Despite the tech challenges, and the annoying lack of handheld agendas which would have made it easier to follow the fifty or so panels a day, I found the gathering enormously worthwhile. (Videos of all sessions viewable here.) I liked that it wasn't about branding or metrics or marketing or communication. It was about all of those things-- and almost any other subject you could possibly think of. Which is the essential value of twitter. Allowing you to connect with people out of your customary orbit, people passionate about subjects you'd like to know more about. Being there was like attending a two-day long cocktail party. With fascinating strangers. And friends of friends you'd long wanted to meet. In a secret bunker. BYO power plug.

Mad Men Panel photo courtesy @EmilySPearl (thanks, Emily)