I was fortunate to go to the 2013 World Domination Summit in Portland, Oregon this past weekend with my wife. It is a conference focused on Adventure, Community and Service…so by it’s nature, closely aligned with the Indie Travel Movement.
Here is my recap of the Main Stage Speakers and some of the value bits that I got from it.
Nancy Duarte @NancyDuarte
Nancy shared her research into what makes a compelling story or speech. She studied great speaches like MLK, Steve Jobs iPhone, and Evita Peron talks that have “moved” millions. And she figured it out.
Simply put, there is a pattern to great talks and stories. It goes from “this is what is” to “this is what it could be” back and forth until the reader or listener “gets it” and is moved to “what it could be” and sees the new way as “the way it is now”. I LOVED her research and it makes a lot of sense.
Indie Travel Perspective: If you have NOT done Indie Travel (Long-term travel), you are in the “what is” part. After having helped and spoken to 1000s of folks that have done Indie Travel the past 15 years…I can say with certainty, that you will change to a “what could be” version of yourself after some good ole’ fashion indie travel. Long-term travel will change your life story.
Darren Rowse @darrenrowse
Darren told his “story”. From geeky kid, to unhappy young adult, to Super Blogger Powerhouse. He seems like a nice bloke that is funny and humble. He emphasized “take at least 1 step towards your goal/dream”. I.E. is easy to dream, but you need to take a step every day, even if it is small to get your closer to your dream.
Indie Travel Perspective: We Agree! That why we built 1000s of articles on all the little things of independent travel and specifically, a free email course for wanna be RTW travelers. Take a small step today and sign-up for RTW 30!
Bob Moore of Bob’s Red Mill
Bob is almost 85 years old and told his life story. He is the founder of Bob’s Red Mill. A company that has been around since 1970 or so and makes nature whole grain products ($200 million in sales projection for 2013). His story is full of ups and downs like most of us, but he is the sort of guy who sticks with it and NEVER gives up. He talked about being fortunate a few times and just working everyday, and treating his colleagues “right”.
Indie Travel Perspective: A lovely guy and the crowd (me included) just loved him. Not a super duper tech powerpoint guy, but kept it real so to speak. I wonder if he ever did a long-term independent travel trip in his life. If he did, how would his path have changed? Would his company be the same, smaller, bigger? I’d love to sit down and interview or talk to him one-day. Lots of life experience with Mr. Moore.
Jia Jiang @JiaJiang
This speaker had everyone including me in laughing fits with a concept called “Rejection Therapy“. Long story short, he quit his job to live his dream of becoming an entrepreneur and learned how hard it was to be said “no” to. His biggest no which turned into a yes is asking for Olympic Symbol donuts at Krispy Kreme (Take 5 minutes to watch, laugh and cry)
Jia was a likable speaker and challenged me and the audience to not be afraid of rejection. No is just fine!
Indie Travel Perspective: Jia perspective or trying and going for it is 100% aligned with Indie Travel, even if failure results is the same “rule” that Chris and I came up with 15 years ago on the BootsnAll Code of Conduct #4.
Chase Jarvis – @ChaseJarvis
This Bradley Cooper lookalike is a big time Photographer and spent 45 minutes talking about creativity as a solution to world problems. I’m not sure he needed 45 minutes to share his message as his talk dragged a bit. I think he and all the attendees were a bit tired after a full day. 17 minutes may have suited him and the audience better.
Having said that, the content was awesome. And I agree with him 100% – that tapping into, and teaching and encouraging creativity is a superb way to attacking the problems of the world.
Indie Travel Perspective: This one is easy, Indie Travel is a form of Creativity. Indie Travel has been a path for me and many others to learning, and trying new things and tapping into the creative side of ourselves once we let go of the rules that we grow up with or live around. Indie Travelers often return from ther first trip with more confidence to be and try creative things. Great stuff.
Photos taken by Armosa Studios