Words You Can Use: The BAVC BLOG

By Mindy Aronoff, Director of Training & Resources

During the first tech boom, Hugh Forrest, the dude that puts together the SXSW Interactive Fest, was talking about how that conference differs from the music and film one . . . “There’s less of a distinction between the speakers and the attendees. There’s kind of a feeling that everyone is in the same boat and we’re all kind of going the same direction. The people leading the panel might have a little better idea of where the boat is going to end up than the people listening to them—or maybe not.” (Italics are mine.)

Even though the boat has gotten so much bigger, Forrest’s observation still holds true. Did I learn a lot from the panels last week? Not really. Not in a traditional sense. But I picked up so much from just being in the same space as Valleywag, Gawker, Mahalo, PostSecret, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Adobe, Citizen Agency, Pownce, MySpace, Laughing Squid, Meebo, Maker, Upcoming, Flickr, Zappos, Twitter, Udderz, Black Web 2.0, Fast Company, LinkedIn, Opera, Microsoft, TMZ, Robert Scoble, Six Apart, BoingBoing, RazorFish….oh, you get the idea. ‘Bout 8000 people, people. Jeez.

But back to the revenge part. I can’t believe how everyone is talking about that damn Zuckerberg interview, described over and over in blogs and news stories as a “train wreck.” WTF? What the story is really about is not how Lacy screwed up or how Bill Gates-like Zuckerberg is, but about The Day of Reckoning When The Geeks Shall Rule, Spartans! God help you if you aren’t getting a Twitter invite to the next exclusive party or you don’t know who Julia Allison is or you suck at Guitar Hero. Or you’re over 40. Or gay. Or couldn’t code if your life depended on it.

Want to be part of the in crowd? Gotta MacBook? Check. iPod? Check. iPhone? Check. (OMG, check.) Heather grey hoodie? Check. Shaved bald head and Buddy Holly glasses? Check. Black jeans? Check. Orange and brown t-shirt depicting the silhouette of a deer nibbling on a leaf? Check. And guess what? Do these revolutionary bloggers, geeks, nerds, coders, webheads, gamers, marketing gurus, think differently? Light years ahead of you? Nope. They’re mostly white men and they want to get laid. Period. Drink and get laid. If you’re a hottie and you’re attracted to nerdy types, girl, get thee to this conference. Because really? These boys want the world to know this is their time and they’ll define sexy from now on.

On top of that, these fellas make a boatload of cheddah. That Zuckerberg guy? 23-year old CEO of Facebook? He’s a billionaire. A billionaire from making a website that helps people hook up. Technology has officially facilitated the ultimate revenge and now we can instantly know who’s boinking who, who showed too much leg and twirled her hair, and we can finally walk around smuggly acting like the smokin’ mac daddies who live deep in the heart of our hard drives. Or at least once a year deep in the heart of Texas.