At that talk, I spun some kind of thing - we were talking about participatory culture I think - and I said that society is not something we're in, it's something you do, and every journey starts with a single step, and maybe every 100 million hour effort starts with 100 hours. And as we said, 100 hours practice would get you a really long way.
So my challenge at that talk was -- and, well, maybe it's worth doing here too. Right now, put aside 100 hours over this summer. Do it right now, in your head. Put that time aside. 100 hours. 8 hours a week for the next 12 weeks. One hour a day, or one working day a week. It's one summer out of your entire life, it's nothing. Okay, you've got that 100 hours?
Now for the next two days, go to talks and start conversations with people you don't know, and choose what to spend your 100 hours on.
I guarantee that everyone in this room can produce something or has some special skill, and maybe they're not even aware of it.
Ask them what theirs is, find out, because you'll get ideas about what to learn yourself, and decide what to spend your 100 hours on.
So that was the challenge I gave, and I think it's worth doing.
The reason why is that about 3 months after doing the talk, I got an email.
Matt Webb, Web Directions South 2014 (Sydney, Australia), October 2014