Ross Hill » Events

TechFluff interview on the Melbourne tech scene

Ross Hill — Mon, 31 May 2010 00:58:26 +0000

Chloe Nicholls from Europe’s Techfluff.TV recently interviewed me about how The Hive emerged to connect Australia’s entrepreneurs, what’s happening in the Melbourne tech scene at the moment, and how people are exploring their passions through side-projects.

I mentioned Ned’s great list of Awesome Melbourne Tech Startups.

Chloe is maintaining a Twitter list of Melbourne’s Tech Meetups.

Connect with yourself while updating your status

Ross Hill — Fri, 28 May 2010 22:37:31 +0000

At Wisdom2.0 Twitter CTO Greg Pass described how the combination of wisdom and social media can lead us to be more connected on the inside as well as connected on the outside.

Philippe Goldin, a neuroscientist from Stanford University, made the distinction between two types of attention – intent focus on an object and more open scanning. When we talk about attention we are usually referring to the former, though the open scanning form is what often happens when we use social media apps – you are aware of the flow and watching for something interesting.

The tweet format particularly lends itself to this because of their frictionless nature. Look over these and see how your mind responds:

Ultimate Frisbee #tick

Autumn morning in St Kilda http://twitpic.com/1ptva8

“(Distance you’re traveling) / (weight of luggage you’re carrying) = (how much you feel like Jason Bourne)” /via @robinsloan

Never hold back a smile /via @jwswj

An A380 is flying over St Kilda. Not super sure how exactly, seeing how big it is!

Just as you can smell flowers while having a conversation, the tweet format lends itself to a similar flow. Contrast that mode to how you feel writing a blog post or a letter to someone.

@gregpass: If tweets go by and nothing interesting happens, it’s like you’re not even paying attention to them. #wisdom2conf

Be aware of your attention mode next time you write a tweet.

Networking Awesomely with people everywhere

Ross Hill — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:54:02 +0000

The way I think about networking has evolved with the realisation that we have got people everywhere now. We are more connected than ever before and the new messaging networks we use mean that we are now linked with everything in the world through only a few degrees.

These connections have always been there, but the time it takes to make the connection is now much quicker and that is why this is really exciting. As you travel around the planet, being able to talk to a local who shares your interests is amazing on a number of levels. The obvious one is that you can see the place from a locals perspective instead of through the lens of a tourist. They can put you in touch with friends from your industry or who have similar hobbies. Or depending on the language barrier, it may just mean that you have somebody who speaks your language! None of these are meant to substitute the spontaneity of travel – but they can be a good supplement particularly if you are traveling over long periods of time.

You never know what will emerge from the people you talk with. I met with Colin Wright because I stumbled onto his blog post describing how he shifts location every four months based on where his blog readers vote for him to go, and that he would be passing through melbourne. I suggested we get a coffee but since we both had a flexible day that turned into a drive down the great ocean road stopping in at some awesome local cafes and a great organic burger shop. When I mentioned I would be going through LA on the way to SXSW in Austin a few weeks later Colin mentioned I should couchsurf with his buddy Andrew Elkins who lives there. So when I stepped off the plane Andrew gave me a lift from the airport to Venice Beach / Santa Monica and pointed out the landmarks to explore. I paired that with some recommendations from people from all around the world through Twitter and had a really interesting day. That night we had a great dinner and discussion about some shared interests before a good nights sleep and a trip back to the airport for my onward journey. The experience was so much richer because I had locals to talk to and stay with. Locals that weren’t complete strangers. I repeated this for much of my trip.

Your network will grow over time, and as the mass builds so will your gravity – attracting great opportunities. Here are three things to keep in mind as you build your network on the fly:

Introduce the people you know to each other and become the connection. This will mesh your network tighter and ultimately lead to richer opportunities. You can probably think of two people you know now who would should catch up – make it happen.
Be interested in what people do. Try to understand their stories and where they are going. To do this you need to talk to interesting people. Go find them!
Follow up quickly and relevantly when you meet people. It can be as easy as a simple email or twitter reply but it makes a big difference and gives them a chance to raise anything they didn’t get to in the initial conversation.

It’s not a business network or a personal network – it’s simply your network. It is a foundation that can enable amazing things for you, if you are open to them.

This is the piece I contributed to Colin Wright’s ebook, Networking Awesomely.

Evan Williams on Twitter’s principles

Ross Hill — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 07:14:38 +0000

Twitter just passed the 140 employee mark, an important milestone for the company that was founded based on the constraint of 140 characters. As they continue to raise the intensity it is interesting to look at the direction that has been set by CEO Evan Williams.

When Ev spoke with Umair Haque at SXSWi 2010 he explained the principles that now drive Twitter. Notice the evolution from Inside Twitter from a year ago.

Principles, not product.
Be a force for good.
Openness as a survival strategy.
Organizing for experimentation.
Doors v. windows.

These stated principles are very interesting, but if you read between the lines of conversation there are some more foundational ideas that emerge.

Ev aiming for win win win situations, but it is difficult.
Letting a thousand flowers bloom, why limit it?
Ecosystems need shepherding
Fully open isn’t necessarily a good thing
SMS is super important for the digital divide, and SMS is how twitter started
Riding the wave of the promise of the internet, that anybody can put content there.
Region based perspective, referring to ‘countries’ on twitter.
Wondering how long the firewalls will hold up in China, Australia, etc
“We don’t expect it all to be profound” in the message content
“The only guy who loses is the one who isn’t adding any value to the ecosystem”
What would i do to make Walmart better?

Where will this lead in a few years time? How about 10 years time?

Networking Awesomely

Ross Hill — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:10:26 +0000

Colin Wright is an interesting guy I met as he came through Melbourne last month. He ran a design studio in LA but decided to take it on the road so today as part of his Exile Lifestyle project he moves to a new country every four months, the country being the place his blog readers vote for. We caught up as he was on the way to New Zealand.

Colin has a heap of experience in business networking and today is releasing an ebook on the topic, titled Networking Awesomely. He asked me (and 20 others) to write a piece on how I network for the book. It is a huge read at 251 pages but made up of small parts so it is easy to flick through to pick out the pieces from individuals you might recognise or particular topics.

At $20 it is a steal for the amount of insights that are included. You can find out more and buy Networking Awesomely at Exile Lifestyle.

You can also follow us all with the Networking Awesomely list on Twitter.

Along the networking awesomely theme, I recently posted some notes from my time at SXSW, and this weekend I will post my contribution to the book. If you can’t wait, grab the book now.

How to crush it at conferences

Ross Hill — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:46:53 +0000

Re-posting some notes that I wrote for Edward Harran about how I approach conferences.

More important than the session topics is the people doing them:

You should think of an event like a magnet for good people. You can meet most of the important people in an industry in a single day. In a single day you can catch up with people it would usually take weeks or months to organise.
The content is already online or in a book. Go to the event to hear the subtleties of how it is presented, and to see who else is attracted to the area.
If you want to actually meet a speaker, talk to them 20 minutes before their session – because you know they will be swamped afterwards.
Particularly if it is a large event, don’t schedule something into every block. Pick the two or three people whose talks you want to see that day, then fill the rest with the most interesting nearby room you can find. You don’t want to be running around all day missing things, so don’t set yourself up for it.
Keep a list of the ad hoc meetups and parties that happen outside the official schedule. You might even run one yourself – it is a good excuse to get some interesting people together for a simple drink or meal.
Know why you are there. Is it to meet somebody? To get the word out about something you are doing? To have a fun few days? Whatever it is, keep this in mind each morning as you start the day.

What is your personal strategy at conferences?

Ignite Melbourne #ignitemel

Ross Hill — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:54:38 +0000

Ignite is a worldwide geek event. Ignite presenters share their personal and professional passions, using 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds for a total of just five minutes.

Mark Mansour, Ned Dwyer and John Barton ran an awesome Ignite event in Melbourne recently, and the videos are all online now for everyone to see. Take a look at them below.

Buenos Aires – My five weeks as a Four Hour Work Week cliche
Michelle Matthews

A regular day at the office vs. getting stranded in a foreign dictatorship
Chris Berkhout

Fast and Furious Startups: How to Iterate to Awesomeness
Collis Ta-eed

Open-source biotech; green solutions to human health.
Robert Shepherd

Growing old disgracefully
Rachel De Sain

Web services and the age that we live in.
Ben Schwarz

In bed with Arduino: 6 Months in an open hardware relationship
Paul Szymkowiak

Lean Manafacturing and Thought Experiments
John Barton

It’s complicated: Twitter, my business and I.
James Farmer

Things I have learned from a lifetime of failure.
Toby Hede

So when is the next one?!

My university commencement speech for 2010

Ross Hill — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:34:02 +0000

This week is the beginning of university life for thousands of recent high school graduates. There is lots of fun to be had, lots of learning, and time to build the vision of where you want to be in the next few years. I have been asked what I would recommend doing – I don’t have a podium like Derek Sivers or Steve Jobs, but I do have a blog so here is my advice for 2010:

1. Focus is the most important thing to master
This is the difference between getting the right thing done, and procrastinating. You need to figure out what works for you. Here’s one idea: choose the task you want to work on, whether that is reading a chapter of a book or writing a few hundred words on a topic – plug in your headphones and play an album from start to finish. Then when it ends get up and go for a walk or have something to eat, have a break, then play another album and do another task. How do you know what to work on? Learn some sort of productivity system like Getting Things Done or Zen To Done. However you do it – it is vital that you learn how to let yourself focus.

2. Learn to teach yourself
You have the internet. The answer to almost anything is just a few clicks away. You need to know what to ask for to get the results you are looking for, and then how to filter the results to find the answers you need. Be aware of the topics and ideas that interest you and deep dive into them to teach yourself more. You might search google, you might ask your twitter friends, or you might find a local meetup on the topic to broaden your knowledge. Don’t wait for teachers to show you things – follow your intuition and teach yourself.

3. Share what you learn
The best way to consolidate what you learn is to teach it, because every person you teach will ask you to clarify different elements of the topic and in doing so this will lead you to clarify both for them and for yourself exactly what that piece means. You don’t have to know everything to help somebody, in fact you will probably do a better job if you have to learn together. Take your sharing beyond the people you see face to face. It has never been easier to share things online – start a blog at Tumblr or Posterous and share something every day. This will pay off in more ways than you can imagine.

4. Build your mafia
You have been told that your network is important, however what matters is not who you know but who knows you. This means getting into conversations, following up with the people you meet and having coffees every few months to keep in touch. Remember to learn from the stars in your own galaxy. It is easy to look at the people in the top of your industry but you are not there yet – when you are climbing a mountain you don’t look at the snow capped peak, you look at the bottom and you take your first steps. Talk to the locals in your industry. I started an interview blog called Hatchthat which gave me something to reach out with and I interviewed Jason Calacanis, Aaron Fyke, and many others. Then I started The Hive and got to know Pete Williams, Scott Kilmartin, Sahil Merchant and others. If you find the right set of people you will develop an interdependence that means you all win from knowing each other.

5. Do, learn, do, learn.
The most important thing is that you get started with the simplest possible thing that could work. The best lessons come from trying something and seeing what happens. Learning the theory is important but it is worthless until you validate it with your own positive experiences. I hear the phrase fail early and fail often a lot – many people seem to wear it as a badge of honour especially in the entrepreneurial world, but it’s bullshit, because whatever you do will either work, or you will learn something. There is no failure because there is always going to be some little piece that was successful – you need to find that piece and learn why. Then do something new and repeat the cycle. Above all else be consistent – none of these things matter unless you do them consistently. You will build momentum and your projects will evolve. At the end of your degree these projects become your resume and the world is yours.

Do, learn, do learn.

That SXSWi 2010 was a lot of fun

Ross Hill — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:17:08 +0000

SXSW is an annual conference held in March in Austin, Texas that has a massive interactive stream. I attened and then spent some time in San Francisco and Whistler/Vancouver.

The schedule was ridiculous – but it was heaps of fun and I met lots of awesome people. This slideshare captures quotes of some of the highlights really well.

There’s a crowd in every photo now

Ross Hill — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:00:56 +0000

In Washington yesterday a snowball fight flashmob formed through Twitter, somebody decided throwing snowballs at Hummers would be fun, and it was! ..until one of them pulled up and a plainclothes detective pulled his gun on them! Every day now there are photos like these in our newspapers – a crowd of people in a place who are affecting the event due to the scale of their presence there.

A full grown male leopard was wandering through a part of the densely populated area of Jyotikuchi in Guwahati when curious crowds startled the animal and it mauled three people.

Police fired tear gas to hold back thousands of Hondurans outside the occupied presidential residency as world leaders from Barack Obama to Hugo Chavez appealed to Honduras to reinstate Zelaya as president.

Chinese parents gather to sleep at an auditorium after they accompanied their children to a university to start their first semester in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei province.

More than 1,000,000 people attend the annual ice festival which lasts for three weeks in January, in Hwacheon, South Korea.

As social beings we are attracted to events that draw a crowd, and that’s why..

There’s a crowd in every photo now.