This year was the first time I have been to Silicon Beach, an event curated by local Digital Dignitary Matt Desmier that brings a huge number of leading speakers to Bournemouth for two days. He doesn't set any agenda, any themes and as Matt put it himself - Silicon Beach is a selfish project where he brings a slew of speakers that he wants to listen to, we just happen to come along for the ride.

I had previously wanted to attend but for whatever reason I thought it was just some sort of marketing event for marketing types. This is definitely not the case. There was some talk in that direction but it definitely wasn't some how-to type talk. This year had talks on nano-technology, leadership, company culture and management styles, futurology talks, evils of the world and an Orwellian full-on theatrical media production that just stunned the crowd.

It's not for me to give a blow-by-blow account for each speaker and towards the end I didn't bother writing down my wordmaps as I just wanted to spend more time immersed in enjoying it, rather than wrapped up in making meticulous notes.

However, I will spend a paragraph or two to mention Marcus Henry Brown, who was the person behind the stunning presentation titled The Passing. He portrayed a bleak future where people's lives, once reaching maturity, were there just as slaves to the Brands, until their usefulness has expired.

Marcus didn't actually present, he played the role of a lecturer talking to his class as they prepare for the next day's "passing".

The amount of time and effort that must have gone into the whole product just warranted your full attention. It was only a few days after Silicon Beach and from a Twitter conversation that I realised there could be a whole day of talks, from an Education perspective, that comes out from that single presentation such as: English Literature discussion of George Orwell's book 1984; Marketing principles with regards brands and influence; Psychology and impact of social technology; Media production insight into how it was made; the creative process, and so on.

If you get a chance to see Marcus present, take it. You can see some clips on his YouTube Channel (Marcus Henry Brown).

I don't read enough. I meet all these other business owners and they are forever naming what books they have read and recently read. it's tumbleweed with me. However, coming out to these kinds of events gives you an opportunity to step away from the business and work on yourself, get that brain working again, and maybe come away with one or two ideas that you could try and implement. It is refreshing in many ways. Sometimes you just need to spend time on yourself and your business, rather than in the business.

Got interviewed on camera by Dave Birss. I doubt he will use that piece of mad rambling footage.

In no particular order, the speakers for Silicon Beach 2017 were:

Chris Barez-Brown
Vikki Chowney
Ete Davies
Bo Hellberg
Amy Kean
Scarlett Montanaro
David Wilding
Suki Fuller
Tami McQueen
Paul Armstrong
Richard Gerver
David McQueen
Marcus John Henry Brown
Sedge Beswick
Sally Henderson
Sophie Kain
Lawrence Ampofo
Andy Beaumont
Jeremy Ettinghausen
Matt Ballantine
Vladimir Vulic
Victoria Buchanan

I've got to mention Oli from Lunch'd who did the lunches for both days as is our local celebrity chef. Such a nice guy who was still smiling even though the whole audience came out 20 minutes early!

For Silicon Beach 2018 I will make sure I get the early bird ticket pricing for sure.