Have you ever heard of Oatmeal? Of Nikola Tesla? How about Matthew Inman?
This year I got to the United States for the first time in my life. I stayed there for about 3 months and the most interesting thing is that my first stop ever was not New York or San Francisco, as it usually happens with my friends, but Austin, Texas, for SXSW.
There’s a long story about my time there, but the best “unexpected meeting” that everyone gets at SXSW was the fact that I was going to attend Peter Thiel’s (or Elon Musk’s) keynote and, in order to get a spot, I went an hour early and saw Matt Inman, the brilliant mind behind The Oatmeal. I had no idea who he was (really!) and I didn’t understand why the room is filling to the full extent (and it was a huge room).
And then, the keynote started. The first slide of the presentation? The one above :)) With a vomit bag in it.
The keynote showcases Oatmeal’s social efforts, from fighting a troll site that wanted money from him to a Kickstarter campaign the raised $1,000,000 (1 million) in just 9 days to save a part of Nikola Tesla’s laboratory. He also talks about comics, creativity and he also says some “poop jokes”. The great ones, as he says in the beginning.
It’s a fun hour, you’ll laugh a lot, but you’ll also learn a little bit about the power of communities.
Have fun!
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