As readers of this blog might know, I've been to every one of the now 7 Dad 2.0 Summits, so I have some pretty good experience in what makes a great Summit.
Here are the high points (and low points) of what I experienced on Day 1.
And if you are looking for my recap of Day 2, it's here.
HIGH POINTS OF DAD 2.0 SUMMIT:
OPENING KEYNOTE:
Josh Levs, Ryan Nece, and Ronnie Lott discuss fatherhood. |
I didn't know much about them when they started, except that Ronnie Lott was pretty famous and I'd never heard of Ryan Nece. They were a delightful pair, talking with honesty and genuineness about their relationship, about their work ethic, about the role of the father and the son. They had a wide ranging conversation, ably hosted by Josh Levs, and it was a very enjoyable and far-reaching conversation. I especially loved one of the slogans/catchphrase/ potential hash tags of Ronnie Lotts #exhausteverymoment. I was very pleased that I saw them.
BLOGGER SPOTLIGHTS:
At every Dad 2.0 Summit, guys get up and read some of their best blog posts of the year. There were 3 today and all of them were great. I was especially appreciative of Doug Ziegler's Spotlight, where he talked with amazing tenderness and vulnerability about his struggle to tell his children about his past as a gambling addict and prison convict. He's put that behind him now, but he still feels the need to share the truth with them, but he's afraid that they will think less of him. It was wonderful writing, and as I've said before, it feels like the seeds of Brenae Brown (who was an early speaker at Dad 2.0 and talked about masculine vulnerability) have come home to blossom. Other speakers so far included James Estrada and Aaron Yavelberg, who both gave heartfelt talks as well.
WORKSHOPS
Laura Fuentes of Momables. |
I also attended a session on how to make effective freelance pitches with Amy Joyce of the Washington Post's On Parenting Team. This was great, and I plan on using those tips as well. (to hopefully get some freelance gigs)
I also attended four Roundtable Sessions, all of which were pretty good. I thought that Eric Bennion's podcasting seminar was particularly good, and gave lots of helpful advice on the how -to and the basics. I didn't attend it, but I heard that Christopher Lewis's Building Your Twitterverse was also quite good. The other ones I attended were one by Thom Hofman on writing, Joe Saladino on Photography, and Tech products by the tech director of Safety First, one of the sponsors.
DAD VOICES
Whit Honea (L) and Glen Henry (R) add their voices to the Dad Slam |
LOWPOINTS OF DAD 2.0 SUMMIT:
This was my least favorite interview/part of the day. |
While I'm appreciative of the effort, the interview came off more as kind of a vapid talk show thing then something worthy of being on the Dad 2.0 stage, especially considering the heartfelt genuineness of Ronnie Lott and son a few hours before.
Nate and Von had kind of a false repartee that was ill-scripted and obvious, as they talked about the number of TV's in his house (20) or the piece of technology he uses most often (of course, sponsored gadget Microsoft Surface (even though he's wearing a smart watch!) Von has charisma, and he's done some interesting things (Von's Vision, which gets free eye exams and eyewear to low income kids in the Denver community) He's also a chicken farmer who owns an organic chicken farm and a philanthropist who gave a squad car to the law enforcement people of Houston, his hometown.
But all of that was glossed over for the talk show format and comedy stylings, much of which didn't go over very well and seemed non-genuine. It turns out that neither Nate or Von have kids, and they didn't talk about the role of fatherhood, or their relationships with their fathers, which leads to me to ask the question Why were they there? How did they add to the conversation? I'd have to say not much. This was a rare miss for the Dad 2.0 Summit content team, and was disappointing
On the plus side, today's a whole new day!
3 comments:
Thank you so much for attending my session and including me in your recap.
Thank you very much for being so very organized and transparent, and giving such great information. It was a pleasure!
All valid points -- especially the Von Miller waste of time.
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