Photo by Flickr user rnpract.
Congratulations to my blogging counterparts in Boston! The Boston Bruins Stanley Cup parade user generated content bonanza is underway!
As you know last year the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup and they had a parade. I went downtown for the spectacle of madness. I was overwhelmed not only by the emotion of my beloved Chicago Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup, but also by the quantities of user generated content being created by two million people! I was in a sea of people taking pictures of other people taking pictures! I made a mental note of this and a few days later, on Youtube, I found this total gem:
The video shows a birds eye view of the parade right next to the confetti throwers! I’m one of the specs you see on the north side of Washington Street. What absolutely amazes me about this video is this that while I was at the same event, this viewpoint is such a completely different experience that it feels like a different event. While it’s not new that different people have different experiences at an event, the ability to go back and see these events from other perspectives with ease is new. I urge people to consider the possibilities of engaging with user generated content that they did not create around events they experience:
Witnessing Other Perspectives Broadens Experience – We all experience things through our point of view, yet seeing for other points of view can allow positive reinforcement or alterations of our point of view to occur. What we experienced is only one tiny element of what took place.
Relax and Enjoy the Moment – Ever since the parade last year, if I’m going to an event that will get tons of coverage, I leave the camera in my pocket and just enjoy and soak in the moment. It can allow you to see details you might miss if you are obsessed with taking pictures and/or video.
Benefits of 100% Focus – When you are not distracted in multiple ways, you will walk away with greater retention of the experience. Think about ways you can reduce distractions and maximize your learning and enjoyment.
All in all, there is great potential to enrich one’s experience through the lens of others. After all, it’s not about you. We all forget this from time to time, I know I have.
Diversity of experience is learning. Learning is the lifeblood of all things great in life. Live it. Enjoy it! have fun.
I hope that my Boston blogging counterparts (Dan Schawbel, Chris Brogan, David Meerman Scott and Mike Volpe) wait a few days for the slow uploaders and then enjoy the feast and talk about it. They will likely find gems they didn’t see from their vantage point at the time to experience the joy anew. I hope each year folks discuss these issues as they change our lives as my perspective on these issues changes. Embracing ways to see multiple points of view of experience is critical to understanding how to use it effectively in business.