First Day at PopTech

The first day of PopTech was intense. My highlights included an amazing performance of a duo that plays a combination of thrash metal and flamenco. It was a performance that was so intense it literally brought moisture to my eyes. Watching Gabrielle play guitar – her full body was moving with her guitar playing, and watching her hands create percussion sounds on the guitar – close your eyes and you would swear it was bongos – was amazing.

The other session that intrigued me was Hasan's talk about being tracked down by the FBI because they were concerned that he might be a terrorist. So after checking in with his FBI agent weekly with his travel arrangements, he decided to put his entire daily activities online. He decided to wear an ankle bracelet and have it track via GPS online – so you know where he is at all times. He has his bank records online, pictures of every airport and airline meal, pictures of every toilet he has ever pissed in. His comfort with opening up his entire life to scrutiny by everyone on the planet is fascinating. He says he has friends that tell him that he can’t visit him at their house because they don’t want to be part of his public record.

We got a sneak peak at recycled and environmentally friendly building materials. The solar panels that bend and open based on sensing CO2 and the floor panels that act like etch a sketch were really cool. As was the lamp made from recycled plastic straws.

Andrew also announced from stage that PopTech will be donating funds to create solar panels for developing communities to offset double the CO2 emissions created by PopTech attendees and by their travel to the conference. They also asked attendees to calculate their own CO2 emissions, and have been escorting speakers using Lexus hybrid cars so that they can make sure to donate enough funding so that the conference is actually a negative emission event.

It's a great step forward for PopTech's environmental committment and hopefully other conferences will make similar choices.