“Your Brain on Creativity” submitted for SXSWi 2013: Please vote for it!

In 2010, right after finishing my book The CSS Detective Guide, I had an epiphany. And not just any old garden-variety epiphany, but a earth-shattering, soul-illuminating one. At that moment, I realized that something I had aspired to and a quality that I have long sought after and longed for I finally had. Not only did I have it, I had it in spades. What was this coveted essence? Creativity.

With the concentrated work I had put into my book, I finally GOT it: I saw that not only can I code, but I can write and tell fun stories, design visually, and put it all together in the tidy package of a book. The realization made me feel…Powerful. Euphoric. Practically invincible!

At that moment, I knew that what I wanted to teach and share with the world was much, much bigger than any single discipline like web design, (or what had led me to teaching in the first place) soap-making, stationery set making, or anything else. I saw very clearly that was I had been doing through my teaching was helping people (and myself) get in touch with, channel and express their creativity. With that realization, I felt that I had truly (and finally) found my calling, my vocation, my life’s work. I decided to coin myself a “Creativity Evangelist“, with the goal of “spreading the gospel” of creativity.

Fast forward two years from that point: I’ve now written a few articles on creativity and the creative process, created and presented several presentations on the same, and have ideas for a least two books if not more. In the spirit of instigating a sea change in the way that work flow, productivity, and creativity are approached, I’ve submitted the presentation that I created in January of this year for New Adventures in Web Design to be part of South By Southwest Interactive‘s programming in 2013.

The presentation is called “Your Brain on Creativity” and it completely unlike your standard presentation. Instead, it’s big on story narrative and performance; and rich with content, information, and imagination. The audience becomes a part of journey embarked upon by an oppressed brain and its wise mentor who travel to different lands solving the problems of the inhabitants while also cracking some of the code of how our brains best work, create, and produce.

The feedback from the audience at NaConf was really great, as almost everyone loves a good story and learns best from them.

So, help me get this great work in front of more people! Please vote for my presentation “Your Brain On Creativity” in the SXSW 2013 Panel Picker, so that may spread my message of creative right work to a many people as possible.