The Pop!Tech conference, held annually in Camden, Maine, is rapidly expanding beyond a “big think” gathering of academics, journalists, scientists, and innovation gurus. It’s becoming a magnet for corporate executives, too, who are trying to answer questions such as those posed by Pop!Tech’s curator, Andrew Zolli, in his opening remarks: “Is reinvention possible? Can technology save us? What is the next social contract?”
Even in the downturn, when corporations are curbing travel budgets to trade shows, employees from such diverse companies as Genentech, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Nike, Microsoft, and AT&T were in attendance. There were more corporate sponsors than ever this year, including Nike and Microsoft, who were new to sponsorship this year.
Attendees listened to acoustic guitar and soulful songs sung by Malaysian musician Zee Avi, and watched while artist Chris Jordan showed disturbing photos of dead baby albatrosses whose corpses revealed stomachs full of plastic bottle caps—intended to motivate people to understand the consequences of pollution and garbage.
Michael Pollan who has fundamentally changed the way many of us understand what we eat, how it’s made, and how it gets to us, spoke on whether a vegan in a Hummer has a lighter carbon footprint than a beef eater in a Prius – it was fascinating.
Speaking of food, the preparation for the conference attendees was intense and interesting. If you didn’t attend this year’s conference, you can get the flavor of the conference and the food preparation by viewing the short video below.
The Maine Lobster Festival (MLF) is held in late July each year in Maine’s mid-coast region along the western side of Penobscot Bay. The area is one of the centers of Maine’s lobster industry, and stretches along the coast from Belfast in the north to Owl’s Head near Thomaston in the south. The region includes and showcases the communities of Camden and Rockland (where the festival is actually held in Harbor Park).
I’ve lived in the state (off and on) for a combined total of 26 years, but have never been to the Lobster Festival, and this year marks the 62nd year of the gala event. There were a number of good reasons to go this year to witness the festival, not the least of which is the fact that we have two Resort/Inn properties in the Camden area. Also, Lobsters and Tourism are big industries in Maine, and here was a chance to experience an event intended to highlight their intersection. To be honest though, I had recently finished reading the late David Foster Wallace’s account of the festival in his essay entitled, “Consider the Lobster” which you can find in Wallace’s hilarious book of essays by the same title.
Foster Wallace also wrote a book of short stories entitled, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again”. I considered borrowing that title for this particular blog, but thought better of it. By viewing the attached video account of the MLF, you can actually do a virtual visit in less then nine minutes, and get a feel for the extravaganza.