This past week, I was able to attend the ConvergeSE Conference. But rather than being there in a capacity of thought-leader, presenter, or even regular attender, I was there as a sketchnote artist. Sketchnotes are drawings that include text and graphics that are done during the course of attending meetings, bible studies, workshops, or nearly anything where you have lots of information and its just better to engage both sides of your brain while listening. I listened to the presentations, but kept my finger more or less on the pulse of what was happening around me. Being around the Columbia Museum of Art and their collection tends to make you a bit more reflective.

ConvergeSE is a conference where it seemed that in part, many web developers, graphics designers, and mobile/web designers were there to connect and get a refresh. The talks that I attended were techie in part, but mostly seemed to serve the purpose of helping the creatives who were there to refresh a bit in an industry where not only things change quickly, but its easy to be distracted by things that don’t matter as much.

What was interesting is how you could parse the attendees into two groups: those who connect and those who were present. The connectors I saw talking often to different people and moving from place to place a bit faster than I. The folks who were present were a bit more solitary in sections, but seemed to just float along the stream catching connections as they happened, and embracing Columbia, SC when it poked different. The tech that connected these two groups usually came in some Apple-tinted flavor, but it always seemed to have something mobile nearby.

I found myself at one point sitting outside at one point just listening. I followed one group to a point, then moved my attention to another. I was grabbed by a few familiar faces, and later dropped off to be engaged by faces that might be more familiar in my future. I watched how people wandered between meetings, and how a few others spent the time right before a speaker started setting up their laptop/mobile or grabbing another quick bite. Listening, sketching. And generally just embracing something that doesn’t seem to be a part of design and development practices for many… contemplation, or reflection.

I got a lot of ideas about how to not use paper laynards, how to keep devices charged wirelessly, and how those beautiful paintings should have come home with me digitally. I thought about how to remain connected with a few new persons, and was sparked to create something for the church community here that isn’t always afforded… a chance to express and entreprenural spirit.

Connected technologies afford us a lot of things. But, if we don’t remain aware of the presence of how our lives intersect with others, and the opportunities that open up to us in that, then this tech is nothing more than just a connect to a stream. A stream where others just pass around. But we are there with a life jacket or directions to shore… being a presence towards something more than just another way to connect.