Inspirations For The Future of SERC
I often get questions about what the SERC Series is all about. In short it is a forum where friends, neighbors, and intellectually curious people gather for a night of discussion, exploration and a good time. My elevator pitch is that it's somewhere between a TED Talk and a cocktail party. The idea is to create an intimate space where we can share ideas and make interesting conversations that will have everyone thinking about them for weeks to come.
I also get questions about what is the ultimate goal, or what is the SERC Series going to turn into? As we are approaching a year of monthly events, I truly do not have an answer into what the future will hold. There is nothing out there quite like what we are doing and I have been following an iterative process of finding out what works and what doesn't. So far we've grown from a few guys in a room to expanding to dozens of participants to reaching the absolute capacity of my apartment, and I’ve been loving every minute. Since this is such a unique project there is no roadmap to success, but I would like to share some of the inspirations behind the SERC Series.
The first is Plato's Symposium, one of the first recorded ‘meeting of the minds’. In today’s common parlance a symposium is an academic event where a professional will give a speech in a lecture hall. It's a somewhat constrained event where the speaker has the floor and the audience sits back and takes in all the speaker has to say. However in ancient Greece, a symposium was a debaucherous party where great men of the day would gather, get drunk, engorge themselves and eventually get around to discussing philosophy. You’ll have to give them some leeway on the process as they were the first to develop the school of philosophy.
At Plato’s Symposium prominent men of Athenian society entered a discussion on love, faith, courage, and wisdom and how those values could be interpreted. There is too much to go over in this piece, but I recommend Michael Sugrue’s excellent lecture series to understand how these discussions led to our classification of these ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJBwIIeebho
Their process is what I found most interesting. Our modern standard for debate and intellectual inquiry has become very sterile, where ideas and philosophy are disseminated through academic papers and over the internet. This is not to say we have not made amazing strides in developing new theories with technology, but it often lacks that human connection for ideas that really matter. Outside of university, there are not many places that encourage you to think about the big questions or even discuss them. For me, having a place to work out ideas with other people who want to do the same is an invaluable asset.
One of my favorite parts of a SERC event is the discussion afterwards. Where we really break down topics, play with ideas and really get into attendees' thought processes. This is one of the things I am most happy to provide.
Of course, another inspiration is the famous TED Talk. It started as a discussion group by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, for technology, entertainment, and design. It has since turned into an international sensation where speeches from just about every topic, occupation, or insight can be found online. It really gained traction in the mid 2010s as Netflix needed some low budget programming to fill up its library, and it allowed all kinds of interesting talks to be streamed directly into people’s homes.
TED has a great model for delivering ideas and showcasing their speakers. First they are limited to 10 minute talks, it forces the speaker to be direct and concise, thereby eliminating extraneous information to the topic. Viewers can readily absorb the material, and with the short presentation, binge many others if they have the time. While TED hosted famous scientists and entertainers, they also hosted lesser known speakers who could reach you through the platform. I liked the idea of being able to see these talks from just about anyone, where reaching you was predicated on their ability to give a compelling talk and not just on their reputation.
However the TED organization operates in a few ways that I disagree with. As it is a very large group there is a rigid hierarchy. In order to do a TED talk speakers have to do a fair amount of politicking with the organization. Some speakers would never be allowed on the stage, as they could damage their brand reputation. While this is understandable, it can stifle debate. TED is one of the best organizations for expanding provoking ideas to everyday people, it is also a very big gatekeeping organization for allowable conversation. I am a very big proponent for free speech and the discussion of ideas, as this is how bad ideas are weeded out. I think the process is very important, and there is an earnest desire among many people to challenge orthodoxies.
Another inspiration is the live podcast Kill Tony, hosted by comedian Tony Hinchliff. The premise is simple, he is joined by established comedians and then pulls a name out of a bucket for anyone who signed up to do one minute of stand up comedy. The exciting part of the show is that anyone can sign up. I mean anyone, the panel and the audience has no idea what they are about to see. It could be a veteran comedian, an absolute clown, or someone who wanted to try standup comedy for the first time in their life. Afterwards he interviews the comedian, many of them are atrocious, but there is a chance that the next bucket pull could be the next comedy superstar.The chaotic nature of the podcast makes it hilarious, nobody knows what is going to happen next.
He has been doing the show for ten years, and now it is the top comedy podcast on Spotify. What intrigues me the most, is how there was no indication that this would be successful. Going to an hour long open mic comedy show can be cringe inducing and possibly a waste of an evening. However this show is wildly entertaining and is a major contributor to the massive comedy boom in Austin Texas. To truly appreciate the show, you have to watch it grow. Bad first time comedians slowly turn into seasoned crowd favorites, traditions are created on the spot and followed through on later episodes. The true magic of the show is how the chaos is harnessed by the format to create a raucous experience.
While I don’t intend to roast speakers at our events, I like the idea of anyone being able to get up and speak their mind. As it is a comedy show there is a high priority placed on entertainment, they have additional flairs like a sound board and a live band to add to punchlines. What I admire is when speakers step out of their comfort zone and give it their all, and have our audience embrace the madness of the unexpected.
Perhaps the strangest inspiration has been Bannaball. For those out of the loop, Bannaball is the fastest growing and most exciting sport out there. Think the Harlem Globetrotters, except they play baseball. It was created by Jesse Cole, a minor league baseball owner from Savannah. He started with his team the Savannah Bananas, and wanted to focus on the ultimate fan experience. He did many stunts like encouraging players to dance, emphasised trick plays, and even brought a batter out on stilts. Many baseball diehards thought he was making a mockery of the sport, but he was getting attention online. The dances and stunts got massive traction on social media and he was able to sell out every home game.
As the Bananas got more popular, he decided to risk everything, by selling his home, and creating a new sport, Bannaball. He removed all the rules that slowed baseball down, created new teams, and even changed how the game is scored. It's hard to state how popular Bannaball is. You can not even buy tickets for a game, when they go on tour, your best bet is to enter a lottery for a chance to buy a ticket in your hometown.
From a strictly competitive standpoint, the rules don’t make sense. It's very goofy, but I recognize this sport is not for me. It's aimed at families and fair-weather fans to maximize the baseball experience. I do keep track of it, because the energy behind it is just electric. Bannaball is running on pure ambition. There is no metric for how a league with dancing outfielders is going to work. The process has been to find what works and to keep hacking at it. Jesse Cole has done numerous interviews stating that the secret is simply putting the fans first. That means fair ticket prices, free games on YouTube, keeping out corporate sponsors, and working continuously on delivering a great product all while wearing a yellow tuxedo.
This is not an exhaustive list of what inspires me, I’m sure there will be others in the future. When engaging in any creative exercise find it is good to reflect on similar projects, as nothing is created in a vacuum. I wanted to share these thoughts with you as improving SERC is always on my mind. There are so many things I’ve learned and am continuing to learn to make this the best experience it can be. I truly believe great things are ahead, and I am grateful to have you all along for the process.
-JT Schultheis
