The big players in this space are serious travelers. I admit, I'm a typical American and don't even hold a current passport (though I may be eligible for Italian citizenship, apparently). SXSW or a similar gathering is a once or twice a year thing for me at this point. I came here to absorb ideas, meet potential clients or backers and find developers to collaborate with on projects.
But these conferences are an entirely different thing for the affluent tastemakers. For them, venues like SXSWi are an ongoing set of appearances in the same way Hollywood stars show up on Leno or Larry King. The stars of the tech world fly in, have their moment on stage or sign books or make a scheduled appearance and are off to Amsterdam or Sydney or Tokyo to do it again. Just listening to the conversations of some of these people sounds like a high school geography test.
While I'm sure this is all very interesting and I would visit these places too on a Learjet salary, it means that some of the foremost thought leaders are global citizens. They fly no flags, have little time for more than headline-deep politics, and align with or promote only local interests that make sense to them or showcase their ideas. That makes these people equal parts powerful and disconnected. This is the first generation of the wealthy that spend so little time in one location. I wonder if our cities would look the same today if Andrew Carnegie kept the schedule that modern business demands.
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