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Isaac B Watson

Paying Attention and Giving a Shit Since 2004 (né 1982)
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The Ambidextrous Brain

I've never felt like I was either "right-brained" or "left-brained", so several years ago I decided I have an "ambidextrous" brain that balances the messy, chaotic creative with the ordered, logical analysis. This corner of bloggy-ness hosts my voice on creative business, productivity, DIY culture, community, and the occasional recipe from my kitchen.

My silly on-stage selfie at the School House Craft conference in Seattle, September 2014.

On Tough Decisions: Balancing the Emotional and Rational

January 20, 2015

Balancing decisions between the tangible and intangible benefits can be tough, and going through this process in deciding whether or not to attend an upcoming conference was a lesson in making the right choice.

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In Maker's Nation, Business, Community Tags decisions, planning, business, goals
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I Know What I Did Last Summer (and Fall)

December 5, 2013

I’ve been hyper-focused on a few different projects and thought I would let you know where my attention has been directed in the seven months since quitting my day job. Here are three big projects that I've working on in addition to my day-to-day.

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In Community, Maker's Nation, Self Tags maker's nation, pioneer nation, projects, wds, world domination summit
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The Brian R. Jonescast

May 6, 2013

Brian R Jones and I discuss creative business, community, nonprofits, and yes, Mini Coopers on his podcast.

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In Maker's Nation, News Tags audio, Brian R Jones, interview, maker's nation, nonprofit, podcast, professional development
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WORDS

Choose your own adventure.

If you're interested in creative business, productivity, DIY culture, community, and the occasional cooking recipe, check out The Ambidextrous Brain.

If you'd like to know what it's like to build an off-grid cabin or read chronicles of home improvement projects, I've put together Building Tiny just for that.

Enjoy!

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Thank you!

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'Grammed

People, places, things, my dog, and the occasional selfie.

View fullsize This about sums up a work trip to New Orleans: ghost town. To be fair, the Peacock Room at the new Kimpton Hotel Fontenot isn’t actually open yet but it couldn’t if it wanted to, and isn’t it GORGEOUS?!? My heart goes out to all my
View fullsize A throwback to last year's Listen Up Festival and one of the gorgeous venues from the line up. It's on hiatus this year, but we really hope to see the podcast festival come back in 2021!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ EVENT: Listen Up Festival 2019 @listenupport
View fullsize When we decide to work with a client, we always ask them why: Why here? Why now? Why you? Why them? Why this? When we go deeper into our reasons for bringing people together, we can create a meaningful experience for everyone. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ EVE
View fullsize Quick tip: A big misconception in regards to yearly conferences is the belief that event marketing ends when event day arrives and your conference begins. In reality, the time during your event and the weeks following are some of the most precious mo
View fullsize Speakers are the life blood of the transformative conference experience. All the decor and swag in the world will never replace the power of the right person at the right time passionately sharing their worldview with a captivated audience. Are you d
View fullsize We're excited to announce we're coming back for a third year of Loupe! Kickass Conferences will be producing Loupe 2020 in Amsterdam and the incredible Muziekgebouw (@Muziekgebouw). Top designers and developers from all over the world will gather in
View fullsize Strategy is at the heart of what we do and guides us every step of the way. Asking the hard questions and having the strategic lense and experience to back it up is the difference between a good event and a kickass one. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ EVENT: You
View fullsize In 2016 I was the producer of a Quiet Power Strategy event for @tara_mcmullin. Fast forward 5 years and this week, I'm happy to be a guest on her incredible podcast What Works! The episode is out today and in it we touch on how Kickass Conferences ha
View fullsize Recently, Isaac had the pleasure of being interviewed for @aigaeyeondesign Gender and Design Conferences 2020 Report. Isaac's contribution mainly focused on responding to the absolutely bogus claim from a design conference producer that "less w
View fullsize Happy New Year! This is a mind-blowing image that Justin captured during a cabin trip last year. To the naked eye, there was only the faintest vertical streak of light. So imagine our surprise when this image showed up on the screen after a 15-second
View fullsize Nessa and I will be heading out on our winter breaks this week but we wanted to say thank you for an amazing year before we head off. 2019 has been a year of lots of experimentation, exploration and growth for Kickass Conferences. We got to work on s
View fullsize One year ago, these fine women and a few others (and myself) gathered to imagine a world where independent event producers could work together, share resources, and support each other. The Supernova Collective was born and I’m so honored to be

©2020 Isaac B Watson