On Friday I went along to Matt Locke’s event – The Story – at Conway Hall (thanks to Marc Lewis for the invite!).

Various speakers were loosely briefed to talk about storytelling, or tell a story – but not talk theory.

Some speakers – notably Stuart Nolan, Livity, Tim Wright and David Hepworth – certainly produced the ‘flow’ that was discussed at the event; captivating the audience so we were no longer conscious of time, nor our surroundings.

It has been a while since I went to an event so devoid of shop-talk (and more importantly shop-think) and clarity. There was no big specific agenda, no avid desire to soak up the latest thing or gather pocketfuls of business cards. Rather is was an exercise in bringing the walls down that stop us from enjoying a moment for the sake of it alone. Stories are a wonderful therapy, transporting us into a state that’s much more productive than ensuring you’ve read every issue of Campaign or every Tech Crunch post. With nothing to prove and no prescribed learning (and learning more because of it), The Story seemed to reawaken an appreciation for the joy of inspiration for inspiration’s sake.

The simple act of putting yourself in situations that inspire – whether an event, conversation, book or piece of music – is an underestimated source of vitality and fresh thinking that it’s easy to forget to remember.

So here’s to fresh thinking, stories and mates. On all those counts a big thank you to Marc Lewis, Steve Moore and Andrew for topping off a fab day; and here’s to many more!