THE DIGNIFIED SELF - Mindfulness in the technology age - Home

Last week, we had the honor to be invited to speak and run a workshop around THE DIGNIFIED SELF at the IoT Shifts Conference in Barcelona, initiated by our partner and digital transformation expert Rudy De Waele (Founder of Shift 2020) and Aldo de Jong, Co-Founder of Claro Partners.

The IoT Shifts Conference was much more than just an other tech conference. It was not a powerpoint slam or marketing buzzword bingo, all the speakers actually had a personal message and true passion in their voice. Already energized by the IoT Shifts Socratic Transformation Retreat the weekend before (see blog post here), where we discussed the question of “how IoT can increase happiness”, it was almost like that vibe kept on spreading through the room. A lot of the speakers and attendees were actually interested in happiness and how technology can really add value to humanity, which was great.

Also a new unique and inspiring ingredient was added to this conference format: Humberto Schwab, Innovation Philosopher, always commented on the presented technology trends and topics from a philosophic viewpoint throughout the day. This merge of technology and philosophy added a lot of value and innovative brainfood.

There was a pretty impressive line-up at the IoT Shifts and a quite diverse program. The first day was covered with talks around the fields of Health & Fitness (Quantified Self & mHealth), IoT Developer and Platform Landscape, Future Outlook on IoT: Innovation & Disruption, Connected Transport, IoT design fiction, value and touch and IoT Business Models.

On the second day there were workshops around succeeding in IoT by Claro Partners, Education, on mastering pressure in Digital Transformation with Razors and Candy, a Socratic Dialogue about the redefinition of relationships with technology by Humberto Schwab and our The Dignified Self session on designing the future work space of your dreams (by combining mindful listening, the Disney method, and NLP tools).

It was extremely remarkable to see also a lot of women taking the stage at a tech conference. One of my personal favorite presentations was actually by one of them: Lorna Goulden, Director of Creative Innovation Works, who talked a lot about values (“from what and how to why?!”) and shared several insightful concepts on the Internet of Things (IoT). Also she presented the idea of “If light could fly”, which was well received in the audience.

Volker Hirsch, founder of Quantified Ventures, emphasized the relevance of the smart citizen in a smart city (see deck here). Denise Silber, CEO & Founder of Doctors 2.0, competently led a
panel about mhealth and Quantified Self, Sergio Mottola, CEO & Founder at Nuwe, spoke about how to make technology and healthcare solutions of the future personal, Bas van der Zijden shared the vision of connected driving at BMW, a mood lamp was presented to increase happiness among employees, and Nike director of experience innovation, Matthew Davis, pointed out how far or close we are from Back To The Future. It was an insightful program.

After the first day a huge group of people (speakers & friends) hit the night scene of Barcelona and everybody seemed to really enjoy the company together. It was a great group of people that had been put together at this conference with many deep conversations until early morning hours about the future of Internet of Things and the role of humanity in it.

For me this event was especially special because it was the first time to present THE DIGNIFIED SELF publicly (see deck and video here). It is a great moment when you speak about something you are really passionate about and to see your baby start walking. Also the many positive reactions towards THE DIGNIFIED SELF movement by such an impressive audience were heart warming and assuring. I am truly grateful for this opportunity and enjoyed every moment of it.

Also the workshop on day two was a wonderful experience. People knew this is a start of something new and were so kind to proudly stand together afterwards for a DIGNIFIED picture to remember this moment and show their support. Thank you very much for this shared experience and for being DIGNIFIED. It was an honor to be invited as a speaker to IoT Shifts and I would like to give my special thanks to Rudy De Waele, who is an early supporter of THE DIGNIFIED SELF movement and encouraged me to speak at the conference – despite of or maybe even so, being surrounded by Quantified Self fans.

And it turns out – it was perfectly right to do so; the Quantified Self and Dignified Self movements have many things in common and can actually be friends and align forces when it comes to defining the future in the age of digital transformation. At the end of the day “None of us was born Jedi. We are all a work-in-progress. So why not share while you are still walking…!?”

You can watch the entire very first public presentation of THE DIGNIFIED SELF below (here you can download the deck or follow link to YouTube channel). Next one will be at the MEDICA healthcare conference in November. Until then…stay tuned, enjoy and stay DIGNIFIED!