Our event with Don Packett last night was yet another success among our Heavy Chef community. Although many of us expected a rather humorous talk by Don, who is (among many things) a stand-up comedian, the truth is that he provided us with a great sense of self-questioning.  Of course the jokes were flowing too!

Don spoke to the audience very candidly about our illusion of importance. In the age of the internet where everything we say, tweet, like and blog is second nature to us, we feel the need to share everything we do instead of actually being in that space with that experience. The whole room felt a sense of connection with what Don was saying, and many even expressed their guilt on Twitter, as Don explained that the more ways there are to connect – the further away we move from real connections.

Although there were healthy debates about progress and whether it is a negative thing, Don explained that what is really harmful is the lack of deliberate sharing and the speed at which progression is occurring. There is so much noise engrossed in all the information available at our disposal that we have forgotten how to share with purpose.

“What is the velocity of the human race?” he asked. “We used to have experts. Now everyone is an ‘expert’.”

Everyone could relate to Don’s sincerity when describing the need to check your phone for no particular reason or scroll through your Twitter stream, all while actually missing out on what is happening right in front of you. “Be more deliberate in your social media interactions. Think before you post.”

When did we start to think that other people cared what we had for lunch? And why do we feel this urge to retweet compliments to the people who already follow us? Is it self-assurance? Or have we just blurred the lines beyond recognition?

A huge thanks to our fantastic sponsors Deloitte, Backsberg wine, Nokia RSA and Channel Mobile. We would also like to thank Nokia RSA for sponsoring not only the Lumia 900 to our winner, but also 15 double tickets to the premier of Batman Dark Knight Rises. Congratulations to all the winners.

As the winning tweet stated, “Why wait until you’re dead to slow down?”

View the photos from this event on our Facebook page, and keep an eye out for the video of this event, available on Heavy Chef shortly.

And for those of you who joined us for this event – ROFLcopter.