During the three days I was in D.C. for Summit Series I ran around with a butterfly net catching ideas. I've never been a fan of catching things to pin them down, so I want to release the ideas back out into the world, to you. These are ten ideas I'm mulling since the summit ended yesterday.

Consider it your invitation to do what was suggested this weekend: go on a learning safari.

1. How to Implement Your Creative Concepts

Scott Belsky, founder of Behance, spoke on making creative ideas happen (he has a new book by the same name). Not to go all gush, I've seen a lot of speakers in the past three years, and Scott's one of the best I've seen. A few key takeaways:

Creatives should build windows of non-stimulation into their day. Creatives should spend energy on being organized. And probably the idea that most excited me was an idea about ideas. He suggested creatives take a page out of Chris Anderson's book and put their ideas out into the world. Rather than holding them until perfection. we'd do well to release early and frequently. I'm considering starting a weekly release of ideas here on the blog. Would you be into that? (Of all the sessions, including the keynotes with Ray Kurzweil and President Clinton, this was the one in which I took the most notes. Stellar job, Scott.)

2. Is Personal Branding Sustainable?

I met Frank Gruber and his partner Jen Cosalvo last night before dinner. They live in D.C. and stopped by for an hour. We talked about the project they're working on as a team, and Frank and I compared notes on personal branding - and whether or not a personal brand is sustainable. I'm still mulling the conversation, but am grateful to have connected with these two entrepreneurs. I look forward to following their progress and if you're in D.C., you'd benefit from doing the same.

3. Do You Want to Live Forever?

Our intuition about the future is linear. The reality is exponential. - from Ray Kurzweil's Summit Series keynote

Ray Kurzweil's keynote stirred me. Especially this: "if you hang in there, you' may be able to see the remarkable century ahead." Keep yourself alive for a bit longer and eventually science and technology will be able to keep you alive . He talked about a world in which our bodies are scientifically bolstered to keep us alive for increasingly longer stretches. What concerns me is that science will be available, especially at first, to a tiny, affluent group. I can't imagine watching as friends and loved ones get sick and eventually die, while my heart kept on ticking for hundreds of years. An idea to contemplate. (Side note: at this keynote dinner I sat next to HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes. Great guy - give him a follow.)

4. Women's Leadership Forum

At the beginning of the Women's Leadership Forum, one of the panelists quoted another woman as saying, "women see the internet as a tool, men see it as a toy." That got a big laugh from the audience, but I disagree. It's men, overwhelmingly, who are building the technologies that women adapt and use as a platform for conversation. I find it regrettable that the panelists didn't address the dearth of women in the hard sciences and computer programming.

The panelists bounced from topic to topic, sharing their leadership and industry insights. Deanna Brown of Federated Media piggybacked on Ray Kurzweil's talk on linear versus exponential saying, "the influence of the individual is exponential." She referenced (one of FM's star clients) Heather Armstrong's extensive network and net worth as a result of that exponential equation. Brown said, in response to a question on measuring that network, "if you can tell the story, sometimes the metrics will go away." During Q&A Suchin Pak, a personality for MTV, in response to question from Daily Worth CEO Amanda Steinberg on rate setting suggests, "set your day rate. Double it. And never back down."

5. President Clinton on Interdependence. This Keynote Sounds Like a Yoga Class

President Clinton's keynote on interdependence spanned the globe. He had a few reading suggestions for us, including Nonzero and Predictably Irrational. Each time he makes a decision he asks if it will, "build up the positive and reduce the negative of interdependence." Clintion mentioned our problems as a nation are rooted in our rigidity.

The keynote reminded me of a yoga class. The practice on the mat reminds us: We're all connected. We must cultivate flexibility. We must make decisions that contribute to the greater good while reducing suffering.

6. Russell Simmons Keynote

Russell Simmons mentioned music has had the greatest influence on him. He said it, "brings us what we're al thirsting for: presence." He discussed his practice of transcendental mediation and yoga noting that kids everywhere need a practice.

I couldn't agree more.

7. Recommended Viewing

Two movies recommended during a panel on education with musician John Legend, Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach for America and several other rock star educators include Waiting for Superman and Lottery. I can't vouch for them but they come highly recommended by the panelists. Transcendent Man with Ray Kurzweil was shown during the summit. I took a nap during the viewing but plan to see it in the near future. One to add to your queue.

8. The Location Wars Miss the Point

I've been friends with Josh Williams, founder of Gowalla, since we met at Social Web Foo Camp last April. He's still carrying the orange Jimi Wallet I gave him (although it's broken now, he's rocking it). Anyway, when I saw him the night before his panel I asked about his younguns and the state of location.

Josh told me what he said on the panel: Folks focusing on location and check-in are missing the greater thing that's going on here. It's bigger than check-in, it's not just a featured to get slapped into Twitter or FB, it's a layer that will be on top. Amit, founder of MySpace says he sees the social web as having moved from us using the temporal lens to the geospatial lens and the next big trend will be the personalized lens. Sites will be personalized to you. They'll be highly targeted, highly customized and built to your specifications based on interest graphs. I have extensive notes from this panel and will break them up into smaller pieces for future posts. Let me know what you'd like to know.

9. One-on-One with Skanda Yoga Founder Ken von Roenn

My yoga practice has plateaued in recent years. This weekend, I broke through the plateau and I have Ken von Roenn to thank for his presence as I pushed beyond it. I took two group classes and one private lesson with him during the summit. This weekend was the first time I'd executed the full expression of King Pigeon, Eka Pada Rajakapotasana. Ferocious hallelujah moment.

10. Blissicipline: Create a Workplace that Supports Bliss

I loved the panel on creating great company culture. The panelists stressed the importance of happy workers to a happy culture. Zappos offers its employees $100-200 to quit during training. Alfred Lin, COO&CFO of the company says, "it gives employees a graceful exit rather than dragging it out" with new hires. Their offices are completely decorated by employees, the dev team has "bug parades" in which they dress up as bugs (why not? Alfred says, they're squashing them all day). One of the panelists reminded us what Richard Branson says about culture: Like flowers on water, people flourish on praise.

With that you have ten of the big ideas I got out of Summit Series.

May they inspire you to go on a learning safari.

-

Delight in new ideas? Sign up for the newsletter to get them in your inbox once a month. Subscribe to the blog for fresh ideas on the social web throughout the week. Prefer daily? There's Twitter for that.