The opening keynote sets the conference theme. Kudos to BlogWorld New Media Expo for selecting Laura Fitton, aka @pistachio, to open the conference. Lucky for you – and for me, I took notes.

But first, my @pistachio connection. In spring 2008, Laura was live-tweeting a conference in Boston. I was following her. She mentioned the speaker’s name, which sounded familiar. I Googled the speaker and found that she was someone I knew from high school so I told Laura who started a conversation with the speaker. Thanks to Laura, I reconnected with someone I’d lost touch with. I’ve met Laura at several conferences. She’s a down to earth, brilliant type that truly exudes her gift and passion for communication and connection.

When I saw Laura on Saturday, I thanked her for her keynote speech. She apologized for making me get up early. Laura’s worth waking up for any day. You can follow Laura Fitton on twitter @pistachio and see what’s new with Pistachio Consulting.

Highlights from Laura Fitton’s 2009 BlogWorld Expo Opening Keynote

Laura encouraged us to embrace our inner [and outer!] awesomeness::her whole talk was about awesomeness and you and how awesomeness cannot be separated from you.

If you are putting your light under a bushel basket, something’s happening that only you can do.

Laura procrastinated when she did things out of fear so she promised herself that she will make no decisions out of fear.

If you don’t seize it, if you don’t let people help you, then something that’s important will be lost.

Awesome is not a private street. The more goofy she is, the more people like her.

Challenge and Inspire –
Awesome Foundation

What is Awesome?
Awesomeness is often overlooked by mainstream culture, which tends to rehash the same broadly appealing but mediocre creations. Thankfully, there is the web. Awesomeness is more the product of a creator’s passion than the prospect of audience or profit. Awesome creations are novel and non-obvious, evoking surprise and delight. Invariably, something about them perfectly reflects the essence of the medium, moment, or method of creation. Awesomeness challenges and inspires – Awesome Foundation

Twelve people together each donate $100 to silly, random projects. One Awesome Foundation winner invented a hand-held cotton candy gun that will coat a rotating human being in 1-2 minutes.

Everybody’s got to find their comfort level – go out to where your edges are.

What’s your superpower?

Laura’s superpower is: being really lucky. Be Lucky – it’s an easy skill to learn. Read The Luck Factor by Richard Wiseman and learn how to maximize change opportunities, listen to lucky hunches, expect good fortune and turn bad luck to good.

Twitter is a lot about little tiny interactions. Twitter taught Laura to scan the horizon and realize the possibilities.

Want to change the world? Start simple. Believe in someone. Show them. Tell them.
Learn to not be afraid of who you actually are.

Be uniquely you. Talk about your passions.

Influence [was] attracting attention to yourself
Influence [is] providing attention and value to others

Additional Resources Mentioned in Laura’s Keynote
Umair Haque’s Awesomeness Manifesto

I’d like to advance a hypothesis: awesomeness is the new innovation. – Umair Haque

Four pillars of Awesomeness by Umair Haque
Ethical production
Insanely great stuff
Love
Think Value

The think big manifesto by Michael Port

Laura’s Rules
I think the absolute central challenge in life is to learn to not be afraid of who you actually are.
1. be kind and fair to everyone.
2. don’t worry whether or not anyone likes you.
3. help people.
4. ask.
5. act. (get excited and share it)
6. love yourself.
7. love others. (try radical forgiveness)
8. gratitude for everything.
9. hope is your only hope. (and fear is your only worry)
10. be present.
BONUS: adversity is an opportunity: ask yourself, when something goes wrong, “what bullet did i just dodge?”

How Twitter Can Make You a Better and Happier Person by Tony, CEO of Zappos.com

Disclosure: Thanks to BlogWorld Expo for granting me a media pass to share this coverage with you.
Image: Laura Fitton at BlogWorld Expo 2009 by thesociallens.com

How about you? What’s your super power? How are your sharing your awesomeness with the world?