What Are You Talking About?

It all started with a talk…

Sometime in October/November 2025, I got a notification about a casual meetup for Technical Writers. At the time, my social calendar was pretty thin, so I decided to go, and it turned out to be a fantastic use of my time (not that I expected otherwise).

Olu at OBA Oosterdok café, Amsterdam, for WTD casual meetup in November 2025

Just as the meetup was winding down, I don’t remember exactly how it started, but we stayed longer than expected because somehow I found myself talking about digital sovereignty and the independent web. I was obviously very excited about the topic, as I had recently started working toward digital sovereignty myself. Why? I’ll save that story for another time.

The next day, I received a message from one of the meetup organizers, Marco, suggesting I watch Val Grimm’s Write The Docs (WTD) Berlin talk on sovereign docs. I remember watching it and thinking, yes, but it goes deeper than this. By this time, our conversation had moved to LinkedIn, and Marco, being a sharp shooter, went straight to the point and asked if I would come talk about it at a WTD Amsterdam meetup.

Now, as someone very capable of talking, some might say too capable, I wasn’t immediately enthusiastic. Mostly because I was just scratching the surface of the topic and didn’t think I had anything interesting enough to present.

But Marco asked again, and sometime in January or December? I was like, “Let’s do this.”

Before I go too far, I would like to say that we all need people like Marco in our lives. People who nudge us forward when we’re unsure. People who see passion and add more fire to it. People who notice excitement and amplify it. Despite my limited interactions with Marco so far, I can tell you he is that person, and I really appreciate him for it.

On March 5, 2026, I took the stage at JetBrains and gave a talk titled “Digital Sovereignty for Writers.” I hope to write more about the talk soon, but for now, here are my presentation slides and Reinout van Rees’ summary. Also, exciting to see Reinhout add this personal note about his sovereignty status at the end of his summary about my talk:

I’ve got my own domain. This is a blog entry that ends up in an RSS/atom feed. The site is .rst files in a git repo. Statically generated with Sphinx. So: yeah, pretty sovereign :-)

Again, it all started with a talk. A passionate talk, if I dare say.

This whole experience takes me back down memory lane and reminds me of how ordinary conversations have shaped my life in ways I never expected.

A few weeks back, I was randomly talking to a colleague’s girlfriend about the trauma of apartment hunting when she casually mentioned that the apartment next to hers was vacant and available to rent. I didn’t get the place in the end, but the possibility of ever getting it came from a conversation that almost didn’t happen.

Then there was the time, years ago, when I told someone I was looking for a job (my first software engineering role), and next thing I knew, I was connected with their friend’s son, who connected me with someone else, who scheduled me for an interview… which eventually turned into my first job after my undergraduate degree.

I could go on and on about moments like these, how talking about what I’m interested in, what I’m working on, or even what I’m struggling with has led to great results I didn’t even know existed.

And sometimes it works the other way around, too.

After the talk at JetBrains, I spoke with a Developer Advocate at a company that makes home assistants, which might be useful to me. Again, just a talk!

I also remember standing in line at a bank in the UK because I needed to submit documents to convince the bank that I wasn’t a US citizen (why they thought I was, I still don’t know. If it helps, I have never been to the US either). The bank queue was long, almost as long as the one at the pub across the street.

A man who had been chatting with someone else turned to me and started talking. Naturally, it began with the weather, as every British conversation must, and I assumed it would end there, until, he asked what I do for work and shared that he was a writer. I got home later that day and added his book (Finding Love in 2045) to my list (writer supporting writers).

If you are wondering what the book is about, well, according to Simon, the dating streets are going to be really brutal if you are looking for love in 2045. In any case, you have 19 more years to figure it out. It also reminds me of Ray Kurzweil and his predictions, which are also rooted in the year 2045. I guess 2045 is going to be an interesting year.

Of course, talking can also get you into serious trouble. It certainly did when I was younger, which taught me to never anger people in the kitchen.

Sometimes, a conversation is just a conversation. But sometimes… it becomes something more.

I know it can be overwhelming to talk about your interests or share what you’re working on. It can even feel like self-promotion or performative, but it doesn’t always have to be. Sometimes it’s just a casual conversation while waiting for the tram, or chatting at the coffee machine, or greeting your neighbor.

In my case, a random conversation about a recent interest turned into something bigger.

When I talk about digital sovereignty, people often say to me: “Your eyes light up when you talk about it.” “You’re so excited about this, it makes me excited too.”

The compliment makes my insides dance, but I guess, they haven’t seen me excitedly talking about using an air fryer to make barbecued fish.

So please, talk.

Talk about what excites you. Talk about what you’re learning. Talk about what you’re building. Talk about what you care about.

And when you do, don’t try to hide your enthusiasm. Don’t worry, the world can handle it. We can handle it. I can handle it and if you doubt me, you should read my recent piece titled In Defense of Passion.

So I ask you this, what are you talking about?