In his 2008 book "Outliers," Malcolm Gladwell delved deep into the topic of success. Not the meaning of success, rather what it is that makes one person more successful than another.

Which is probably why it was a national bestseller for so long.

Regardless, one of the prominent points he made about many successful people is their use of the 10,000-hour rule. Neurologist Daniel Levitin explains it this way:

"Ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert in anything. In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players and master criminals and what have you, this number comes up again and again."

Which is why we think that on your road to success, your 10,000 hours of practice should absolutely include time spent at events such as Internet Week New York (IWNY), An Event Apart, SXSW Interactive, and the User Interface Conference.

Just think, those hours could include teaching from any of these folks just at this week’s IWNY:

• David Karp, Founder & CEO, Tumblr
• Billy Beane, General Manager, Oakland Athletics (yes, from Moneyball)
• Pat Cassels, Head Writer/Actor, CollegeHumor
• Cecilia Dean, Co-Curator, MoMa
• Alexis Ohanian, Co-Founder, Founder, reddit, Breadpig
• Josh Quittner, Editorial Director, Flipboard
• Jenna Wortham, Technology Reporter, The New York Times
• Mitchell Baker, Chairman, The Mozilla Foundation
• Allison Arden, Publisher & Vice President, Advertising Age

There is no better place to hear some of the brightest people in the industry discuss topics like:

• How to Master Social Advertising
• Targeting & Providing a Platform
• Creating and Sharing Content for Real Life: The KPIs of content measurement
• The Science of Spread: What are people sharing, why are they sharing it, and where does it come from?
• Gaming and the Importance of Content
• Memes and their Transition to Advertising
• Creating a Quick Attribution Model for Web Conversions

So now’s the time to start saving up your money or hitting up your boss for your next great educational event (our Partners Page is always a good place to start).

And when you go, be sure to stop by our booth—it’s almost guaranteed we’ll be there as well. We’re gluttons for inspiration.

And if you know of an event that it looks like we don’t attend, let us know! We’re always on the lookout for new ones.

Hip Tip: Because IWNY and Livestream were nice enough to stream and record each of the presentations and classroom sessions and share it with the world, if you’re looking to add to your hours soon, you’re in some serious luck. Don’t try to swallow all this content at once, your brain may actually explode.