Preparing for my talk, I thought about how pretentious it is to address a group as an expert on anything. Even as the very common imposter complex had been fading to the background of my psyche in recent years, I still had to deal with this idea that I had something to say about content creation, community management, etc, and that was worth listening to.
I honestly don’t think about these things in very strategic terms, especially when it comes to my own projects.
In whatever field we engage in, we all start off as neophytes – or newbies. No one becomes an expert overnight, no matter the amount of lectures and webinars we attend. The sole idea of expert in itself implies that one has « arrived » at the top and is no longer progressing, learning, evolving – and that’s just sad.
Then comes a moment – after ten, fifteen years of going at something – where you can look back and see some progress. You do get to a point where you can say things about your « practice » – as a blogger or writer, in my case.
But yeah, it takes time. Even then, I wouldn’t call myself an expert, on contemporary art for example, far from it. Especially in these « soft fields », it’s ludicrous and not interesting one bit. However, I can say that I became something of a connoisseur, from looking at, thinking of, and writing/communicating about art, week after week after week, for so many years.
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Éric Bolduc XYZ 