There’s a scene in Back to the Future where Marty finally arrives in 1955 and just stands there taking it all in. The town square, the people, the energy, the feeling that the future and the past are somehow colliding all at once. That feeling kept popping into my head throughout ETS26.
The whole week had me thinking about growing up between Austin and San Antonio in a small Texas town where both cities always felt larger than life. Austin had this creative electricity to it. San Antonio had soul. History. Music. Murals. Family. Humanity. Bringing ETS26 there with “Hack the Planet” as the theme felt strangely personal and full circle.
And honestly, Back to the Future never felt like a movie about tech to me. It felt like a story about people. Friendship. Curiosity. Taking chances. Making mistakes. Trying to build a better future without losing your humanity along the way.
One thing that has always mattered deeply to us at Zpryme is our commitment to artistry and human connection. Not as an extra layer, but as part of the DNA of what we build.
That showed up throughout the week in simple ways. Musicians playing throughout the venue. One of the hardest-working musicians in the Hawaiian community across Texas, Kainoa Kamaka, making people smile between conversations. Harpist (Madeleine Restaino) shifting the energy of the room moment after moment. Sound bowl artist (Kylee O’Donnell) creating little pockets of calm inside a busy week.
It was woven into the art installation “VHS Meets Floppy” created by “The Artist Couple,” where you could literally feel the human hands behind the work. It carried through the Zpryme Portrait premiere “Dreams of Me,” where every hand-drawn frame held patience and personality. And it came to life again during the series premiere of “Built Together” with ELM Companies and Avista centered around Spokane and the MLK Center. A reminder that the best things people build usually begin with community.
And one of my favorite moments was recognizing Rudy Garza as ETS26 Thought Leader of the Year. It felt especially right in San Antonio. Rudy represents something bigger than a title or an award. He represents the kind of leadership that understands none of us build anything meaningful alone. It takes a village. People willing to show up for each other, carry responsibility together, and leave something better behind for the next generation.
There is a lot of conversation right now about the future. Bigger systems. Faster systems. Smarter systems. But after spending the week together in San Antonio, I keep coming back to something much simpler. And you know what, people are still the best tech.
And if Doc Brown taught us anything, it’s probably this: “The future hasn’t been written yet. So let’s make it a good one.”