Influx Curated Inspiration

Last month, I attended Influx Curated, in SF with one of my Creative Directors. I have been trying to write about it for weeks and now finally made the time. The conference was organized by Influx Strategic Consulting, a BSSP company. 10 speakers were selected to speak and invite two friends, resulting in 30 speakers total, and all were limited to only 5 minutes each. As the invite read, "Their brief was simple to: instigate, stir, motivate, and inspire." There was a lot of hope flying around, I captured some in my notes and will try to give you a little of what they gave us:

Become a part of the notion for common good.
Connect.
Design can change the world.
The 20th century was all about what we could produce and the 21st century is all about what we can sustain.
Be open-minded.
Be problem solvers and find a way to do things better.
Now is the chance to be both teacher and student.
On a networked planet, connection is frictionless.
Roll up your sleeves and get involved!
The two most inspiring words in the English language are: YES & AND. “And” is the word that unites things.
Have the ability to integrate.
Power of the word: YES. Have no fear, be grateful, be open, forgive, love (acceptance), have honesty, and humanity.
Fear as a motivator is a joke.
Find a way to care and make it personal.
Power of the word: No. How to deal with blocks? Change can be a gift. Don’t get discouraged.
People will have similar ideas, don’t let this stop you.
Some of your most creative works will come from sudden change.
Stop trying too hard to be creative and unique and it will come.
Writers: you must keep storytelling active.
It’s never boring to try to improve something.
Don’t abandon advertising, improve it.
Reality is how you perceive it.
What engages an audience? Give the audience nothing and co-create with them.
Be comfortable with silence.
Story tell, the past inspires us.
Build strong stories and roots for our future.
Break rules.
We live in a culture of fear.
You can find inspiration in everything, and if you can’t, look again.
Have a perception altering experience.
Trust your own intuition and have no fear.
Change is ultimately what we make of it.
Define good: the consumer doesn’t know what is “good” anymore.
Be authentic; the brand itself has to connect with its audience.
Listen.
Create a culture.

These notes I try to reread when I am feeling discouraged. At a time when things are extremely uncertain, we need to look to one another for inspiration. The conference was a gift on multiple levels: as a person who works in advertising, as a writer, and as an art lover. Jeben Berg, who works on Marketing and Creative Strategy at YouTube spoke about online video, its interpretations, and connectivity. But, what I found even more stimulating was that his presentation included a fantastic video of time-lapsed graffiti. I was thrilled to be at a conference for work, all the while watching a beautiful piece unfold amidst a concrete jungle. It was like everything had come full circle, and I was viewing my generation making their mark in more ways than one.

I connected with Jeben to thank him and his response was nothing short of poetic, "One can only hope that a few words of a 5 minute presentation penetrate deep enough to take hold and provide an anchor from which to develop your own courses of action. YouTube is a great free place to launch an online journey but it takes all of the web to give it life."

His art, even more so profound: youtube.com/beakdip



More on Jeben, covered by Juxtapoz Magazine. So many new influences for me to admire and study. I am so thankful to all the people who spoke. A full list can be found here. And a special thank you to work, for sending me.

Pay to Pray

There is a theory that says that the Internet will eventually wipe out our existence. That we have developed what will be the ultimate cause of our demise. As much as I believe there is some truth to this, I love the Internet. Absolutely, positively couldn’t live without it. Not in a million years or for a million dollars. There is only one thing that interests me more than this little devil and that is the beauty of human connection. Simply put: people, communication, human compassion and belief – there is nothing more concrete, nothing more pure and nothing more real.
So in my most humble opinion as amazing as the Internet may be, this tool we created to assist us, will never completely replace us. But, will continue to do what it was designed for: make life easier. Some argue it makes us lazy, I say productive. Some say it overtook jobs, I say it created some. The argument leads me neatly to my reason for this post. I came across an article on one of my favorite blogs, TechCrunch, about a new site that prays for you. That’s right, if you don’t have time to pray this site will take care of it for you. Now, I am all about the advancements of technology and preying on the ignorant. But, I just am not sure how this site would work? In 2007, I wrote a post on the Power of Prayer vs. Positive Thinking, explaining that there really is no difference between the two. But a website that prays for you? How? Maybe it works the same. You believe they are praying for you and so it will work.
Prayer is kind of a sacred thing though, is it not? I mean that connection you feel to a higher power or positive thoughts going on within are pretty heavy duty to in trust to a website. Not to mention the things you usually pray for are for the well being of your loved ones. In my mind, that’s part of what gives it power, your compassion for someone else or even for yourself would enable you to manifest it. But, maybe that’s just me. And much like an email has replaced a handwritten letter, this could be next. I can’t wait to send this little dilly off to my Aunt who is a nun to catch her thoughts.
No matter how you slice it; it’s pretty hilarious: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/17/too-busy-to-pray-dont-worry-indulgences-are-back/

Sites Worth Mention...Just Because.

Every time I think they have thought of it all in Cyberspace - they think of something else. In fact I have become somewhat of TechCrunch.com junkie, just to try to keep up with all that pops up. There are websites for anything and everything, and now there are social sites for anyone and everyone. In fact, I read about a new one today, Cocktailmatch.com. Cocktail Match is an interactive social network where you can share your drinking preferences with others. Hmm, a social network for the boozers? Interesting and I’d say a great avenue for beverage companies and bar owners alike to advertise. The site becomes known to us at a very interesting time for our country. One where the economic state is uncertain and one of the only markets unaffected by the changes is: ALCOHOL. Go figure.
I was amazed by that site, but nothing could have prepared me for Sidetaker.com. Sidetaker is a site that allows you to post two sides of an irresolvable argument to let the world decide the outcome. You can anonymously air your dirty laundry out on the Worldwide Web for everyone to read and let perfectly good strangers advise you. It’s really a very interesting site actually. Quotes like, “He’s a pig” or “stereotypical mid-life crisis” can be found in the commentary. So if you’re having trouble agreeing to disagree, this could be the site for you. It’s basically free couple counseling and from all walks of life and backgrounds.
This time we live in, never ceases to amaze me. Fascinating stuff.

I Love My Reader

Google has given us so many wonderful gifts. This beautiful site I am blogging on being one of them. The big G is in my opinion, the best search engine ever. I mean really, how could they get any better? They have and continue to do so. With advanced ways of finding valuable information like news and blog content, and their special additives like the toolbar, the reader, iGoogle, and media updates- did I mention that reader?
The reader was suggested to me by a brilliant friend of mine. I was complaining about how there are too many Web sites and blogs for me to keep up with, and that I didn't have time for all of it. He told me that my profession insisted upon me staying "in the know" and suggested I get the reader. I am forever thankful; research is my life and vital to the constantly changing field I have chosen.
So what does it do? Well it collects sites that you frequent; actually an aggregator, it collects RSS feeds. No longer scrambling to try to remember them all on my own or subscribing via email (so annoying), my reader takes care of it all. Every time there is a new post up, it is added to a list for me to read. It counts what it collects as new, so you know exactly how much you need to read. The counter clears as you go through them. It's simply connected to my gmail account and makes things so much easier. Well what about your "favorites" folder you ask? No- not the same thing. The reader only keeps track of sites constantly updated, like blogs or journals- sites with "posts." It's basically, AWESOME. I have one for home and work articles now; usually with 100-200 new things to read daily. It lists it all for me, making it quite simple to pull the information I find valuable. There are many other sites and applications that will do the same thing, but I love my reader. It is truly an ingenious tool for people who are constantly on the Net in need of organization. It has many other cool features as well, like the ability to share with your friends, and even share things on your blog (which I may set up for here soon). My reader is in many ways, my electronic research assistant. If you are the ultimate multitasker, with too many things to keep up with, the reader could be just what the Dr. ordered.