Recently in conferences Category

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Visual Arts Gallery was the site for the 6th Annual Birmingham AIGA Student Portfolio Review.  About 20 area graphic designers, photographers, creative directors and in-house creatives, including Tim Denny of DavisDenny, were chosen to serve as independent reviewers and participate in a panel Q&A discussion with graphic design students.

"I think I've been at all six of these and the work is getting better," says Denny.  When asked, "What makes it better?", Denny acknowledges tech advancements as one reason.  But he was quick to add, "It's not the most important thing.  There are some really good instructors and professors and so forth who care about typography.  In my opinion, the leap in design from old student to new student is the attention students pay to type."

Over 130 students from about a dozen colleges and universities, as far away as Northwestern, lined up with portfolios, some toting their distinctive black zippered cases and others with laptops.

"I wish we had more than 30 minutes per student.  Maybe AIGA could grow this into an all day thing, panel discussions mixed with reviews.  I want to see more work," Denny added.

The purpose of the AIGA Student Portfolio Review is to provide design students with professional feedback on their work and their presentations to prospective employers.

David Davis was a panelist at the Birmingham Bar Association's annual convocation on Friday, February 20th. The "Bench and Bar" retreat was held at the Marriott Prattville Capitol Hill.  David was part of the "Marketing and Client Retention" panel, which was moderated by respected industry veteran Lee Thuston of Burr Forman.
 
 Theirs was the only "non-lawyers only" session over the course of the two-day retreat.
 
 Also on the panel were Mike Cunningham, VP of Litigation and Assistant General Counsel of Infinity Insurance Group; and Laura Meherg, former head of marketing at Burr Forman and a founding partner of the Wicker Park Group.  David was honored to speak alongside such esteemed professionals, and elaborated on the many ways firms can target and streamline marketing and communications efforts.
 
 "Having presented at other attorney groupings in recent years, I see a growing trend, locally as well as on a broader scope, of professional services firms embracing our kind of work," David says.  
 
 "Whether in branding, design, paid media, general communications, client retention, or litigation communications, attorneys have a great opportunity to leverage communications planning and marketing."

Sometime in August I received an email about the PRSA T3PR conference in New York.  I normally ignore these notifications, as most involve seminars I can't afford or jobs I don't need.  This one, though, caught my eye.  T3 stands for Theory, Tactics and Technology, and since it targeted high tech public relations practitioners, I thought it could provide some valuable insight into the evolving world of online public relations.  The fact that I'd never been to the Big Apple before didn't hurt, either.  After securing the proper clearance from the higher-ups at DavisDenny, I wasted no time getting prepared.

Flight? Check.
Hotel? Check.
Long lost friend with a vehicle, working knowledge of the subway, and good advice on where NOT to go in New York?  Check.

I arrived at the conference after my first bout with the subway, just in time for Paul Gillin's keynote.  Gillin, a Senior Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research and creator of Newspaperdeathwatch.com, had two major insights.  The first was that "search is the new circulation," referring to how we use Google to find relevant information and what that means for subscription-based publications.   The second was that by definition "a blog [is simply] a way of displaying information."  I've explained more times than I care to count that "blog" is neither a dirty word nor a teen internet diary; Gillin reinforced that point beautifully.

Peter Shankman presented next, first ripping his shirt open to reveal a bulletproof vest (protection against another social media personality in the room, with whom he'd recently had some heated exchanges online).  As CEO of Help A Reporter Out, Shankman has become a prominent figure in PR circles.

His advice: don't do anything in social media you wouldn't do in real life.  About one notorious Facebook application, he asked, "Would you throw a sheep at your friends in real life?" Laughter erupted.  He also noted that as PR practitioners, "Never before have we been able to screw up quicker, in front of more people." Despite this, Shankman was quick to acknowledge that the opportunities we have to communicate for our clients are far greater than the negative implications of new media.

George Wright from Blendtec came loaded for bear, with data linking his company's viral video series, Will It Blend? with a 700% increase in sales.  It seems that pureed iPhone was a worthwhile investment after all.  Wright was a crowd-pleaser, eventually producing one of their blenders and mincing a full-size lawn rake to pieces.

Here are other notable quotes, from the all-star panel discussions:

 "The era of mass media is giving way to one of personal and participatory media, which will profoundly change both the media industry and society as a whole." - Among the Audience, The Economist

Good advice on public relations in the era of social media via David Armano (not in attendance): "Treat everyone like an A-lister."

During a panel discussion regarding social media's return on investment, the Phil Gomes, SVP with Edelman Digital, rhetorically asked: "What's the ROI of a pilot's radar?"

There were too many speakers to mention, all with expert opinions on this groundbreaking period in communication history.  The biggest surprise for me, though, was the sheer number of social media skeptics.  Many were unaware that there was a back channel of discussion on Twitter around the conference.  That is, until the announcement two hours in, that T3PR had become the number one trending topic on the popular micro-messaging service.

I met some very cool and knowledgeable people at T3PR, many of whom I follow on Twitter to this day.  I'm a content provider as well - feel free to follow me, @C_Collins.  

After the conference, I made my way into the big city.  I navigated Times Square at dawn, and met up with a friend, to begin another, completely different adventure.

All in all, my trip was both enlightening and exciting. I finally rode the subway, ate a slice of New York pizza, strolled through Central Park, and heard some up-and-coming independent NY bands.  The most potent moment of all though, was visiting ground zero on September 11th, 2008, at 9:11 p.m. And yes, I'll definitely go back again soon.

- Chris Collins