Blog Posts About: newfriends

Text and bullet points - they are dead, or at least used inappropriately.  That was one of the overwhelming messages from VizThink, a two day conference on Visual Thinking.  We agree.

This was the first (of hopefully many) conferences on visual thinking put on by VizThink, the brainchild of Dave Gray of Xplane.  It brought together people from around the world who focus in communicating with pictures. More info on the wiki.

For example, on the first morning we sat down with three pediatric ER doctors from Loma Linda University. They often talk to parents in the ER about pediatric medical problems and a brochure doesn't work.  They see visual thinking as a way to communicate complex problems in the emergency room situation.  Indeed, there are near-infinite applications for visual thinking.

I wish I could mention everyone we met, but here are a few.

We had dinner with Ole Qvist- Sorensen of Bigger Picture who was there from Copenhagen, Denmark - I have a feeling we'll be hanging out with Ole before long - a great guy with lots of ideas.

Ryan Coleman of Clay Tablet Technologies turned out to be a friend of our good friend Will Pate. Ryan has started local Visual Thinking BarCamps around Toronto.

Cliff Atkinson of BBP (Beyond Bullet Points) came to our session and stuck around afterward for a chat.  We really connected with Cliff - he loves being small and independent and we share a lot of the same ideas.

Speaking of our session, we had a great time and I hope the attendees did too.  It was called "Solving Explanation Problems with Simple Online Videos"  The session was mostly group activity where we asked teams to produce storyboards.

It warmed our hearts to hear the whole group yelling "yaay!" and
"boooo!" (appropriately) when the teams presented their storyboards. As Sachi said - it was like they were singing a song we wrote. :)

One thing I found interesting was that we didn't meet anyone else doing video. It was like the visual thinking world and the video world had not previously intersected.  I hope that we inspired some of the attendees to take another look at video.

We owe a big thanks to Tom, Chris, Denise and the VizThink folks for inviting us to participate and pulling off a great conference. We'll be back!

Pink shirts - that may be the one thing that will stick out years from now - the pink, er, fuchsia, shirts of BarCamp Vancouver 2007. This is not to say that the content and people weren't amazing - they were. But the shirts were unforgettable.

This was my first actual Bar Camp, but I've become accustomed to the unconference format and really dig it. It gives everyone an equal chance to be involved in a low-key, highly diverse, fun environment with interesting people. It's no surprise that there are so many "camps" these days - the format works.

Sometimes is feels like Vancouver is our second home - we have a lot of friends there that we see often. It's easy to have a good time around the Vancouver Tech Mafia. I talk about those folks enough - what I really want to say is how much I enjoyed meeting new folks.

It was a pleasure to be a part of a panel discussion run by Jordan Behan on Marketing and Social Media. The co-panelists were Monique Trottier, Linda Bustos, Tanya Davis and Geoffrey Gachallan. Lots of interesting questions.

One of my favorite experiences of the day was a session on DIY ads and AdHack, a business from James Sherritt of Work Industries. We divided the room into three groups who each had 30 minutes to produce an ad for a local pizza place called "fatih's pizza" - pronounced "fatty's pizza". Of course, with such a name, the ideas wandered into less-appropriate territory. The three videos are on YouTube here, here and here <-- ours. So fun.

I also enjoyed a session with Todd Sieling of Ma.gnolia, who talked about how he is using their Ma.gnolia Twitter Account as a way to work with their fans and customers. His advice was solid and focused on how twittering for business is different - you should be responsible and twitter with meaning and relevance.

My own session ended up being called "Fighting Complexity with Video" and I was happy with the results. Lots of great questions and interest. Monique has a nice write up here.

The conch played a huge role in keeping us organized and Dave "uncle weed" Olsen was a pro, but risked the health of his sinuses with each blow.

I'm sure to miss some folks, but I wanted to give a shout out to some people that I enjoyed meeting for the first time. I've known about Tod Maffin for a long time, but never got a chance to interact - great guy. Simon Koldyk of Scribblewiki and I have talked in email, so it was great to put a name to a face. It was a pleasure to hang out with Derek Miller after seeing his head 30 feet tall at Gnomedex. I'd seen John Ounpuu before, but I never realized he had acting chops (from our Fatih's Pizza ad). I'm not sure but I think Scott Laird from Google was the only other Seattleite there. Matthew Trentacoste showed us his amazing video screens at the lab at UBC at Northern Voice, but this time we got a chance to hang out. John Biehler was someone who got the crowd of Canadians revved up about hacking the iPhone (Canadians can't use iPhones). It was great to get to Wordpress and Automattic low-down from Lloyd Budd. James Andres and Dave Gratton of Donat Group and Project Opus hosted an afterparty (maybe preparty?) with Lyal Avery and the Outcome 3 folks (yay1 more pizza!!) in their loft offices. Phillip Jeffrey got everyone on the same page about Facebook and came out with us for post-event Chinese. Those Canadians really are nice folks.

And of course, a big ole thanks to the organizers, who pulled off a wonderful event - I'm coming again next year.

Kris Krug Roland Tanglao Robert Scales Zak Greant James Sherrett Ianiv Schweber Megan Cole Jordan Behan Aaron Gladders

To this list I would also add Bill from Workspace, which was a great host for a perfect venue (window view below) for the event and to Travis Smith for hosting a homeless American for a night (I have my fingers crossed).

But the pink shirts - that's what I'll remember most. ;)

I had high expectations for Gnomedex - a conference run by Chris Pirillo in Seattle. The only other one I went to was in 2005 and it was an amazing experience. There was this feeling of changing the world - people were hyped up and it was palpable.

Unfortunately, this time around, I didn't feel the same. I didn't leave the event with an uplifted feeling - if anything, I left a bit of cynicism.

As expected though, I met a raft load of interesting people so it was worth the effort by far. I want to give a quick shout-out to some of the folks that made the event special for me.

Upon walking in to the pre-party I met two guys from Nashville that quickly became friends. Dave Delaney and Marcus Whitney both work at Emma and are organizing Bar Camp Nashville . Dave also has a podcast comedy with his wife called Two Boobs and a Baby. Good folks.

At the same pre-party, or more specifically after it, I got to know Brian Walsh from Castfire and Schlomo Rabinowitz, the organizer of Vloggercon. When these guys aren't dodging bullets in downtown Seattle, they're running camps at Burning Man.

I only met Baratunde Thurston for a little while, but he seemed like a guy I'd love know better. He's a comedian and vigilante pundit.

Ariel Hyatt was a blast to hang with, even though she really needs to drink more tonic water. ;)

If there was any product I saw that could be the next big thing, it's Polar Rose. Think facial recognition and tagging applied to all the photos on the web. A little scary and potentially amazing to watch. Mikkel Thagaard was a pleasure to meet while watching marine animals being fed.

Corey "Crazy Wanda" Denis from Reap and Sow was another person that I got to know a bit. I respect her standing up for Internet Radio.

Speaking of Internet radio, I was so happy to reconnect with Tom Conrad, the CTO of Pandora. Tom came to my Pre-Gnomedex BBQ in 2005 and since then, Pandora has become one of my absolute faves.

Michael Linton has a grand vision for Open Money and I learned a lot from his talk and our discussions - but I'm still not sure it all sunk in.

Speaking of talks - and Canadians, who were out in full force, it was great to hang out with Darren Barefoot who lives in Malta for now. I thought Darren's talk was one of the best - funny and inspiring. Dave Olsen is another cool Canadian homey that I'm getting to know better lately. Wish he and Kris could have stayed with us as planned.

Of course I must mention Derek Miller, another Canadian. I've met Derek a few times and I think the last was at Gnomedex 2005. Derek has cancer and has been blogging his experience. He joined Gnomedex via live video feed to talk about what it's like to be so public with a serious illness. I've read Derek's blog consistently for a long time and it was great to have a chance to almost see him face-to-face. He rocks.

Ok, must mention another Canadian - Jeremy Wright of B5 Media. Jeremy stayed with us a couple of years ago in Seattle and since then he's become a mogul. :) Go Jeremy!

Towards the end of the event I met someone whose name I've seen around a lot: Beth Goza from Zen Zui. We gotta get together in Seattle Beth.

Speaking of Seattle, it was great to meet Eric Weaver who runs the Flickr meetup in town. I can't mention Seattle without giving a shout out to Randy Stewart too. And, if that wasn't enough, I got to know some folks from Olympia a lot better: Jacob "the unabonger" Stewart, Dingo and Nat.  Randy Stewart and I seem to be on the tracks lately - I love his Gnomedex comic book cover.

There were a few folks that came an impressively long way. Kosso is an English bloke that came in from the UK and Yukako is a videoblogger here from Japan (but not just for Gnomedex).

Lastly I have to mention Chris Condayan because I'll never forget his response to my question "What's your background?" His answer was, with a twinkle in his eye "my background is in punk rock, man." It's true.

It was great to meet everyone and sorry if I missed some folks. Sometimes I think the submit button jars my memory.

I'm not sure you realized, but it was Common Craft week last week. I know, it snuck up on you again. Me too!

Really though, we were surpised and honored to see that the folks at New Media in the Land of Manana decided that such a week existed last week. Well, it started in Tuesday, but we'll call it even.

Tuesday: The Common Craft
Common Craft Wednesday: What is a Wiki?
Common Craft Thursday: What is Social Networking?
Common Craft Friday: 4600 in 2.2 minutes

From what I can tell, the site is run by Josh from Albuquerque, NM and is (maybe) related to PBS station KNME. Thanks for the kind words Josh! I'd love to know more about The Land of Manana. Is it a project of yours?

We're still reeling a bit from back-to-back conferences in two places that don't cater well to sleep or overall health: South-by-Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas and Community 2.0 in Las Vegas. Conferences are a fire hose and six solid days is just too much to document. This entry is focused on some of the people and talks that mattered most to us.

One of my favorite sessions of SXSW was called "People-Powered Products" with Derek Powazek of 8020 Publishing (makers of JPG Magazine), Heather Champ, Community Manager at Flickr and folks from self-publishing site Lulu.com and music remixing site Jamglue.com. Another favorite was moderated by my Clue Unit partner Jake Mckee called Community Ecology: Finding Balance When Working with Fan Groups. Part of what made this one interesting was the mix of panelists: Betsy Whalen of Discovery Education, Rebecca Newton from the kid's virtual world Habbo and, of course, Terrence Ryan from alt-porn site Suicide Girls. An interesting mix indeed.

The real action at SXSW is social and away from the conference itself. Vendors sponsor multiple parties that go into the night, giving everyone a chance to hang out, drink heavily and make new friends. I won't try to name the all folks we met.

While SXSW was all about the leading edge of the web, Community 2.0 was about how the business world is reacting to online communities. This event was a broad mix of innovators, practitioners, leaders and companies who see the future impact of community. While it might not have been as "cool" and tattooed as SXSW, this conference was much more real and practical for me. I enjoyed it more than expected.

I moderated a panel called "In the Trenches: Community Best Practices" and owe a debt of gratitude to my panelists: David Churbuck of Lenovo, George Jaquette of Intuit and Michael Prosceno of SAP. These guys are all driving change in large, traditional companies and have perspectives that you'd expect to hear from start-ups. As an example, David Churbuck, the VP of Global Web Marketing at Lenovo, takes the time to comment on critical blog posts himself. We decided to have the entire content of the panel run on audience participation and they made it work with stories, humor and practical advice.

I enjoyed hearing from folks like Scott Wilder at Intuit, Bill Schreiner of AOL, Bill Johnston of Forum One, Richard Gotham of the Boston Celtics and the Chrises: Chris Carfi, Chris Heuer and Chris Tolles. It was also great to meet folks like Kathleen Gilroy from Otter Group, Nate Ritter from Eventful lots of community managers from all over. One of my favorite attendees was Mikal Belicove from Doba who always asked pointed and pertinent questions, sometimes causing a little controversy. We met a number of community managers from Seattle that were new to us. I feel a Seattle community-people event coming on.

Most of the people linked above have great perspectives on the event as well. I'm sure I left a lot of folks out - it's not personal!

See also: Community Lessons from Community 2.0 and SXSW.

Across a few different conferences I've met some folks face-to-face that impressed me. Here's a shout out to some of these folks... I hope our paths cross again soon.

Mark A. Smith is the founder of Mikonoclast, LLC. Mark's idea is all about connecting people through personal icons or Mikons that you can create, share, wear, etc. Look for Mikons at SXSW this year.

Denise Wilton is the lead designer for Moo, a UK-based business that prints mini business/contact cards from your Flickr photos. I'm about to order some myself.

Jake McKee and I have been online friends for a long time and finally met in person, so he makes the list. He's the Lead Samurai at Big in Japan and an all-around great guy.

Steven Reading is a co-founder of Dogster/Catster, social networking for pets. I enjoyed meeting he and Ted Rheingold at Community Next - a great example of how a good idea and passion can turn into a successful business.

Jefferey Keefer has been a Common Craft reader for a long while it was great to meet him in Vancouver, far from his New York City home and work at NYU. Jeffrey blogs at SilenceandVoice. Check it out: he sat next to Evander Holyfield on the flight home from Northern Voice.

Ian MacKenzie is a brother in travel. I met him after my talk at Northern Voice and we hung out throughout the event. He and his wife have put together a couple of travel community sites: TravelBlogger.net and BraveNewTraveler.com.

Randy Stewart of Stewtopia is a fellow Seattleite, blogger and someone with which I hope to hang out here in Seattle.

John Bollwitt is a podcaster in Vancouver at Radiozoom.net. He reminds me a lot of Chris Pirillo and they are both from Iowa. Separated at birth? I doubt it. We had a great time over lunch.

Brad Gibson is another Canadian podcaster at CurrentThinkingRadio.com. Brad struck me as a very thoughtful and interesting guy. We spent a little time together talking about travel and racing in the presence of a microphone.

Bryan Zug is another Seattle-based blogger and e-learning consultant/developer at Flathatter and a person that I'd like to know more. He blogs at eLearning Skinny.

Warwick Patterson is Canadian photographer, video producer and adventure seeker. He's into things like motorcycle rally racing and may be going to Mongolia sometime soon to video and photograph his participation in a motocycle rally for Formula Photographic. Very cool. He's also one of the folks behind This City Rocks.

Todd Smith and Stephanie Co are also our brothers and sisters in travel. They are about to take an extended trip to Asia that will focus on "Portraits of Asia," a study of culture, cuisine, and commodity. Check out their blog here.

Chris Heuer is a person that I've heard about since our return, but hadn't met. I was impressed with Chris' wamth and thoughtfulness. He seems to be a great guys with a lot of ideas. Check out Social Media Club and Brain Jams.

Eric Eggertson of Mutually Inclusive PR is someone whom I've wanted to meet for years now. We have been communicating via blog comments and flickr photos for a long time. It was great to meet him and I wish we had more time to connect.

Anil Dash of Six Apart keynoted the Northern Voice conference and I had the chance to hang out with him for a while. I find Anil to be very accomplished, insightful and smart, but more than that, one of the most quick-witted people I've met.

Michael Klassen of Thinking Cap is someone that I enjoyed connecting with years ago and was happy to see again at Northern Voice.

I'm sure that as soon as I click "publish" my brain will be filled with all the folks I should have mentioned. It's not personal.